Psychogeography of Refugee Youth from Ukraine in Weimar, Germany: Navigating the Sense of Belonging in the Context of Liminality
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Background and Context
1.2. The Temporary Protection (TP)
1.3. Refugee Youth in the Context of Liminality
1.4. Sense of Belonging
1.5. Psychogeography
Psychogeography could set for itself the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals. The adjective psychogeographical, retaining a rather pleasing vagueness, can thus be applied to the findings arrived at by this type of investigation, to their influence on human feelings, and even more generally to any situation or conduct that seems to reflect the same spirit of discovery.
1.6. Aim of the Study and Research Question
- What can the refugee youth’s emotional experiences and association in Weimar tell us about their sense of belonging to a new locality?
- Which factors influence a sense of (non)belonging among refugee youth from Ukraine?
- How is the sense of (non)belonging impacted by the context of liminality?
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Weimar’s Urban Environment
2.2. Mental Maps
2.3. Photo Elicitation Interviews (PEI)
2.4. Data Collection
- Collecting the socio-demographic data (5–10 min);
- Mental mapping (20 min);
- Semi-structured interview about the drawn mental maps (20–40 min);
- Photo elicitation interview (10–20 min);
- Semi-structured interview about the general experience of belonging and belonging in Weimar (10–15 min).
2.4.1. Sample
2.4.2. Mental Mapping
2.4.3. Photo Elicitation Interviews (PEIs)
- (1)
- Landmarks/spaces, in which refugee youth in Weimar are likely to have experience. This insight has been gained through the author’s voluntary work with refugee youth (outside of research), as well as through their familiarity with the locations in question.
- (2)
- The landmarks in Weimar, which are generally considered as well-known among residents, thereby a likelihood of a joint understanding is enabled.
2.5. Data Analysis
2.5.1. Mental Maps Analysis
2.5.2. Interviews Analysis
2.6. Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Trauma-Oriented Approach
3. Results
3.1. Mental Maps Results
3.1.1. Mechanics of Method (MOM)
3.1.2. Drawing Elements (DE) and Personalization (P)
3.1.3. Narratives of Place (NOP)
3.2. Interview Results
- Finding safety;
- Gaining an understanding of the new locality;
- Strengthening the connection with the city through further social engagement and vice versa;
- Developing a sense of growth and agency in a context of liminality;
- Negotiating the sense of belonging between solidarity and hostility.
3.2.1. Finding Safety (Physical and Mental)
Role of Informal Arrival Infrastructures
Host Families
Informal Refugee Shelter Run by OMA
I liked OMA, at first there was food, a cafe, you could play the guitar there, there was a piano. But I always went there with new friends to drink coffee. It was the only place where at that time my stepfather would let me go … in OMA we rested, just played there and later had some concerts. And there I also met some volunteers. They helped me a little. I asked questions like, how long they studied German, how it was to find friends and understand how everything works here. And it helped me a lot, they shared that there are a lot of students here, it’s a lot of fun, and you can learn German, it’s not very difficult”. I felt like, well, okay. It doesn’t look as bad as it could be. It calmed me down a bit.(Solomiya)
Role of Symbols of Solidarity
There was some psychological support from the fact that you are not alone here, that there are people around you, that there are people with the same views, that they care.(Oksana)
So they hung the flag, and it meant so much to me, this readiness and even support, even simple in some small acts, really impressed me. And I was proud to be a part of this community.(Svitlana)
Then next to a big chair there is a banner with the Ukrainian flag hanging above it. By the way, one of the few aspects to which I first paid attention in Weimar are Ukrainian flags. There was one near the Nahkauf, near Bauhaus, on the Market Square; While walking around the city again and again, I paid attention to this. It felt good, it felt like support. Hilfe hilft (Help helps).(Mykhailo)
Factors that Jeopardize the Sense of Safety
I don’t always participate because I’m being careful. I’m still not so long here … You don’t want to be violated. I don’t want violence.(Sergio)
I dont go there often, and I am very uncomfortable there, because somebody who tried to sexually hit on me when I was still a minor works there.(Solomiya)
About this place, about this square. I rarely go there, because a few months ago, one of my friends was beaten up there very badly, because he is a leftist. I just fear going out in the evening, because I’m alone and with my hair and piercings. On top of this being an Ausländer (foreigner) … well, I hang out with folks who are ANTIFA, and because of that you just walk down the street, I don’t know, through the library in the evening, and there are already dudes with cool cars standing there, honking, screaming at you. Because from the beginning of me being here I looked a little emo. There were comments, and also because I speak another language.(Solomiya)
I feel more free here because if I were to go somewhere with this hairstyle and this strange make-up and wearing colorful stuff like this in my hometown, I could get in trouble … it’s also easier to be queer here.(Solomiya)
I don’t want to perceive people purely because of where they were born, but, from experience, this is rather an exception when people are really reflected at such a level, that despite their origin, they understand what is happening and separate themselves from this toxicity and imperialism, and chauvinism and so on. Therefore, as soon as I hear Russian, I immediately go somewhere else because here it can mean a real threat.(Svitlana)
Well, the war started, and maybe a month, maybe two passed. I was leaving work, and I was passing by here, and I saw those people. They handed out flyers and stood with russian flags, stood with all that. And I was so shocked, I was so surprised. I could not understand. It caused me a storm of emotions. After that, I walked all the way home, so broken. When I came home I cried. I could not understand what was happening. I couldn’t believe that it was reality … It feels like you see people who don’t want you to exist. It’s against your existence.(Svitlana)
