Processes of subjectivation and self-formation of accompanied refugee girls in Germany

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Martin Sökefeld
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 423764483

This anthropological research project focusses on the subjectivation (Butler, Foucault) and Selbst-Bildung of young women with refugee experience between 15 and 21 years who are underrepresented in (anthropological) research. In everyday life, e.g. in school or family contexts as well as communal accommodations, young women with refugee experience are confronted with partially interconnected or conflicting ascriptions of identity regarding their age, gender, ethnicity, religion etc. These ascriptions are often related to expectations regarding young women’s behavior while their own perspective is very rarely heard. Specific attention will be paid to the entanglement of gender stereotypes and ethnicization/culturalization within practices of everyday bordering. Within the research project, approaches targeting the interconnectedness of invocation and self-perception as developed in theories of subjectivation, the (re)production of differences as discussed in research on intersectionality and critical migration studies, as well as anthropological discussions on agency serve as theoretical frames to describe the web of ascriptions faced by girls with refugee background in Germany. Furthermore, these approaches will form the ground to reflect upon the possibilities and limitations of young refugee women’s agency amidst discursively designated subject positions. Through the examination of the subjectivity and 'everyday experience' of young women with refugee background, it is intended to offer, in the sense of a "cultural critique", an alternative perspective on the increasingly common homogenization of 'refugees, especially 'refugee girls', within the German society. Methodologically, the project draws on ethnographic methods such as participant observation as well as informal and semi-structured interviews. Furthermore, classical anthropological research methods will be complemented by life-story interviews and the integration of participatory research methods such as focus group interviews and auto-driven photo elicitation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants