How does aging intersect with migration in lived experiences of displacement?

Tracing the lived experiences of childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age in forced migration contexts, Aging In and Out of Place explores how social age as an identity marker changes over time, space and place.

By centring stories of displacement in Canada, the US, the UK, Germany and Australia, Christina Clark-Kazak offers analysis on the impact of national and international policies and their engagement with individual and collective identity markers, including age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, and religion.

Providing innovative insights into the underexplored area of social age in forced migration research, policy and practice, this book is ideal reading for students of interdisciplinary courses including Forced Migration and Refugee Studies, Childhood Studies, Development Studies, and Gerontology; as well as policy makers.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Learning objectives
• 1 Introduction to social age and forced migration
  • A social age approach
  • Limitations to the dominant chronological approach to measuring age
  • Life course approach
  • What is forced migration?
  • Legal and policy approaches to aging and migration
  • Centering lived experiences through stories
  • Conclusion and outline of chapters
• 2 Birth and childhoods in exile
  • Introduction: Child rights and realities in situations of forced migration
  • Birth across borders: Ibtesam Alkarnake’s story
  • Birth in forced migration contexts
  • Early years in displacement contexts
  • The social construction of childhood in forced migration contexts
  • Adolescence and youth
  • Unaccompanied minors and separated children
  • Conclusion
• 3 Displaced young people’s liminality in time, space, and place
  • Introduction: Betwixt and between
  • Sadhana’s story: Undocumented young people in the United States
  • Post-secondary education
  • Full-time employment
  • Marriage
  • Parenthood
  • Conclusion
• 4 Adulthood as default “refugeeness”: The limitations of an adult-centric approach to forced migration
  • Zahra’s experience as an Afghan refugee in the UK
  • Individualistic approach to definitions of displacement and refugee status determination
  • Notion of dependence and sponsorship
  • “Vulnerability” in refugee status determination and resettlement
  • Conclusion
• 5 Aging and dying in and out of place
  • Stories of aging and displacement in and from Ukraine
  • Limited research, policy and programming related to older people in forced migration
  • Loneliness and mental health
  • Status and family relationships
  • Health
  • Language acquisition
  • Work and retirement
  • End-of-life care and death
  • Conclusion
• 6 Intergenerational relationships within and across borders
  • Ilhan Omar’s story: From refugee to Congresswoman
  • Shifting definitions of family and kin networks
  • Transnational families
  • Social age and changing intergenerational power relations
  • Intergenerational distance across time and space
  • Conclusion
• 7 Looking to the future: Centering time and aging in forced migration research, policy, and programming
  • Jaivet Ealom’s experiences of immigration detention
  • Significance of chronometric time in migration policies
  • Temporality and (im)mobility
  • Generations and social age
  • Social age and life course analysis in forced migration work
• Notes
• Recommended projects/assignments/discussion questions
• References
• Recommended further reading
• Index

Christina Clark-Kazak PhD is Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.