This winter, when I passed by the Theater Platz, well, I saw them there, and I burst into tears, because it was disgusting to see it all. Seeing the policemen who are supposed to protect them was disgusting. And I thought only about what they support and what russia is doing to my country and to the people in my country. And I was just super hurt that this was happening because they were allowing this to happen. I was passing by, I was writhing and showing that I was angry. I looked at the policemen (grims face) And then I couldn’t and started crying. That’s all.(Yuliia)
I try not to go out on Monday nights because I really don’t like it. Not even that it’s scary, I just hate to even think about it. I don’t want to, and every time I hear it, everything tightens up inside.(Solomiya)
What you see is you live in the cultural capital, you live in a city that has experienced a lot, you think that the locals. Well, you have to learn from history somehow, learn some lessons from history, but you see that people don’t, people don’t pay attention to it at all.(Mykhailo)
Role of Green Spaces
I really like to see what they are doing. How they react to certain things, how they walk, what they do … It really helps to ground yourself somehow.(Solomiya)
I think at some point it (Ilm Park) was saving my sanity very much. Because there is a moment when you move to a new city and you don’t have many friends and that’s why you walk a lot in the park by yourself with headphones, or read a book in the warm season. I probably already know every stone in the park, but still I walk there almost every day. That’s why it’s big on my map.(Oksana)
In the park you just cross over those places that you fell in love with visually, and which you somehow enjoy going to. Especially in combination with your favorite playlist, as well as the feeling of being able to sit down, take a sketchbook to draw, write poems, when the mood strikes.(Artem)
3.2.2. Gaining an Understanding of the New Locality
I think, if you don’t know something, it’s a kind of a fear, even a banal comparison with the darkness. That we are afraid because we don’t know what’s out there. It’s the same with the city.(Dmytro)
Size of the City/Weimar Urban Fabric
I’ve never lived in a very small city, it’s a new experience for me. Because Zaporizhzhia is not small, Kyiv is not small. But I like it in a way. I know a lot of people and there is a strange feeling of a community because you walk down the street and you meet people you know. And this, too, I think, has changed my perception of myself a little bit. In general, I gained a lot of self-confidence during my stay in Weimar. I stopped being so stressed in Weimar. Not that it changed my personality, but the mindset a little bit, and it grounds you in a way. And I think it had a good effect on my mental state. And especially on my post-traumatic state. I think that people who live in big cities with the same background as mine, maybe they experience a lot more stress. Weimar takes away this factor.(Oksana)
-After all, everything in Kharkiv was good, you know everything, you get more and more attached to a place. And it’s like tearing off a plaster and gluing it to another place. And it takes some time before you can stick completely to one place. And the bigger the city, the harder it is to stick to it.-So you think that the size of the city aids that?-Yes, confidence, confidence that you know everything here, you belong.(Dmytro)
Role of Youth Initiative talentCAMPus
I mean, the first impressions were kind of negative. And then VHS (talentCAMPus) started. We went there, and I made some friends there, walked around Weimar a little bit, and went on some excursions. And then I started to like it more.(Solomiya)
I just really, really wanted to communicate with someone, and just have some kind of contact with other people. And there were Ukrainians there who were in the same situation and even people my age. And it helped me a lot to start living again. And plus I tried to learn at least a little German there. It helped to orient myself more, it was not scary to go to the store. And through VHS I found a local friend and he introduced me then to other people. And simply because of this, I already started to find some contacts with other places and people in Weimar.(Solomiya)
Socialization, first of all, very cool. Secondly, we found something for the children to do, so they had something to distract them. Maybe they went through something, or maybe they have some problems at home, and so this project was a place for them to play and be children. I think it was a point where there was a lot of connecting. A lot of contacts came about because of this, even after the kids were scattered to different schools, they still communicated with each other. I mean, I see it regularly when I pass by there, I see our children meeting at the same spot, even now that the project is over. Perhaps due to the fact that it is a small town. And that there is a lot here, everyone knows everyone. Relatively speaking, it helped me make my way there. Conventionally speaking, and with VHS, for example, that is, to somehow connect everything with each other. You can really get something really cool through acquaintances. And they can also find people through acquaintances who would be useful.(Mykhailo)
3.2.3. Strengthening the Connection with the City through Further Social Engagement and Vice Versa
I didn’t really know anything about Weimar-West before this project. I was there just a couple of times when I was walking around, looking at what was there. I saw that the architecture was very different from the rest of Weimar, but that’s it. After this project, first of all, I learned a lot of new things and I liked it because I want to know more about the place where I live. And my attitude to this neighborhood has changed from seeing it just as an ordinary residential area.(Dmytro)
Engagement with the City through the Punk House
And the first time I saw it, I thought it was some kind of drug den. Well, really. But then, one of my friends had some other acquaintances. And I went in, and saw that, in principle, there are adequate people there. Of course, it looks very interesting, because it’s a little like here, that all the walls have something painted on them, something is hanging, something is stuck on the ceiling, or some kind of graffiti. And this is very cool because there is no such location in Ukraine, which was completely in the hands of teenagers. You can draw everything that your soul thinks could fit here, and you can implement it here. It’s very cool. Besides, there are also a lot of German teenagers there, and you can get to know each other and chat. I don’t know, there’s something to learn there, about Weimar itself, or about German education. It’s also very interesting, and besides, there are parties there.(Dmytro)
