In recent years, the field of queer asylum studies has slowly been expanding in different contexts across the world, with numerous methodologies and various topics of focus. In Sweden, the academic work in this area has mainly focused on legal perspectives. Providing a different perspective, this thesis examines the situation and experiences of LGBTQ asylum seekers and refugees in Linköping, Sweden through a community-based collage project. It examines how collages can be used as a method for research and a tool for community building within this context, and explores the experiences of LGBTQ asylum seekers and refugees in Linköping, Sweden, using individual and group collages. Using the concept of bricolage, the thesis ties together various artworks with short narratives and analytical interpretations. Together, they form a fragmented, in itself collage-like insight into this community. Through these fragments, the thesis reflects on the themes of migration, belonging, survival, and identity. Additionally, it explores questions of home, family, refugeeness, mess, homonormativity and representation. I argue that commonly used narratives of migration often do not fit this group, as they face highly complex forms of oppression based on their intersecting identities. Furthermore, the thesis examines the use of collage as a method by looking into the ways collage can negotiate methodological issues like accessibility and researcher accountability, how it can function as a tool for community building, and how it can be used to allow a community researcher to negotiate their positionality in an easier way. I argue that the use of collage has many benefits and that the use of the collage method in this thesis has enriched the research.

Author: Amina Hassan & Ronhi Ak Title: Impact of asylum on asylum seekers Supervisor: Gunilla Carstensen The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of asylum seekers and understanding the asylum process and the perceived illness during the asylum process. The study also aims to map stigmatization in the concept of illness among asylum seekers. The theoretical basis of the essay is the theory of Antonovsky salutogenesis about the sense of context and Elias & Scotsons stigma theory. Qualitative interviews have been conducted with four people, all of whom have undergone an asylum process where the analysis was conducted using a thematic method of analysis. The result of the study shows that it is a psychologically and emotionally stressful process to apply for asylum, which affects the health. The uncertainty of not knowing whether to stay in the country in combination with the severe trauma from their country of origin give the interviewees an impression that the asylum process is stressful and places great mental demands on people. The main cause has been understanding of the asylum process, all interviewees showed a low sense of comprehension and it could be a contributing factor to the deterioration of health among asylum seekers. This results in their health deteriorating and they are likely to suffer from stress, depression and PTSD for the trauma they have experienced. As regards stigmatization, the results show that asylum seekers tend to avoid seeking help because of the fear of being isolated and stamped as a deviation of their own ethnic group. / Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka asylsökandes stresspåverkning och förståelse för asylprocessen samt den upplevda ohälsan under asylprocessen. Studien har även som avsikt att kartlägga stigmatiseringen i begreppet ohälsa bland asylsökande. Uppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkter är Antonovskys salutogenes teori om känslan av sammanhang och Elias & Scotsons stigmatiseringsteori. Kvalitativa intervjuer har genomförts med fyra personer som alla har genomgått en asylprocess där analyseringen gjorts med hjälp av en tematisk analysmetod. Resultatet av studien visar att det är en psykiskt och känslomässigt påfrestande process att ansöka om asyl, vilket också påverkar hälsan. Ovissheten kring att inte veta om man får stanna kvar i landet i kombination med svåra trauman från sitt hemland resulterar i att intervjupersonerna upplever asylprocessen påfrestande och ställer stora psykiska krav på personerna. Det som har varit den väsentliga påverkningsorsaken har varit förståelsen över asylprocessen, samtliga intervjupersoner uppvisade en låg känsla av begriplighet vilket kan vara en bidragande faktor till att hälsan försämras hos de asylsökande. Detta resulterar i att deras hälsa försämras och de riskerar att drabbas av stress, depressioner och PTSD p.g.a. trauman de har upplevt. När det gäller stigmatisering visar resultaten att asylsökande tenderar att undvika att söka hjälp på grund av rädslan för att bli isolerade och stämplade som avvikande av den egna etniska gruppen.

