Landing in a rural village: home and belonging from the perspectives of unaccompanied young refugees

This article explores how unaccompanied young refugees living in a rural village in Sweden make sense of home and belonging. From a post-structuralist approach, belonging and home are understood as ongoing processes that are negotiated with others, and via processes of othering and racialisation. This article demonstrates that the form of housing available, together with experiences of social exclusion in the village, may contribute to othering and thus challenge their feelings of home and belonging. However, they do construct some kinds of belonging and feelings of home based on social relationships and places that they have access to.