And I just have another problem with the fact that I don’t feel very free at home, because I have big problems with my family right now. And I really don’t like just being at home. I try to be there as little as possible. I just sleep there and even that is not always. Therefore, in Gerber, this place helped me a lot, because I had a place where I could hide and not be at home. To not sit somewhere on the street starving … And now I feel more free there. You just come, sit, rest, watch, talk to someone, play some games, or just hang out. You can prepare something to eat there. And I really like the fact that there is such a place here, in Weimar, where, I don’t know, you can feel free and calmly do whatever you want.(Solomiya)
Because in reality, there are no such places where you can just go in, sit down, nobody will say a word to you. Besides, it’s warm, it’s interesting, just to be there, to see what’s hanging on the walls, some graphics, various inscriptions, to read. Because sometimes there are some interesting socio-political expressions in German, or some more cultural expressions in terms of something from a movie or from some songs, from books, so you can learn a lot about Germany from just studying the walls there.(Dmytro)
Ukrainian Community
International Community
I guess it’s just Weimar, living here has opened up so many opportunities for me to learn more about other cultures or other countries. Now the circle of friends I have in Weimar is very international, for example. People from completely different continents, speaking completely different languages, and yet they all have the same problems, relatively speaking. It has opened up more for me not only in some educational terms. I’m happy that I have a lot of international friends now.(Oksana)
For all my seventeen years, before we came to Weimar, I had no international contacts at all. And here there is a huge diversity. I can sometimes just read about a country, understand its culture, and then talk to a representative of that culture and compare my knowledge, and to be honest, it’s sometimes amazing, because no matter how you do it, you are learning something for yourself to improve your understanding of the whole world.(Artem)
You know, to visit a place, you sometimes just need to meet a person from that place. You don’t even have to go there. And that was the most interesting thing for me, just to dive into their world a little bit, talking to them. And they showed me, for example, a cafe in Weimar where you can get the most authentic taste of Chinese or South Korean food. Plus some new places that I didn’t know about.(Dmytro)
Engaging with the City through Street Music
And it is precisely on Schiller Strasse and Theater Platz that it often happens that someone stops and listens to you. Well, that feels great and cool.(Dmytro)
People here listen to me. And … There is some kind of feedback even when they don’t stop. There are some who stop and just listen. There are some who, when they approach, ask what this song is, in what language. And they just pay some attention to me.(Solomiya)
They pay more attention not to themselves, but to what is happening around them, and are not so much in a hurry, not so busy with something. Well, plus it was still summer. And before you go out to play more for yourself, and not just to earn money, you can meet someone you know there, sit together, chat. And it really helps you to feel like a part of this city.(Dmytro)
Because when you’re just walking down the street, you’re walking with the crowd. And when you stand and play, and watch people pass by, for, I don’t know, an hour, you stand in one place and play music. And you see people passing by, what they are doing, then they go back, then you meet someone you know, then you see how someone bought ice cream, sat down, began to eat the ice cream, then the child started running, etc. And you just see all this fuss from the other side. You kind of stop at that moment. It somehow makes you pay more attention to the people and the city.(Solomiya)
3.2.4. Developing a Sense of Growth and Agency in a Context of Liminality
There is this strange moment when you are a young person of university age, but you are not a student in Weimar. It’s such a strange thing, really. I think not many people talk about it here. if you’re young and you want to develop and so on, Weimar is a great place for that, in my opinion. But you have to find a way to enter the community. People think you are studying at university. And this sometimes brings some discomfort, because you feel like an outsider, that you cannot support these same topics. It’s a little easier for me because I know a lot of people from the student community. For example, my friends who have been connected to the university. I even visited some classes as a guest, including the Ukrainian Cities class. It’s a little easier for me because I know people, but I don’t have a direct strong association with the university. This is such a tricky point in Weimar, I would say to be a youth in Weimar.(Oksana)
At that time, in the beginning, I had absolutely no friends here. I remember I really envied people here. For example, I was walking in the park, and some young people were hanging out there, doing homework after school, sitting on the stairs, stuff like that. I really wanted this too, I remember feeling very sad and telling myself that in a year I would sit the same way, I promised myself. I remember thinking that people have an interesting life, but they don’t have the same problems. They are just living normal lives now, nothing has changed for them. Just school, holidays, something else. It was very surreal for me. And then, six months later, I don’t know, I myself was already sitting there with these people. I played the guitar at the Theater Square. That’s why we often sit there with friends, and sometimes we just play music for money.(Solomiya)
I think I’ve grown up and have changed. Two years is long, and being 16 is quite a young age to face all these hardships. And a lot of it is thanks to the conditions I had in this situation, for which I am grateful. Well, yes, I went through difficult realizations of everything to the possibility of feeling completely calm in this place.(Artem)
For me, moving here was something like the beginning of a new, more mature life. Because before I lived with a family, but here I am, in principle, alone. And it’s, you know, like this novel “City” by Pidmohylnyi. And it was, you know, something like that. Yes, this is not Kyiv, but here I had to completely search for my new self, create it, because here, after all, everything fell on me to prepare for myself, to deal with documents myself, to rely on myself from the financial side and be more open to change.(Dmytro)
