Life and leisure among young adult war refugees in the South Caucasus

Abstract

This paper is based on interviews with approximately 400 25–29 year old war refugees who were resident in Tbilisi (Georgia) and Yerevan (Armenia) in 2002. Comparisons are made with locally born samples from the same age group who had been reared in and who were still living in the relevant cities, and additional ‘disadvantaged’ samples from provincial areas in the two countries. It is shown that the refugees' leisure was disadvantaged vis-à-vis that of longer-established capital city dwellers, partly due to the formers' more limited stocks of household leisure equipment, and partly to their lack of relevant (in the cities) socio-cultural capital. However, the refugees' leisure was advantaged vis-à-vis that of age peers who were living in the provinces of their respective countries. Both refugee groups were likely to have gained leisure advantages as a result of their migration to the countries' capital cities. That said, all the main characteristics of the refugees' leisure were much more widespread throughout both countries. The leisure of all groups was characterised by a privatism that had spread with the decline of public sector leisure provisions, the dominance of consumer culture despite the populations' lack of spending power, and the absence of effective voluntary associations.