The "Loss of Status" Subproject

Researcher: Dr. Nevra Akdemir, University Osnabrueck, Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS)

Subject Areas: Migration Studies

The study "Loss of status. High-educated female refugees" tackles refugee women with highly educated professional occupations as a very small and exceptional group. The reason for this focus is that women who have professions in their countries before migration and hold a high level of social capital, face a loss of status through the migration / asylum process. Women in professional occupational groups are able to get a residence permit without applying to asylum. Therefore, the refugee process emerges in very special circumstances and makes the stories of women in this position remarkable. In this research the loss of status of refugee women will be addressed in economic, social and political dimensions. Regarding the economic dimension I would like to explore whether the refugee women are able to exercise their profession or not according to the German employment-education framework and the occupational groups. Beside this I would like to investigate whether refugee women are able to continue to develop their career or not and what are the reasons for exclusion. In the social dimension, which is the second dimension, I will focus on the social services they need because of their gender codes, such as the obligation to care, and the problem of loss of status in their social networks. In the third dimension, loss of political status I will examine if women with backgrounds of high education are able to maintain their role as a political subject in origin country, or intervene in the socially constructed environment they live in. In this frame, refugee women in public sphere will be questioned through the focus on involvement of professional organizations, associations and trade unions, public life or not.

Contact

Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS)
University of Osnabrück
Neuer Graben 19/21
49074 Osnabrück
refiye.nevra.akdemir@uni-osnabrueck.de