I want to have an influence, a positive influence of course. And like I said if you want to make an influence or you want to make a positive change then of course the place has to be home first. You cannot be an outsider to make a change.(Sergio)
3.2.5. Developing a Sense of Belonging between Solidarity and Hostility
Well, home is anywhere. Home is anywhere I find myself. I make the place, I find myself home. You know, when I was in Ukraine, I stayed in Ukraine for ten years, but I lived there for ten years. So it was home and it’s still home. Ukraine is still my home. You know I miss it anyways. But I’m in Weimar, and Weimar has given a lot and so it is home now. So when I’m here I feel at home of course. When I travel around and I come home, I’m happy to be back to Weimar. Because it has become home.(Sergio)
At first glance, it just seems that Weimar is very small, there is nothing interesting here, but in general, if you know the city, then you know everything can be found here. There is an active life here and I like to be a part of this active life.(Solomiya)
Belonging? It is very important for me, because I have a very big fear of not being liked, that I will impose myself, that I will have no place.(Solomiya)
-What is a sense of belonging for you?-Trust.-And how does this trust manifest itself?-It manifests itself in general by the fact that I know I’m safe here. And I know that if I want to do something in this place, go somewhere, see someone, it will be comfortable, easy, and fast.-And do you feel this trust here, in the city of Weimar?-Yes(Yuliia)
Probably, first of all, belonging is the comfort of being around. As a socially anxious person, I don’t feel comfortable putting myself out there, and if I feel that I don’t belong here, then it’s very difficult to deal with it. Therefore, I think that for me it is about comfort, about understanding, about being understood … A sense of security, of course, too. Because if you belong here, people won’t look at you with hostility or show some kind of aggression. Of course, it’s easier for me in this regard. People might think I’m German if I don’t speak. Let’s say so. But this is the kind of thing that, in principle, I did not encounter very much. I was fortunate to.(Oksana)
It’s what makes me connected to the city, when the basic commodities are available, and also your job. And then you feel connected to the city, because you can survive there … So these are some of the things that make me feel connected to this place. And I mean the amazing atmosphere. The people. Where the people are not racist. Yeah. So you feel cool and connected to that place because you just feel comfortable.(Sergio)
Belonging for me is having memories and connection … Just the simplest walks with friends, gatherings somewhere, I don’t know, even helping a grandmother cross the road, or helping when someone just lost something, that’s what it is, simple uncomplicated human kindness, help, cooperation, what ordinary people do.-And do you feel it here?-Yes, I do. I think I feel the sense of belonging here so far also because Germans and Germany have been so helpful.(Dmytro)
Derussify! Get rid of or contextualize Pushkin monument, get rid of the names like Moskau Straße, or Russischer Hof. When people come to you, when you find out that a person is from Ukraine, do not say hello in Russian, learn a Ukrainian word Vitayu instead. If you have memorized one Russian word, you can very easily memorize one Ukrainian word. It’s as simple as that. In fact, I don’t think people like me need that much. Locals just need to realize that these things are very triggering, and they need to pay attention to it, because they have the opportunity to do it, they have the privilege to do it, and they need to be willing to do it. I think that it would be desirable, I would really like to see more Ukrainian representation in the city … It would make the city feel so much more comfortable, so much more at home.(Yuliia)
I think of Weimar with great honor. With respect to people who have done a lot for me, the people I met during all this time in Weimar. I want to thank Weimar for bringing me to these people and for the shelter it provided me with.(Yuliia)
Considering the circumstances under which I ended up here, I have had a very successful integration process with the community and the city. This is something that I would like to wish for those people who will stay here for some time, and especially for those who plan to stay here for a long time, I hope they feel connected to the city because otherwise, it’s scary.(Mykhailo)
Anywhere I go, I like to identify with the people. I am trying to come out the most, come out, and mingle with German people. So I don’t see myself as just a passerby, but I want to make an impact in the city in a way that I can—positive. But I’m still thinking and planning on how I can do it. And those will be number one—I have to improve my German. Number two, I want to believe there is something I can do politically. Maybe. And yeah, it’ll be cool to see someone of my skin color in the Weimar Parliament! That’s what they mean. Bringing a different kind of idea.(Sergio)
4. Discussion
- Finding safety;
- Gaining an understanding of the new locality;
- Strengthening the connection with the city through further social engagement and vice versa;
- Developing a sense of growth and agency in a context of liminality;
- Negotiating the sense of belonging between solidarity and hostility.
5. Limitations
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
- Ager, Alastair, and Alison Strang. 2008. Understanding Integration: A Conceptual Framework. Journal of Refugee Studies 21: 166–91. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Albrecht, Clara, and Tetyana Panchenko. 2022. Refugee Flow from Ukraine: Origins, Effects, Scales and Consequences. CESifo Forum. München: Ifo Institut-Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung an der Universität München, vol. 23. [Google Scholar]
- Alkhaled, Sophie, and Innan Sasaki. 2022. Syrian Women Refugees: Coping with indeterminate liminality during forcible displacement. Organization Studies 43: 1583–605. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Amisi, Baruti Bahati. 2006. An Exploration of the Livelihood Strategies of Durban Congolese Refugees. UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Working Paper. p. 123. Available online: https://www.refworld.org/reference/nirrs/unhcr/2006/en/87104 (accessed on 20 January 2024).
