Mobility and security: the perceived benefits of citizenship for resettled young people from refugee backgrounds |
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Authors: | Caitlin Nunn Celia McMichael Sandra M. Gifford Ignacio Correa-Velez |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Social Inquiry, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Arts, Social Sciences and Commerce, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia;2. The Swinburne Institute for Social Research, School of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia;3. School of Public Health and Social Work, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia |
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Abstract: | In recent decades, the meaning and value of formal state citizenship has shifted dramatically. In the same period, scholarship on citizenship has drawn attention to the proliferation of alternative forms of sub-, supra- and transnational citizenship, at times obscuring the ongoing importance of formal state citizenship. For refugees, however, formal state citizenship remains a critical and widely shared goal. Drawing on interviews with 51 young people from refugee backgrounds in Melbourne, Australia, this article explores the intersecting themes of mobility and security that were identified by participants as the most important benefits of acquiring formal state citizenship in the country of resettlement. In contrast to the insecurity of forced migration, formal state citizenship provides a privileged mobility that enables refugee-background youth to maintain and create transnational identities and attachments and to be protected while doing so, while also granting a secure status within the nation state and insurance against further displacement in an uncertain future. In offering these forms of mobility and security, formal state citizenship contributes to a sense of ontological security among refugee-background youth, providing an important foundation for building national and transnational futures. |
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Keywords: | Citizenship refugee youth mobility ontological security resettlement |
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