Refugees, political bounding and the pandemic: material effects and experiences of categorisations amongst refugees in Scotland

Burns, N. , Mulvey, G. , Piacentini, T. and Vidal, N. (2022) Refugees, political bounding and the pandemic: material effects and experiences of categorisations amongst refugees in Scotland. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48(17), pp. 4066-4084. (doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2022.2058471)

Abstract

Scholars are increasingly interested in and concerned with both the way various migrant populations are categorised, and the lived impacts of that categorisation. In this article, we examine how categorisation was experienced by people at various stages of the refugee journey during the biggest public health crisis for generations. We argue, using original interview data, that the way refugees are categorised, or politically bound, has material impacts on the way they experience their lives, and that this was evident in extremis during the Covid-19 lockdown in Scotland. As populations attempted to traverse public health messaging, this is shown to interact with longstanding state proclivities to control, marginalise and stratify. Consequently, how people experienced and managed the request to ‘stay home and save lives’ varied markedly by where they were in their refugee journey and how they arrived in the UK.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate under Grants [COV/GLA/20/12; and COV/QMU/20/02].
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Piacentini, Dr Teresa and Mulvey, Dr Gareth and Burns, Dr Nicola
• Authors: Burns, N., Mulvey, G., Piacentini, T., and Vidal, N.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 1369-183X
• ISSN (Online): 1469-9451
• Published Online: 25 April 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Author(s
• First Published: First published in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 48(17): 4066-4084
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license