- Anthias, Floya. 2006. Belongings in a Globalising and Unequal World: Rethinking Translocations. The Situated Politics of Belonging 7: 17–31. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Antonsich, Marco. 2010. Searching for Belonging—An Analytical Framework. Geography Compass 4: 644–59. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Anzoise, Valentina, and Cristiano Mutti. 2012. Representing Perception: Integrating Photo-Elicitation and Mental Maps in the Study of Urban Landscape. In Sociology of the Visual Sphere. London: Routledge, pp. 129–59. [Google Scholar]
- Bartholomae, Florian, Chang Woon Nam, and Alina Schoenberg. 2017. Urban Resurgence as a Consumer City: A Case Study for Weimar in Eastern Germany. CESifo Working Paper 6610: 1–21. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Baum, Fran, Colin MacDougall, and Danielle Smith. 2006. Participatory action research. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 60: 854–57. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Baumeister, Roy F., and Mark R. Leary. 1995. The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin 117: 497–529. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Blokland, Talja, and Julia Nast. 2014. From Public Familiarity to Comfort Zone: The Relevance of Absent Ties for Belonging in Berlin’s Mixed Neighbourhoods. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 38: 1142. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Bockarova, Mariana. 2016. Does one truly need to belong?: A case for the need to meaningfully exist. Semiotica 2016: 251–57. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Bonnett, Alastair. 1989. Situationism, Geography, and Poststructuralism. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 7: 131–46. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Brar-Josan, Novjyot Joti. 2015. Developing A Sense of Belonging During Resettlement Amongst Former Refugee Young Adults. Ph.D. thesis, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. [Google Scholar]
- Bridger, Alexander John. 2013. Psychogeography and feminist methodology. Feminism & Psychology 23: 285–98. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Bruno, Giuliana. 2002. Atlas of Emotion: Journeys in Art, Architecture, and Film. Verso. Available online: https://books.google.de/books?id=4F4PKXuC2HEC (accessed on 10 January 2024).
- Bundesministerium der Justiz. 2023. Bundesgesetzblatt Teil I—Verordnung zur Regelung der Fortgeltung der gemäß § 24 Absatz 1 Aufenthaltsgesetz erteilten Aufenthaltserlaubnisse für vorübergehend Schutzberechtigte aus der Ukraine—Bundesgesetzblatt. Available online: https://www.recht.bund.de/bgbl/1/2023/334/VO (accessed on 18 July 2024).
- Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend. 2019. In gemeinsamer Verantwortung. Politik für, mit und von Jugend. Die Jugendstrategie der Bundesregierung. Berlin. Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend. Referat Öffentlichkeitsarbeit. Available online: https://www.bmfsfj.de/resource/blob/146330/a6f7b2c5fbd995374eb7e7c22b8a4777/in-gemeinsamer-verantwortung-politik-fuer-mit-und-von-jugend-die-jugendstrategie-der-bundesregierung-data.pdf (accessed on 20 July 2024).
- Bürgin, David, Dimitris Anagnostopoulos, Benedetto Vitiello, Thorsten Sukale, Marc Schmid, and Jörg M. Fegert. 2022. Impact of war and forced displacement on children’s mental health—Multilevel, needs-oriented, and trauma-informed approaches. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 31: 845–53. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Casey, Steven, and Jonathan Wright. 2008. Mental Maps in the Era of Two World Wars. Palgrave Macmillan. Available online: https://books.google.de/books?id=6d0jAQAAIAAJ (accessed on 10 January 2024).
- Chen, Shiqi, and Robert D. Schweitzer. 2019. The Experience of Belonging in Youth from Refugee Backgrounds: A Narrative Perspective. Journal of Child and Family Studies 28: 1977–90. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Clark, Cindy Dell. 1999. The Autodriven interview: A photographic viewfinder into children’s experiences. Visual Sociology 14: 39–50. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Clark-Ibáñez, Marisol. 2004. Framing the Social World With Photo-Elicitation Interviews. American Behavioral Scientist 47: 1507–27. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Colic-Peisker, Val. 2005. ‘At Least You’re the Right Colour’: Identity and Social Inclusion of Bosnian Refugees in Australia. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 31: 615–38. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Connolly, Kate, and Ashifa Kassam. 2024. Germans Take to Streets after AfD Meeting on Mass Deportation Plan. The Guardian. January 16. Available online: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/16/germans-take-to-streets-to-oppose-far-right-afds-mass-deportation-plan (accessed on 20 January 2024).
- Coverley, Merlin. 2006. Psychogeography. Pocket Essentials. Available online: https://books.google.de/books?id=ftQRAQAAIAAJ (accessed on 22 January 2024).
- Çağlar, Ayse, and Nina Glick Schiller. 2018. Migrants and City-MakingDispossession, Displacement, and Urban Regeneration. Durham: Duke University Press. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Debord, Guy. 1955. Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography. Kelowna: Praxis (e)Press. [Google Scholar]
- Dereli, Begüm. 2022. Belonging through Higher Education: The Case of Syrian Youth in Turkey. Journal of Refugee Studies 35: 195–219. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Didkowsky, Nora, Michael Ungar, and Linda Liebenberg. 2010. Using Visual Methods to Capture Embedded Processes of Resilience for Youth across Cultures and Contexts. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 19: 12–18. [Google Scholar]
- Downs, Roger M., and David Stea. 2011. Cognitive Maps and Spatial Behaviour: Process and Products. In The Map Reader, 1st ed. Edited by Martin Dodge, Rob Kitchin and Chris Perkins. Hoboken: Wiley, pp. 312–17. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Duyvendak, Jan Willem. 2011. New Ways of Home-making: Feeling at Home in the Community? In The Politics of Home: Belonging and Nostalgia in Western Europe and the United States. Edited by Jan Willem Duyvendak. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 62–83. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Ehrkamp, Patricia, and Helga Leitner. 2006. Rethinking Immigration and Citizenship: New Spaces of Migrant Transnationalism and Belonging. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 38: 1591–97. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Epstein, Russell A., Eva Zita Patai, Joshua B. Julian, and Hugo J. Spiers. 2017. The cognitive map in humans: Spatial navigation and beyond. Nature Neuroscience 20: 1504–13. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Freund-Möller, Cynthia, Johannes Streitberger, Matthias Koch, Marius Miehlke, Carolin Lorenz, Marie Mohrmüller, Annika Kleinschmitt, Frederike Wistuba, and Jakob Thinius. 2022. Wem gehört der Montag? Montagsdemonstrationen im Herbst 2022 in Thüringen: Bericht über die Befragung von Demonstrierenden. Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. Available online: https://www.komrex.uni-jena.de/komrexmedia/3060/wem-gehoert-der-montag-28-06-2023-1-digitalversion.pdf (accessed on 25 January 2024).
