Return Migration and Psychosocial Wellbeing by Zana Vathi Russell King

Author:Zana Vathi, Russell King [Zana Vathi, Russell King]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367878320
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-12-12T00:00:00+00:00

What ‘burning without fire’ means: living as deportables in Sweden

The return process, fraught with anxiety as it is, can become overwhelming for migrants who resist the decision. This section explores the overarching fear of return frequently reiterated by irregular migrants themselves. Migrants at risk of deportation may be living in the Swedish Migration Agency’s accommodation, or in the community with their whereabouts known to the authorities; they may have absconded and be living in hiding; or they may be in detention. Some issues are common irrespective of their situation: for example, migrants mention mental health problems such as insomnia, paranoia, anxiety, physical manifestations of distress and a general sense of weariness often referred to as ‘ageing more rapidly’. There are also issues that are particular to their situation. Detention, for example, creates acute mental health problems and a total sense of powerlessness over their situation. This is supported by the study conducted by Puthoopparambil et al. (2015), who argue that migrants’ lack of control over their own lives in detention centres is key to understanding the detrimental effect of detention on migrants’ health.

Deportability in this study is broadly understood as constructing not only positions in the labour market (De Genova 2002) but, following Sager (2011: 162), also ‘positions in family life, in the streets and in relation to subjective experiences of the body, the self and the future’. Deportability, and the accompanying fear it provokes, has a profound effect on an individual’s life; it ‘organises a range of aspects relating to everyday life in clandestinity’ (Sager 2011: 162), and it has an effect on emotional wellbeing by creating a constant feeling of vulnerability and surveillance.

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