British Journal of Social Work
Volume 44, Issue 7, 2014, Pages 2023-2041

'That I live, that's because of her': Intersectionality as framework for unaccompanied refugee mothers (Article)

Vervliet M.* , De Mol J. , Broekaert E. , Derluyn I.
  • a Ghent University, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Social Welfare Studies, Henri Dunantlaan 2, Gent, 9000, Belgium
  • b Ghent University, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Social Welfare Studies, Henri Dunantlaan 2, Gent, 9000, Belgium
  • c Ghent University, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Social Welfare Studies, Henri Dunantlaan 2, Gent, 9000, Belgium
  • d Ghent University, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Social Welfare Studies, Henri Dunantlaan 2, Gent, 9000, Belgium

Abstract

Unaccompanied refugee mothers - young mothers living in another country and separated from their parents - are, in research and migration policies, often defined in terms of four social categories: refugee, unaccompanied, adolescent and mother. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty unaccompanied refugee mothers from different countries of origin and now living in Belgium to listen, first, to their feelings and experiences. These narratives revealed four central themes in the mothers' experiences (constrained and constraining daily living conditions, emotional challenges, connectedness and motherhood as a turning point), which appeared to be, in a second analysis, related to intersections between the four social categories. However, the intersectional analysis revealed large gaps between the mothers' and migration policies' interpretations of these categories: the mothers not only define the categories differently, but also set other priorities as they identify themselves first as mothers, while the policies prioritise their status as refugees. These findings, together with reflections on the value of adopting an intersectional perspective, lead to several recommendations for research, social work practices and migration policies. © 2013 The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Author Keywords

Refugees unaccompanied refugee adolescents Mothers Intersectionality

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84901290577&doi=10.1093%2fbjsw%2fbct060&partnerID=40&md5=6580e2f9677cefaf8db522631fdfa73d
DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bct060
ISSN: 00453102
Cited by: 17
Original Language: English