- Gambaro, Ludovica, Daniel Kemptner, Lisa Pagel, Laura Schmitz, and C. Katharina Spieß. 2020. Integration of Refugee Children and Adolescents in and out of School: Evidence of Success but Still Room for Improvement. DIW Weekly Report. Berlin: Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Gantt, Linda, and Louis W. Tinnin. 2009. Support for a neurobiological view of trauma with implications for art therapy. The Arts in Psychotherapy 36: 148–53. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Gieseking, Jen Jack. 2013. Where We Go From Here: The Mental Sketch Mapping Method and Its Analytic Components. Qualitative Inquiry 19: 712–24. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Gould, Peter R. 1966. On Mental Maps. Department of Geography, University of Michigan. Available online: https://books.google.de/books?id=HWpXNAEACAAJ (accessed on 25 January 2024).
- Götz, Norbert, and Janne Holmén. 2018. Introduction to the theme issue: “Mental maps: Geographical and historical perspectives”. Journal of Cultural Geography 35: 157–61. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Green, Amber, and Myriam Denov. 2019. Mask-Making and Drawing as Method: Arts-Based Approaches to Data Collection With War-Affected Children. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 18: 160940691983247. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Hagerty, Bonnie M. K., Judith Lynch-Sauer, Kathleen L. Patusky, Maria Bouwsema, and Peggy Collier. 1992. Sense of belonging: A vital mental health concept. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 6: 172–77. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Hanson, Steve. 2007. Mind the Gap: Psychogeography as an Expanded Tradition. Street Signs 6: 10–13. [Google Scholar]
- Harper, Douglas. 2002. Talking about pictures: A case for photo elicitation. Visual Studies 17: 13–26. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Haswell, Nick. 2023. Nature and Belonging in the Lives of Young Refugees: A Relational Wellbeing Perspective. Social Sciences 12: 611. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Hessey, Krista. 2024. Germany Has Taken in 1.1M Ukrainians and Is Running Out of Places to House Them—National | Globalnews.ca. Global News. Available online: https://globalnews.ca/news/10252894/germany-ukraine-refugee-housing/ (accessed on 10 March 2024).
- Howard-Grenville, Jennifer, Karen Golden-Biddle, Jennifer Irwin, and Jina Mao. 2011. Liminality as Cultural Process for Cultural Change. Organization Science 22: 522–39. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Huang, Larke N., Rebecca Flatow, Tenly Biggs, Sara Afayee, Kelley Smith, Thomas Clark, and Mary Blake. 2014. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. [Google Scholar]
- Huizinga, Rik P., and Bettina Van Hoven. 2018. Everyday geographies of belonging: Syrian refugee experiences in the Northern Netherlands. Geoforum 96: 309–17. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Huynh, Niem Tu, G. Brent Hall, Sean T. Doherty, and Wayne W. Smith. 2008. Interpreting urban space through cognitive map sketching and sequence analysis. Canadian Geographies/Géographies Canadiennes 52: 222–40. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- International Organization for Migration (IOM). 2022. DTM Ukraine—Internal Displacement Report—General Population Survey Round 5 (17–23 May 2022). Kyiv: IOM. [Google Scholar]
- Jackson Sow, Marissa. 2022. Ukrainian Refugees, Race, and International Law’s Choice Between Order and Justice. American Journal of International Law 116: 698–709. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Johnsen, Christian Garmann, and Bent Meier Sørensen. 2015. ‘It’s capitalism on coke!’: From temporary to permanent liminality in organization studies. Culture and Organization 21: 321–37. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Kestenberg, Milton, and Judith S. Kestenberg. 1988. The sense of belonging and altruism in children who survived the Holocaust. Psychoanalytic Review 75: 533–60. [Google Scholar]
- Kitchen, Peter, Allison M. Williams, and Melissa Gallina. 2015. Sense of belonging to local community in small-to-medium sized Canadian urban areas: A comparison of immigrant and Canadian-born residents. BMC Psychology 3: 28. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Kreichauf, René, and Birgit Glorius. 2021. Introduction: Displacement, asylum and the city—Theoretical approaches and empirical findings. Urban Geography 42: 869–93. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Lamba, Navjot K., and Harvey Krahn. 2003. Social capital and refugee resettlement: The social networks of refugees in Canada. Journal of International Migration and Integration 4: 335–60. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Lee, Roger. 2006. The ordinary economy: Tangled up in values and geography. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 31: 413–32. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Lynch, Kevin. 1960. The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [Google Scholar]
- Mahar, Alyson L., Virginie Cobigo, and Heather Stuart. 2013. Conceptualizing belonging. Disability and Rehabilitation 35: 1026–32. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Mahmud, Basem. 2021. Emotions and Belonging in Forced Migration: Syrian Refugees and Asylum Seekers, 1st ed. London: Routledge. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Martin, Shirley, Deirdre Horgan, Jacqui O’Riordan, and Reana Maier. 2023. Refugee and migrant children’s views of integration and belonging in school in Ireland—And the role of micro- and meso-level interactions. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1–20. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Maslow, Abraham H. 1954. Motivation and Personality. Vancouver: Harpers, pp. xiv, 411. [Google Scholar]
- Mazzola, Alessandro, and Mattias Lucien De Backer. 2021. Solidarity with vulnerable migrants during and beyond the state of crisis. Culture, Practice and Europeanization 6: 55–69. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Meeus, Bruno, Karel Arnaut, and Bas van Heur. 2018. Arrival Infrastructures: Migration and Urban Social Mobilities. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, p. 299. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Mijić, Ana. 2022. (Re-)Construction of Identity and Belonging after Forced Migration: A Sociology of Knowledge Approach. Journal of Refugee Studies 35: 1107–25. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Morrice, Linda. 2007. Lifelong learning and the social integration of refugees in the UK: The significance of social capital. International Journal of Lifelong Education 26: 155–72. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Mukasa, Norman. 2022. Doing or Not Doing Harm? Ethical Issues in Researching Children Born of War. GESIS Blog. August 31. Available online: https://blog.gesis.org/doing-or-not-doing-harm-ethical-issues-in-researching-children-born-of-war/ (accessed on 2 February 2024).
