Hope Springs Eternal: Exploring the Early Settlement Experiences of Highly Educated Eritrean Refugees in the UK

Samson Maekele Tsegay ()
Additional contact information
Samson Maekele Tsegay: Anglia Ruskin University

Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2022, vol. 23, issue 3, No 15, 1235-1255

Abstract: Abstract Millions of people around the world have been forced to flee their homes for socio-economic and political reasons. This paper explores the early settlement experiences of highly educated Eritrean refugees in the UK. It is a phenomenological study informed by narrative interviews with 24 Eritrean refugees who gained a university degree in Eritrea, before migrating to the UK. The participants of this study are what Bauman (1996) calls ‘vagabonds’ who mainly left their country due to the lengthy national service, human rights abuses and/or the political situation of the country. They chose the UK, as their final destination, for its democratic principles and English language. Furthermore, they hoped to receive asylum and start their lives anew within a very short time. Hence, they were happy to reach the UK following a long, costly and risky route. However, contrary to their hope and expectations, some of the circumstances they find exposed them to humiliation, powerlessness, uncertainty, and other difficult conditions. Despite they did not face any overt discrimination, many felt humiliated for seeking asylum. In addition, delays in asylum decisions, cultural differences and the loneliness and exclusion they faced in the UK made them vulnerable. This further led to anxiety, psychological distress and integration paradox. The findings indicate that asylum seekers have less control over their life and future until their asylum application is accepted. This study contributes to a better understanding of refugees’ experiences from their stories.

Keywords: Migration; Integration; Refugee; Higher education; Eritrea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-021-00883-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:joimai:v:23:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s12134-021-00883-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... tudies/journal/12134

DOI: 10.1007/s12134-021-00883-5

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Migration and Integration is currently edited by Lori Wilkinson

More articles in Journal of International Migration and Integration from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().