När förändringens vindar blåser och världen blir alltmer global, förändras även befolkningen i länderna världen över. Immigration blir en alltmer vanlig företeelse och Sverige är inget undantag. Vilka utmaningar står dessa immigranter inför i det nya landet gällande språk och inkludering? I denna studie har vi undersökt precis det genom observationer och intervjuer med vuxna asylsökande och volontärer i en biståndsorganisation i Västsverige. Denna organisation bedriver språkcafé där asylsökande och andra invandrare har chans att lära sig svenska genom samtal och umgänge med svenska volontärer samt andra invandrare. Essensen av vår empiri var att de asylsökande lärde sig genom socialt umgänge med svenskar och att en av de viktigaste förutsättningarna för lärande är en plats där sådant socialt utbyte kan ske. Det finns flera olika faktorer som påverkar inkludering, det har framkommit genom denna studie att språket är en av de viktigaste. För att kunna leva och verka i samhället krävs det att man kan kommunicera med människor, såväl i vardagen, som i skolan och på arbetsplatsen. / When the winds of change are blowing, and the world becomes a more global arena, the population in countries all over the world are changing. Immigration is becoming a common phenomenon all over the world and Sweden is not an exception. What are the challenges that these immigrants faces in their new country with regard to language and being a part of the community? In this study we have examined this through observations and interviews with adult asylum seekers and volunteers in a aid organisation located in the west of Sweden. This organisation operates a language café where asylum seekers and other immigrants are given a chance to learn Swedish through conversation and interaction with Swedish volunteers and other immigrants. The essence of our empiricism was that the asylum seekers learned through social interaction with swedes, and one of the most important conditions for learning is a place where such a kind of social exchange may happen. There are many different factors that affects how well immigrants will be included in society, this study have come to the conclusion that language is one of the most important. To be able to live and be a part of society it demands that you can communicate with other humans in everyday life, in school and at your worksite.

Magister Commercii - MCom / The objective of this study was to investigate some socio-demographic aspects and implications of youth unemployment in Galeshewe Township. The study makes use of descriptive statistics to analyze and interpret data collected from a random survey of 947 young persons aged between 18 and 35 years old. An individual questionnaire was administered during the interviews. The results indicate that most unemployed youths are between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-nine years and the majority of them are females. About 58.5% of the unemployed youths have completed secondary education, with 8.9% of them having obtained a tertiary diploma or degree. The majority of the youth do not have previous work experience and this handicaps their ability to secure employment. Most of these young people originate from areas outside Galeshewe. The views collected from the unemployed youth point to the need for government to ensure that tertiary education is accessible in the city in order to improve the level of education of the youth. The government also needs to provide more targeted job creation schemes, especially to those who did well at matriculation level, and to also empower the youth through other skills acquisitions as well as training and programmes that are available. / South Africa

Cette thèse se propose d'évaluer les modalités et l'organisation de l'accompagnement des demandeurs d'emploi au sein d'un opérateur privé de placement, le cabinet Sodie, afin d'en extraire les principaux leviers de performance. Dans un premier chapitre, nous analysons les effets théoriques et empiriques engendrés par les dispositifs d'accompagnement d'une part, et par le recours à la sous-traitance d'autre part. Le second chapitre porte sur le cadre institutionnel français de l'accompagnement des demandeurs d'emploi. Nous montrons dans quelle mesure le service public français de l'emploi répond aux critères d'efficacité énoncés dans le chapitre précédent. Dans un troisième chapitre, nous étudions comment la diversification des missions du cabinet et notamment la sous-traitance pour Pôle Emploi a modifié le travail des conseillers mais aussi l'organisation de la structure ainsi que ses méthodologies d'accompagnement. Le chapitre 4 porte sur une expérimentation contrôlée de deux dispositifs : les engagements mensuels de reclassement et la mise en place d'une plateforme Relation Entreprise destinée à prospecter le marché caché du travail. Nous mesurons l'impact d'un changement de méthodologie sur le reclassement durable des demandeurs d'emploi accompagnés. Le chapitre 5 porte sur les effets d'un choc d'information. Nous montrons comment les informations de profilage sont utilisées par les conseillers à travers l'impact sur les candidats sélectionnés et leur performance de reclassement. / This thesis proposes to evaluate methods and organization of placement of job-seekers in a private agency, Sodie. The goal is to show the most important performance levers. In the first chapter, we discuss the theoretical and empirical effects of placement on the one hand, and, on the other hand, of the use of private agencies. The second chapter focuses on the institutional framework of placement in France. We show how the French public employment service (Pôle Emploi) meets the performance criteria identified in the previous chapter. In the third chapter, we study how the diversification of missions including outsourcing for Pôle Emploi has changed the work of placement agents and the placement methods of Sodie. Chapter 4 focuses on a randomized experiment of two provisions : the “engagements mensuels de reclassement” and the implementation of the “plateforme Relation Entreprise” for exploring the “hidden” labor market. Chapter 5 focuses on the impact of a shock of information. We show how profiling informations is used by counselors through the impact on their choice of candidates and on their performance in rehabilitation.

Inspired by the Kratochvíl, Cibulková and Beník´s model of actorness, the thesis explores the framing power of UNHCR. The critical discourse analysis introduced by Norman Fairclough is applied in order to analyze the textual, contextual and sociocultural dimension of the UNHCR framing power. The case of Turkey was chosen for this study due to the current situation and the fact that Turkey is one of the biggest hosting country in the refugees´ crisis. Through the critical discourse analysis, the thesis explores whether UNHCR is considered as a framing actor in the case of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless people in Turkey. The analysis shows that UNHCR is globally respected and takes important part in the issue. However, not all of the international organizations refer to UNHCR as the lawmaker and the initiator of debates in the issues mentioned above.