- Nast, Heidi J., and Steve Pile. 1998. Places Through the Body. New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar]
- Nathansohn, Regev, and Dennis Zuev. 2013. Sociology of the Visual Sphere: Introduction. London: Routledge, pp. 1–9. [Google Scholar]
- Nettelbladt, Gala, and Camillo Boano. 2019. Infrastructures of reception: The spatial politics of refuge in Mannheim, Germany. Political Geography 71: 78–90. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Pashkovska, Anna. 2016. Statistical Study of Secondary Education in Ukraine. Kyiv: State Service of Statistics of Ukraine National Academy of Statistics, Accounting and Audit. [Google Scholar]
- Plant, Sadie. 1992. The Most Radical Gesture: The Situationist International in a Postmodern Age. London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]
- Richardson, Tina. 2015. Walking Inside Out: Contemporary British Psychogeography. London: Rowman and Littlefield International Ltd. Available online: http://www.vlebooks.com/vleweb/product/openreader?id=noneandisbn=9781783480876 (accessed on 2 February 2024).
- Rishbeth, Clare, Dominika Blachnicka-Ciacek, and Jonathan Darling. 2019. Participation and wellbeing in urban greenspace: ‘Curating sociability’ for refugees and asylum seekers. Geoforum 106: 125–34. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Ryan, Louise, Rosemary Sales, Mary Tilki, and Bernadetta Siara. 2008. Social Networks, Social Support and Social Capital: The Experiences of Recent Polish Migrants in London. Sociology 42: 672–90. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Saarinen, Thomas F. 1974. Student views of the world. In Image and Environment: Cognitive Mapping and Spatial Behaviour. Edited by Roger Downs and David Stea. New York: Hodder & Stoughton Educational, pp. 148–61. [Google Scholar]
- Samber, Sharon. 2023. High Risks Remain for Ukrainian Women in Moldova and Romania. HIAS. October 2. Available online: https://hias.org/news/high-risks-remain-ukrainian-women-moldova-and-romania/ (accessed on 15 January 2024).
- Sarre, Philip, Geoffrey Edge, and Open University. 1972. Channels of Synthesis. London: Open University Press. Available online: https://books.google.de/books?id=LyopzwEACAAJ (accessed on 18 January 2024).
- Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. 1997. Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading; or, You’re So Paranoid, You Probably Think This Introduction is About You EVE KOSOFSKY SEDGWICK. In Novel Gazing: Queer Readings in Fiction. Edited by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. Durham: Duke University Press. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Spicer, Neil. 2008. Places of Exclusion and Inclusion: Asylum-Seeker and Refugee Experiences of Neighbourhoods in the UK. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 34: 491–510. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Stadt Weimar. 2023. Statistisches Jahrbuch 2023. Available online: https://stadt.weimar.de/de/jahrbuecher.html (accessed on 5 January 2024).
- Statistisches Bundesamt. 2024. Im Fokus: Ukraine—Gesellschaft. Available online: https://www.destatis.de/DE/Im-Fokus/Ukraine/Gesellschaft/_inhalt.html (accessed on 19 July 2024).
- Stewart, Kathleen. 2008. Weak Theory in an Unfinished World. Journal of Folklore Research 45: 71–82. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Thorne, Sally. 2008. Interpretive Description. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. [Google Scholar]
- Turner, Victor. 1991. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. 7. print., 1. publ. Cornell paperbacks 1977. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. [Google Scholar]
- Ukrainian Refugees by Country. 2024. Statista. Available online: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1312584/ukrainian-refugees-by-country/ (accessed on 30 March 2024).
- Ungar, Michael. 2004. A Constructionist Discourse on Resilience: Multiple Contexts, Multiple Realities Among At-Risk Children and Youth. Youth & Society 35: 341–65. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- UNHCR. 2022. Ukraine Refugee Situation. Available online: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine (accessed on 5 January 2024).
- UNHCR. 2023. GERMANY FACT SHEET: Germany September 2023. Available online: https://www.unhcr.org/mid-year-trends (accessed on 5 January 2024).
