Stateless in School: The ‘discomfort’ of Kurdish asylum seekers

ABSTRACT

The lives of children seeking asylum and refuge are complex; invariably both transnational and intersectional. Their educational needs and schooling experiences are often overlooked or lack nuanced understandings. This article focusses on Kurdish children seeking asylum in Germany. Qualitative data is presented to uncover the perceptions and understandings of schools, teachers and parents of children living through their unique educational experiences. These narratives are nestled within a macro context of worldwide forced migration and how formal education is responding to this but also the geo-political context of Kurdish statelessness. The analysis reveals that the children were spatially, culturally, linguistically, racially, socially and politically marginalised. This was both implicit and explicit; embedded within policy and practice. The study highlights the school as a prime location where racial identity and asylum seeking intersects with the multiple realities of childhood, migration, and education.

KEYWORDS:

• Childhood
• migration
• asylum seeker
• refugee
• stateless

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Germany is divided into 16 federal states (Länder). They each have federal constitutions and retain a measure of sovereignty separate from the nation state.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by  a EURIAS fellowship at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg.

Notes on contributors

Ailbhe Kenny

Dr Ailbhe Kenny is an Associate Professor at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland. She is a Fulbright Scholar, EURIAS fellow, Irish Research Council Laureate and holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Ailbhe is currently a PI on the HERA-funded project ‘Night Spaces: Migration, Culture and Integration in Europe’ (2019-22) and IRC-funded ‘Music in the Intercultural School: Uncovering Spaces for Agency and Belonging’ (2022-26).