Unaccompanied Minor Refugees’ Narratives of Risk

• In Event: Outside In: The European Refugee Crisis through the Prism of Risk

Abstract

This study is part of a larger project Outside In, an interdisciplinary project between social scientists, artists and refugees, which aims to explore the contours of unaccompanied minor refugees’ double-edged risk, being at-risk and being viewed as risky. This is an exploration of refugees’ narratives of risk from their dangerous journeys to the EU and their experiences in their resettlement country, Sweden. Narratives of risk are defined as accounts of harm, suffering and even ill-will are framed by uncertainty, risk, fear, panic and terror (Mairal, 2001:1). However, risk and corresponding accounts can be also be positive, and this is especially relevant when analyzing how young people interpret danger (Lupton, 1999) and risks for better opportunities.
Many of the Syrian refugees are fleeing during a complex and escalating civil war and have to rely on smugglers for passage, which is dangerous. Their lives are in the hands of strangers. They often have to pass through several countries and may be detained before reaching the European Union and Northern European countries. Upon arrival, refugees are often not met with open arms. These young people lost family or left family for various reasons, and they arrive alone in a wildly different land. An investigation of their passage may help to identify risks involved in these perilous journeys, why these risks are taken, and perhaps how some risks can be avoided. Interviews with minor refugees living in an undisclosed camp in Sweden are conducted and themes of risk are derived.

Author

• Amber Horning Ruf, William Paterson University