Böhme Claudia, Schmitz Anett
University of Trier, Universitätsring 15, 54296 Trier, Germany.
Comp Migr Stud. 2022;10(1):34. doi: 10.1186/s40878-022-00302-3. Epub 2022 Aug 25.
The global spread of the coronavirus pandemic has particularly dramatic consequences for the lives of migrants and refugees living in already marginalised and restricted conditions, whose ongoing crisis is at risk of being overlooked. But refugees are not only extremely vulnerable and at risk of infection, as several reports show, quickly develop their own protection measures like the production of hygienic products, the publication of their situation and calls for action and help. Therefore, this paper aims to research the effects of the coronavirus crisis on refugees in camp settings with a special ethnographic focus on how refugees actively deal with this crisis and if they, through already developed resilience, are capable of adapting to the restrictions as well as inventing strategies to cope with the difficult situation. To account for the variety of refugee camps as well as the different living conditions due to their locality, history and national asylum politics, we will look at three different locations, namely refugee asylum homes in Germany, hotspots on the Greek islands as well as one refugee camp in Kenya. The main questions will be how, under structurally and institutionally framed conditions of power and victimisation in refugee camps, forms of agency are established, made possible or limited. The goal is to show which strategies refugees apply to cope with the enhanced restrictions and exclusion, how they act to protect themselves and others from the virus and how they present and reflect their situation during the coronavirus pandemic. Finally, this discussion offers a new perspective to consider refugees not only as vulnerable victims, but also as actively engaged individuals.
冠状病毒大流行的全球蔓延对生活在已然边缘化和受限条件下的移民和难民的生活产生了尤为显著的影响，他们持续面临的危机有被忽视的风险。但正如几份报告所示，难民不仅极其脆弱且有感染风险，他们还迅速制定了自己的保护措施，比如生产卫生用品、公布自身状况并呼吁采取行动和提供帮助。因此，本文旨在研究冠状病毒危机对难民营中难民的影响，特别从人种志角度关注难民如何积极应对这场危机，以及他们是否凭借已形成的适应能力，能够适应这些限制并想出应对艰难处境的策略。考虑到难民营种类繁多，以及由于其地理位置、历史和国家庇护政策导致的不同生活条件，我们将考察三个不同地点，即德国的难民收容所、希腊诸岛的热点地区以及肯尼亚的一个难民营。主要问题将是，在难民营中权力和受害状况在结构和制度上既定框架的条件下，能动性的形式是如何确立、成为可能或受到限制的。目标是展示难民运用哪些策略来应对强化了的限制和排斥，他们如何采取行动保护自己和他人免受病毒侵害，以及他们在冠状病毒大流行期间如何呈现和反思自己的处境。最后，这场讨论提供了一个新视角，不仅将难民视为易受伤害的受害者，也将他们视为积极参与其中的个体。
