The Self in the Strange Identity formation among newly arrived Refugees in Great Britain

根据英国难民理事会的说法，当今世界面临着现代史上最严重的被迫流离失所危机之一(见难民理事会，2016年)。非洲、南亚和中东地区不断发酵的争端和不断升级的冲突迫使世界各地6500万人逃离家园，到其他地方寻求庇护和保护，往往是在完全未知的环境中。大多数人在邻国寻求庇护，2015年，根据联合国难民署的授权，发展中国家收容了大约86%的世界难民。尽管来到欧洲的难民相对较少，但联合国难民署报告称，仅2015年就有100多万流离失所者通过海路抵达欧洲大陆，其中大部分来自叙利亚、阿富汗和伊拉克(见难民署，2016年)。与其他欧洲国家相比，英国以严苛的庇护制度而闻名。红十字会称，据估计，目前有117,234名难民居住在联合王国，约占英国人口的0.18%(见英国红十字会；见难民理事会，2016年)。与其他移民不同，难民由于暴力冲突和其他危及生命的情况而被迫离开自己的祖国，而且通常不是出于他们的自由意志。随着逃离家园和熟悉的环境，以及进入一个陌生国家的陌生环境，新抵达的难民进入了高度不确定的状态。由于对自我的理解高度依赖于社会背景、时间和空间等因素，这种急剧的转变很可能会对他们对自我的认知产生影响(Brubaker&Cooper，2000：18；Paasi，2001：10)。因此，在我的主人的项目中，我建议研究新抵达英国的难民的身份、身份形成和转变，从而有助于在逃亡和移民的背景下讨论自我理解和认同，这是当前一个紧迫的全球重要性的话题。

According to the British Refugee Council, the world today faces one of the most severe forceddisplacement crises in modern history (see Refugee Council, 2016). Smoldering disputes and escalatingconflicts in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East have forced more than 65 million people worldwideto flee their homes and seek asylum and protection elsewhere, often in entirely unknownsurroundings. Most have sought refuge in neighboring countries, with developing regions hostingabout 86 percent of the world's refugees under UNHCR mandate in 2015. Though relatively fewrefugees have come to Europe, the United Nations Refugee Agency has reported that more than amillion displaced people arrived on the continent in 2015 by sea alone, mostly from Syria, Afghanistanand Iraq (see UNHCR, 2016). In comparison to other European countries, Great Britain is known for asomewhat harsh asylum system. The Red Cross states that there are an estimated 117,234 refugeescurrently living in the United Kingdom, which amounts to about 0.18 percent of the British population(see British Red Cross; see Refugee Council, 2016).Unlike other migrants, refugees have been forced to leave their home countries due to violentconflicts and other life-threatening conditions, and usually do not act out of their free will. With theflight from their homes and familiar environments, and the entry into the strange surroundings of anunknown country, newly arrived refugees enter a state of high uncertainty. Since the understandingof the self is highly dependent on factors such as social context, time and space, such a drastic shift islikely to have an impact on their very perception of selfhood (Brubaker & Cooper, 2000: 18; Paasi,2001: 10).During my Master's project, I would therefore propose to study the identities and the identityformation as well as transformation in newly arrived refugees in the United Kingdom and therebycontribute to the discussion of self-understanding and identification in the context of flight andmigration, which currently is a topic of pressing global importance.