XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

15

What Can Sociology Teach Us about Resettlement of Refugee Children and Youth?

Language: English

Refugee crises are certainly not new, but in 2015, the world’s attention turned to Syria and the events that led to over 7 million of its inhabitants to flee. This is in addition to the 8 million other refugees and 49 million internally displaced persons worldwide. Several countries opened their borders to the new refugee arrivals, but two countries stood out, Canada and Germany. This panel deals with two fundamental questions: How do sociologists understand and study resettlement and integration of refugees? What can sociology contribute to the successful resettlement and integration of refugees? These are the questions addressed to the four researchers in this workshop as part of their research in this area. Three researchers from Canada and one from Germany will provide an overview of their research on refugee children, youth and their families to date. The panel members are all working on large, national and longitudinal studies of refugee children, youth and their families in Canada and Germany. They use different methods, sociological theories, and lenses to understand the settlement conditions of the most recently arriving refugees who originate from almost a dozen different countries worldwide.