Contested Truths and Dual Narratives: Reflexivity in Researching Unaccompanied Migrant Minors in Detention

• In Event: 'Claims to Truth' in Qualitative Criminological Research.

Abstract

This presentation explores the contested ‘claims to truth’ that emerge in qualitative criminological research with unaccompanied migrant minors (UAM) subjected to detention proceedings upon arrival in Greece. Situated at the intersection of victimization and delinquency, UAM exist within a paradoxical landscape that constructs them simultaneously as vulnerable children in need of protection and as potential threats under the securitized framework of crimmigration. These conflicting narratives contribute to moral panics and legal ambiguities, complicating both policy responses and academic inquiry into their lived realities. Drawing on fieldwork framed by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, this presentation examines the epistemological and ethical tensions inherent in researching this population, and how researchers navigate and interrogate the dominant discourses while adhering to the ethical and legal obligations set forth in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). In this context, reflexivity becomes essential in addressing the interplay between subjectivity and objectivity, particularly when researchers work in carceral-like settings where access, agency, and trust-building are deeply constrained. By critically reflecting on key methodological challenges, this presentation argues for a reflexive, contextually situated approach to qualitative criminological research. It explores how power dynamics shape researcher-participant interactions and interrogates the ways institutional barriers and securitized migration policies constrain UAM’s capacity to articulate their experiences in a free manner. By challenging rigid empirical claims, it calls for an ethical, engaged criminology that recognizes truth as co-constructed within specific contexts. In doing so, it contributes to ongoing debates on ethical fieldwork, researcher positionality, and the complexities of amplifying marginalized voices in migration and detention studies.

Author

• Ioannis Papadopoulos, Directorate of Social Sciences; University of Salford, Manchester, UK