This thesis explores how people struggle to make livable lives in the conditions of existence of seeking asylum in the UK. The study is based on ethnographic research, conversations and participant observation, with people seeking asylum in Manchester. Grounding the research in their narratives is a contribution to decolonizing knowledge and doing justice to the sentience of people who are marginalized and pathologized. The narratives are brought into dialogue with feminist and decolonial philosophy and political theory, and with empirical studies of 'refugeedom' from a number of disciplines, to produce a new field of connection from which to map the terrain involved in theorizing livability. While the whole thesis seeks to respond to the narratives, there is a detailed focus on three dimensions which participants emphasize as crucial to livability: settlement in Manchester; the prohibition of employment; the asylum application procedures. These are moments in which livability is claimed as both ethics and practice. From the perspective of the narratives and the ethics which permeate them, livability opens up into questions of recognition, social justice and care. People claim commonality: recognition as human, equality and inclusion in social goods, and care in public settings. These are the practical and ethical supports of livability. The narratives point also towards critiques of 'refugeedom', the policies and practices that form the discursive and material conditions within which people seeking asylum attempt to make livable lives.

An emphasis in political debates and much print media in the United Kingdom (UK) on perceived issues with ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity has contributed to a narrative of worry and fear. Despite such hostile discourse, people find ways of living together with diversity every day.  The encounters which I am concerned with in the following degree project are taking place through community theatre with Mafwa Theatre in Leeds where women from asylum seeker, refugee, and wider communities are socialising and cooperating over fun and simple drama activities. The purpose of this thesis is to better understand the different participants’ lived experiences of the theatre space, how they view their role in the group, and how they perceive diversity in the group. The research questions are explored with qualitative research methods of individual interviews with Mafwa members, the facilitators, and a volunteer, participant observation during the weekly drama sessions, and document analysis of printed, online, and audio materials. With this degree project, I aim to contribute to the discussion about everyday multiculturalism and living with diversity in the UK. The theoretical framework consists of the concept of hospitality which helps me explore how hospitable spaces are shaped and negotiated by different contributors, and conviviality which embraces the complexity of social relations without romanticising them and can help us reach a better understanding of how to live together without a fear for each other’s differences.  The findings show that the different participants view the drama group as a hospitable community of acceptance and respect within a hostile environment for asylum seekers and refugees at the national level. The space offers a well-needed opportunity for the women to have fun, develop their creative skills, and escape day-to-day concerns. Moreover, the study shows that besides being proud co-producers of artistic practice, all participants are also active co-creators of shaping the hospitable space and a ‘convivial culture’. Finally, despite misunderstandings and disagreements in the group, the participants express having bonded over similarities and learned from differences rather than describing diversity as something to fear.

This thesis investigates how a change in the municipal asylum seeker share affects voting for the Sweden Democrats (SD), a far-right anti-immigration party, in both national Parliament and Municipal Council elections in Sweden. To circumvent the endogeneity problem, I use an instrumental variables strategy where the share of available apartments in Allmännyttan is used as an instrument for the municipal share of asylum seekers living in Migration Agency provided accommodation (ABO). I have exploited municipal level panel data on municipality characteristics, allocations of asylum seekers and national elections. I am not able to find support for any effect of a change in the municipal share of asylum seekers on voting for the Sweden Democrats. Consequently, I cannot provide any support for either the group position theory or the contact hypothesis.

The aim of this study is to analyse the security implications of refugee flows to South Africa. The country is reputed to host the largest number of refugees and asylum seekers in the world and is also the foremost refugee destination of choice on the African continent. It therefore becomes pertinent that a consideration of the security implications is necessary in this age of global migration. The dissertation is based on three main assumptions to be investigated and tested, namely: > The main causes of refugee flows to South Africa reside in a number of push-factors in the sending countries, but also in a number of pull-factors in South Africa. > The security implications of refugee flows to South Africa are exacerbated by a number of political, socio-economic and administrative issues in South Africa. > Although concern over some of the security issues relating to refugee flows to South Africa have been officially expressed, policy responses have been ambiguous. The study is undertaken against the background of the concept of national security, specifically in developing countries. It is within these parameters that the security implications of refugees in South Arica are analysed, especially from the perspective of political, economic, social and environmental dimensions. The study mainly focuses on the period 1994 to 2010, as it is within this period that major developments regarding refugee issues in South Africa occurred. / Dissertation (MSecurity Studies)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Political Sciences / Unrestricted