How Age Makes a Difference: Practices of Classification, Belonging and Political Subjectivity Among Young Refugees in Germany

是什么构成了难民中的少数群体或合法多数群体的特征？年龄在（居住）权利、政治和影响方面有何不同？这些是我们项目的核心问题。在第一个研究阶段，我们关注年龄估计实践及其对“无人陪伴的未成年难民”的影响。通过分析年龄估计的医疗和青年福利实践，我们表明，年龄不是难民的身体或性格固有的，而是通过科学和青年福利标准、研究、样本和从中选择的相互作用，以及青年和成年的概念，以多种方式制定的。我们将年龄估计理解为德国和欧盟内部运动机会的“差异包括”之一（Mezzadra和Nielson 2012），这影响了难民的社会经济生活机会和他们的情感健康。“无人陪伴未成年人”的生活设计是在青年福利服务的逻辑交叉点展开的，一方面是需要帮助，一方面是获得个人自主权和融入，另一方面是移民对其居留身份的不确定性。在我们申请的第二个研究阶段，我们想调查年龄决定对被认为是成年的个人的影响。第一批案例表明，这种分类可能导致全欧盟范围内的流动和驱逐、无家可归或住在成人住房、辍学、非法务农以及抗议。我们希望通过调查这些案例，从而更全面地分析特定年龄的政治主体性→空间/流动性→生活机会之间的联系。此外，我们想把重点放在难民活动人士的抵抗上，他们以各种方式抗议他们成年后的评估。出于认识论和研究政策的原因，我们计划将这个项目阶段作为与难民活动家的合作研究，这将以各种出版形式告终。通过这两个研究阶段，我们有助于全面了解年龄的作用以及欧盟移民制度中年龄决定的后果。在实践理论的背景下，我们将迁移系统中的年龄关系概念引入到儿童和青年研究以及迁移研究中。此外，我们扩大了对“无人陪伴的未成年难民”和移民抗议分类的分析，从理论上结合历史和当代全球相互依存关系，这也是抗议难民所解决的问题。总的来说，这应该能够在全球不平等的情况下分析年龄估计的意义。

What constitutes and characterizes minority or legal majority among refugees – and how does age make a difference in terms of rights (of residence), politics and affects? These are the central questions of our project. In the first research phase, we focused on age estimation practices and their effects on "unaccompanied minor refugees". By analyzing medical and youth welfare practices of age estimation, we showed that age is not inherent in the body or character of the refugees, but rather enacted in multiple ways through the interplay of scientific and youth welfare standards, studies, samples and selections from them, as well as in notions of youth and adulthood. We understand age estimations as one of the "differentially including" (Mezzadra and Nielson 2012) hinges for movement opportunities within Germany and the EU which influence the socio-economic life chances of refugees and their emotional well-being. The life designs of "unaccompanied minors" unfold at the intersection of youth welfare services’ logics like needs for assistance, the gaining of personal autonomy as well as integration on the one hand and migrants’ uncertainty regarding their residence status on the other.In the second research phase that we apply for here, we want to investigate the consequences of age determinations for individuals considered to be of full age. First cases have shown that this classification can lead to EU-wide mobility and deportations, homelessness or accommodation in adult housing, dropping out of school, illegalized farm work and to protests. We want to investigate such cases and thereby analyze the connection between age-specific political subjectivity → space/mobility → life chances more comprehensively. In addition, we want to focus on the resistance of refugee activists who have protested in various ways against their assessments as adults. For epistemological and research policy reasons, we are planning this project phase as a collaborative research with refugee activists, which shall culminate in a variety of publication formats.With both research phases, we contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the role of age and the consequences of age determinations in the EU migration regime. With our background in practice theory, we introduce a relational concept of age in the migration system into childhood and youth studies as well as migration research. In addition, we expand the analyses of classifications of "unaccompanied minor refugees" and migrant protests by theoretically incorporating historical and contemporary global interdependencies, which are also addressed by protesting refugees. Overall, this should enable the analysis of the significance of age estimations in the context of global inequalities.