Asylum: Refugees and Mental Health

在第一次世界大战中，比利时难民被贴上忧郁、焦虑和情绪障碍的标签，被记录在英国的医疗记录中，并被收容到英国的精神病院。到目前为止，它们的生活史和迁徙过程一直不为人知。庇护：难民和精神健康是一个国际研究项目，旨在表达难民的精神疾病经历，并使人们看到流离失所的情绪影响。现代统计数据显示，与普通民众相比，寻求庇护者和难民更有可能遭受精神痛苦，得到支持的可能性更小。人道主义机构和心理健康专业人士强调，在充分了解流离失所造成的脆弱性方面，个别故事具有重要意义。虽然在1914年至1918年期间抵达英国的25万比利时人的故事正在通过公共历史(特别是追踪比利时难民数据库项目https://belgianrefugees.leeds.ac.uk/)，)被公之于众，但流离失所和重新定居的情感影响却没有。我们的项目及时提出了难民疏散方案、赞助和福祉之间的关系的问题。利用新获得的机构案例说明、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，我们将考察这一时期比利时难民的生活史，将难民福祉视为一个持续存在的公共心理健康问题。该项目由一名驻英国的首席调查员和英国和荷兰的联合调查员领导，他们将与合作组织一起推进这一新的研究议程，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。这包括英国的伦敦大都会档案馆、亚历山德拉宫和精神健康博物馆，以及比利时的佛兰德斯菲尔兹博物馆。我们将与我们在LMA和IFFM的合作伙伴的社区志愿者计划合作，扩展和重新调整比利时难民追踪数据库，将比利时难民在英国机构如济贫院和精神病院的机构记录和情感历史集中起来，供在线受众使用。我们的出版物和公众参与活动将利用这些资源来探讨在英国和比利时的比利时难民的案例中关于精神健康和护理的谈判。通过与我们的合作伙伴共同制作的活动，我们的研究将支持为难民服务用户设计的展览，以及为学校设计的戏剧方案。这反映了这些组织内部的一种需求，即为其公共参与方案制定创造性和以人为本的方法，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。这种对难民情绪化历史的不断加深的认识，对于遗产和档案部门对难民历史的分类和展示，以及对打着“乌克兰家园”旗号的当代难民赞助计划的政府政策，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'.