- Vohra, Anchal. 2023. The Right’s Resurgence in Eastern Germany. New Lines Magazine. Available online: https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/the-rights-resurgence-in-eastern-germany/ (accessed on 7 January 2024).
- Welch, Catherine, and Rebecca Piekkari. 2006. Crossing language boundaries: Qualitative interviewing in international business. Management International Review 46: 417–37. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- White, Julie, and Sarah Drew. 2011. Collecting Data or Creating Meaning? Qualitative Research Journal 11: 3–12. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Wilson, Helen F., and Jonathan Darling. 2020. Research Ethics for Human Geography: A Handbook for Students. Newcastle upon Tyne: SAGE. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Wright, Sarah. 2015. More-than-human, emergent belongings: A weak theory approach. Progress in Human Geography 39: 391–411. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Yılmaz, Ebru. 2016. Subjectivity in Design Education: The Perception of the City through Personal Maps. International Journal of Art and Design Education 35: 121–39. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Youkhana, Eva. 2015. A Conceptual Shift in Studies of Belonging and the Politics of Belonging. Social Inclusion 3: 10–24. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Yule, William. 2000. Emanuel Miller Lecture From Pogroms to “Ethnic Cleansing”: Meeting the Needs of War Affected Children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 41: 695–702. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Yuval-Davis, Nira. 2006. Belonging and the politics of belonging. Patterns of Prejudice 40: 197–214. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Zill, Marielle O. 2023. Navigating constraints, finding freedom: Exploring asylum seekers’ access to urban arrival infrastructures. Urban Geography, November, 1–21. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
Interviewee Pseudonym | Gender Identity | Ukrainian Citizenship | Age | Legal Status in Germany | Marital Status | Education | Residence in Ukraine | Arrival in Weimar (Un/ Accompanied) | Arrival in Weimar (Month, Year) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dmytro | male | yes | 19 | § 24 AufenthG | not married | Ukrainian high school diploma | Kharkiv | unaccompanied | May 2022 |
Solomiya | female | yes | 19 | § 24 AufenthG | not married | Completed first year of Ukrainian University | Dnipro, Chernihiv | accompanied, with family | March 2022 |
Yuliia | female | yes | 18 | § 24 AufenthG | not married | Ukrainian high school diploma | Zaporizhzhia | accompanied, with older sibling | March 2022 |
Artem | male | yes | 19 | § 24 AufenthG | not married | Ukrainian high school diploma | Donetsk, Kyiv | accompanied, with family | February 2022 |
Mykhailo | male | yes | 18 | § 24 AufenthG | not married | First semester of University in Germany | Kyiv | unaccompanied | March 2022 |
Oksana | female | yes | 26 | § 24 AufenthG | not married | Completed university degree in Ukraine | Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv | unaccompanied | March 2022 |
Svitlana | female | yes | 26 | § 24 AufenthG | not married | Completed university degree in Ukraine | Kyiv region | unaccompanied | October 2021 |
Sergio | male | (no, but permanent residence in Ukraine) | 26 | § 24 AufenthG | married | Completed university degree in Ukraine | Kyiv | accompanied, with partner | February 2022 |
Analytic | Category |
---|---|
Text Labeling | Mechanics of Method (MOM) |
Text Labeling: Acronyms. Slang, Abbreviations | Mechanics of Method (MOM) |
Count of Drawn Items | Mechanics of Method (MOM) |
Reside Near Place Now | Mechanics of Method (MOM) |
Last Residence in Place | Mechanics of Method (MOM) |
Enjoyed Mapping Process | Mechanics of Method (MOM) |
Drawing Anxiety | Mechanics of Method (MOM) |
Time Limit | Mechanics of Method (MOM) |
Borders | Drawing Elements (DE) |
Center | Drawing Elements (DE) |
Included Elements at Various Scales | Drawing Elements (DE) |
Use of Color | Drawing Elements (DE), Personalization (P) |
Symbols | Drawing Elements (DE), Personalization, (P) |
Legend | Drawing Elements (DE) |
Includes Non-Human Animals | Drawing Elements (DE), Personalization (P) |
Includes Activities | Drawing Elements (DE), Personalization (P) |
Districts | Narratives of place (NOP) |
Landmarks/Notoriety/Popular Elements | Narratives of place (NOP) |
Personal Paths | Narratives of place (NOP) |
Include What Possesses Personal Meaning | Personalization (P) |
Discuss Emotions through Physical Space | Personalization (P) |
Cultural Factors/Traditions | Personalization (P) |
Proximity | Personalization (P) |
Includes Depiction of Self in Map | Personalization (P) |
Remembering Intimate Spatial Details | Narratives of place (NOP), Personalization (P) |
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Kunchuliya, M.; Eckardt, F. Psychogeography of Refugee Youth from Ukraine in Weimar, Germany: Navigating the Sense of Belonging in the Context of Liminality. Soc. Sci. 2024, 13, 438. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13090438
Kunchuliya M, Eckardt F. Psychogeography of Refugee Youth from Ukraine in Weimar, Germany: Navigating the Sense of Belonging in the Context of Liminality. Social Sciences. 2024; 13(9):438. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13090438
Chicago/Turabian StyleKunchuliya, Mariam, and Frank Eckardt. 2024. "Psychogeography of Refugee Youth from Ukraine in Weimar, Germany: Navigating the Sense of Belonging in the Context of Liminality" Social Sciences 13, no. 9: 438. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13090438