Methodological and theoretical grounds

The refugee experience is one of the hardest challenges in human life, and if a refugee has health problems, this experience becomes even harder and acquires an obvious bodily dominance. How does the (impaired) body experience and carry itself through dislocation, instability, and uprootedness, how does it adapt to a new physical, social, and medical environment in a new place? While the processes of refugee adaptation are widely studied, our project is focused on the subjective experience of forced migration and bodily adaptation as it is sensed and lived through by the people whose corporeality is problematized. We aim to explore how dislocated persons with vulnerabilities cope with their body and health problems and bodily establish themselves anew in the new social and natural environment. 

The project is informed by the phenomenology of the body and the conception of new materiality that brings to our attention the interdependence of the body and the environment, natural and man-made; it is also inspired by contemporary human geography, in particular the critical mobilities paradigm. A combination of these methodological foundations allows us to consider a human being in connection to the material and non-material environment with a particular focus on the body-environment relationships, to explore the experience of a refugee and illnesses in changing spatial contexts, and to analyze biological and social components of corporality as inseparable from each other. Thematically, the project is situated at the crossroads of migration and refugee studies and public health research and aims to contribute to the related practical, scientific, and artistic domains.

The research is localized in Finland, in the regions that accept refugees from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, and is being conducted by a joint art-and-science team. Our work grounds on the methodology of phenomenological research and employs the following methods: in-depth biographical interviews with the refugees and forced migrants from the above-mentioned countries, ethnographic observations in reception centers (vastaanottokeskus); expert interviews with medical personnel and social support services, relevant NGOs, and volunteer communities; qualitative analysis of documents. We will also use artistic methods (photo and video documentation) directly as research methods and as methods for the presentation of research findings in an exhibition format and as a documentary.