Existential Kinetics of Movement and Stasis: Young Eritrean Refugees' Thwarted Hopes of Movement-through-Education
This article attempts to theorise people’s balancing acts between conditions of movement and stasis. Drawing on a radical empirical reading of one critical moment that occurred while conducting ethnographic research among Eritrean unaccompanied minors living in a Swiss educational institution, it th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Suomen Antropologinen Seura (Finnish Anthropological Society)
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Suomen Antropologi |
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| Online Access: | https://journal.fi/suomenantropologi/article/view/77715 |
| _version_ | 1811327969248935936 |
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| author | Annika Lems |
| author_facet | Annika Lems |
| author_sort | Annika Lems |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article attempts to theorise people’s balancing acts between conditions of movement and stasis. Drawing on a radical empirical reading of one critical moment that occurred while conducting ethnographic research among Eritrean unaccompanied minors living in a Swiss educational institution, it thinks through what happens when this equilibrium is thrown out of whack and life’s flow is suddenly experienced as a standstill. By focusing on the experiences of one young man, it explores the importance of education as a vectorial metaphor for moving forward in one’s life. Zooming in on one critical moment in Abel’s life, it sheds light on what happens when hopes of ‘movement-through-education’ clash with the reality of a restrictive asylum system that curtails young refugees’ hopes for forward movement. By showing the dialectical ways mobility and immobility enter into and envelop each other, the article highlights how an existentially oriented ethnography can be utilised as an avenue for theorising migrant im/mobilities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T15:17:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f0c3153afd4a423cb9ac8c20029321b5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1799-8972 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T15:17:20Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Suomen Antropologinen Seura (Finnish Anthropological Society) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Suomen Antropologi |
| spelling | doaj.art-f0c3153afd4a423cb9ac8c20029321b52022-12-22T02:41:50ZengSuomen Antropologinen Seura (Finnish Anthropological Society)Suomen Antropologi1799-89722020-01-014425980https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.v44i2.77715Existential Kinetics of Movement and Stasis: Young Eritrean Refugees' Thwarted Hopes of Movement-through-EducationAnnika Lems0Max Planck Institute for Social AnthropologyThis article attempts to theorise people’s balancing acts between conditions of movement and stasis. Drawing on a radical empirical reading of one critical moment that occurred while conducting ethnographic research among Eritrean unaccompanied minors living in a Swiss educational institution, it thinks through what happens when this equilibrium is thrown out of whack and life’s flow is suddenly experienced as a standstill. By focusing on the experiences of one young man, it explores the importance of education as a vectorial metaphor for moving forward in one’s life. Zooming in on one critical moment in Abel’s life, it sheds light on what happens when hopes of ‘movement-through-education’ clash with the reality of a restrictive asylum system that curtails young refugees’ hopes for forward movement. By showing the dialectical ways mobility and immobility enter into and envelop each other, the article highlights how an existentially oriented ethnography can be utilised as an avenue for theorising migrant im/mobilities.https://journal.fi/suomenantropologi/article/view/77715existential anthropologymobilityrefugeeseducationeritrea |
| spellingShingle | Annika Lems Existential Kinetics of Movement and Stasis: Young Eritrean Refugees' Thwarted Hopes of Movement-through-Education Suomen Antropologi existential anthropology mobility refugees education eritrea |
| title | Existential Kinetics of Movement and Stasis: Young Eritrean Refugees' Thwarted Hopes of Movement-through-Education |
| title_full | Existential Kinetics of Movement and Stasis: Young Eritrean Refugees' Thwarted Hopes of Movement-through-Education |
| title_fullStr | Existential Kinetics of Movement and Stasis: Young Eritrean Refugees' Thwarted Hopes of Movement-through-Education |
| title_full_unstemmed | Existential Kinetics of Movement and Stasis: Young Eritrean Refugees' Thwarted Hopes of Movement-through-Education |
| title_short | Existential Kinetics of Movement and Stasis: Young Eritrean Refugees' Thwarted Hopes of Movement-through-Education |
| title_sort | existential kinetics of movement and stasis young eritrean refugees thwarted hopes of movement through education |
| topic | existential anthropology mobility refugees education eritrea |
| url | https://journal.fi/suomenantropologi/article/view/77715 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT annikalems existentialkineticsofmovementandstasisyoungeritreanrefugeesthwartedhopesofmovementthrougheducation |