Asylum: Refugees and Mental Health

在第一次世界大战中，被贴上忧郁、焦虑和情绪紊乱标签的比利时难民被记录在英国的医疗记录中，并被送往英国的收容所。直到现在，它们的生活史和迁徙之旅仍不为人知。庇护：难民与心理健康是一个国际研究项目，其目的是让人们了解难民的心理疾病经历，并让人们看到流离失所带来的情感影响。现代统计数据显示，寻求庇护者和难民比一般人更容易遭受精神痛苦，更不可能得到支持。人道主义机构和心理健康专业人员强调，个人故事对于充分了解流离失所造成的脆弱性至关重要。在1914年至1918年间，25万比利时人来到英国，他们的故事通过公共历史（特别是追踪比利时难民数据库项目https://belgianrefugees.leeds.ac.uk/）被人们所知，但流离失所和重新安置的情感影响却不为人所知。我们的项目及时提出了有关难民分散方案、赞助和福利之间关系的问题。利用新获得的机构案例记录、物质文化和庇护摄影，我们有一个独特的机会来揭示难民的情感历史，并挑战标签和分类的权力动态。至关重要的是，我们将研究这一时期比利时难民的生活史，将难民的福祉视为一个持续的公共心理健康问题。该项目由英国的首席调查员和英国和荷兰的共同调查员领导，他们将与伙伴组织一起追求这一新的研究议程，这些组织本身与移民和心理健康的历史有直接联系，并与当代难民服务用户合作。这包括伦敦大都会档案馆、英国的亚历山德拉宫和精神健康博物馆，以及比利时的法兰德斯菲尔德博物馆。通过与LMA和IFFM合作伙伴的社区志愿者项目合作，我们将扩展和改造追踪比利时难民数据库，以便为在线观众集中介绍在英国机构（如济贫院和收容所）的比利时难民的机构记录和情感历史。我们的出版物和公众参与活动将利用这些资源来调查在英国和比利时的比利时难民的案例中心理健康和护理的谈判。通过与我们的合作伙伴共同制作活动，我们的研究将支持与难民服务用户一起设计的展览，以及为学校设计的戏剧节目。这反映了这些组织内部的一种需求，即在其公众参与项目中开发创造性的、以人为本的方法，以更好地反映其受众和社区中情感体验和观点的复杂性和多样性。这种对难民情感历史的不断加深的认识，对遗产和档案部门对难民历史的分类和表现，以及政府在“乌克兰家园”旗帜下对当代难民赞助计划的政策，都具有重大的政策意义。

In the First World War, Belgian refugees labelled with melancholia, anxiety and emotional disturbance were documented in British medical records and admitted to British asylums. Until now, their life histories and migratory journeys have remained untold. Asylum: Refugees and Mental Health is an international research project which aims to give voice to refugees' experience of mental ill-health and make visible the emotional impacts of displacement. Modern-day statistics show that asylum seekers and refugees are more likely to suffer mental distress and less likely to receive support than the general population. Humanitarian agencies and mental-health professionals stress the importance of individual stories in fully understanding the vulnerabilities caused by displacement. While the stories of the 250,000 Belgians who arrived into Britain in 1914 - 1918 are being made known through public histories (particularly the Tracing the Belgian Refugees database project https://belgianrefugees.leeds.ac.uk/), the emotional impacts of displacement and re-settlement are not. Our project raises timely questions about the relationship between refugee dispersal programmes, sponsorship and well-being. Using newly-available institutional case notes, material culture and asylum photography, we have a unique opportunity to uncover the affective histories of refugees and to challenge the power dynamics of labelling and categorisation. Crucially, we will examine the life histories of Belgian refugees in this period to consider refugee wellbeing as an ongoing question of public mental health. The project is led by a UK-based Principal Investigator and Co-Investigators in the UK and Hollandwho will pursue this new research agenda with partner organisations which themselves have direct links to the history of migration and mental health, and work with contemporary refugee service-users. This includes the London Metropolitan Archives, Alexandra Palace and the Mental Health Museum in the UK, and In Flanders Fields Museum in Belgium. In collaboration with our partners' community volunteer programmes at the LMA and IFFM, we will extend and refashion the Tracing the Belgian Refugees database to centre the institutional records and emotional histories of Belgian refugees in British institutions such as workhouses and asylums for online audiences. Our publications and public engagement activities will use these resources to inquire into the negotiation of mental health and care in the case histories Belgian refugees in the UK and Belgium. Through co-produced activities with our partners, our research will support an exhibition designed with refugee service users, and a theatre programme for schools. This reflects a demand from within these organisations to develop creative and person-centred approaches to their public engagement programmes to better reflect the complexity and diversity of affective experiences and perspectives among their audiences and communities. This deepening awareness of the emotional history of refugeedom has significant policy implications for both the heritage and archival sectors' classification and representation of refugee history, and government policy on contemporary refugee sponsorship schemes under the banner of 'Homes for Ukraine'.