{"title":"The precarious lives and survival strategies of unaccompanied Afghan youth in Türkiye","authors":"Sultan Ebru Bulgurcuoğlu, Reyhan Atasü-Topcuoğlu","doi":"10.1177/01171968241235238","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Unaccompanied children who do not or cannot access the child protection system in Türkiye often become engaged in child labor and find themselves living in precarity. This paper highlights narratives of survival within their culturally-assumed transition to manhood based on empirical research on the life experiences of 12 unaccompanied, male Afghan youth who came to Türkiye as unaccompanied children. These narratives reflect patriarchal culture, particularly the Taliban’s extreme manifestations of patriarchy, both in a context of war and violence. Unaccompanied Afghan children migrate for survival and, after dangerous journeys, live as irregular migrants. Their daily life is marked by (1) fear of police and deportation, (2) child labor, (3) long and challenging work routines, (4) lack of leisure time, schooling, adult protection or support and (5) lack of social security. As a result, they develop survival strategies to manage their precarious lives. Their narratives share commonalities focusing on the conditionalities of constructing manhood.","PeriodicalId":46248,"journal":{"name":"Asian and Pacific Migration Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Asian and Pacific Migration Journal","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01171968241235238","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"DEMOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Unaccompanied children who do not or cannot access the child protection system in Türkiye often become engaged in child labor and find themselves living in precarity. This paper highlights narratives of survival within their culturally-assumed transition to manhood based on empirical research on the life experiences of 12 unaccompanied, male Afghan youth who came to Türkiye as unaccompanied children. These narratives reflect patriarchal culture, particularly the Taliban’s extreme manifestations of patriarchy, both in a context of war and violence. Unaccompanied Afghan children migrate for survival and, after dangerous journeys, live as irregular migrants. Their daily life is marked by (1) fear of police and deportation, (2) child labor, (3) long and challenging work routines, (4) lack of leisure time, schooling, adult protection or support and (5) lack of social security. As a result, they develop survival strategies to manage their precarious lives. Their narratives share commonalities focusing on the conditionalities of constructing manhood.
期刊介绍:
The Asian and Pacific Migration Journal (APMJ) was launched in 1992, borne out of the conviction of the need to have a migration journal originating from the region that would provide a regional perspective of migration. Users will be able to read any article published from 1992 to 2006, to search all the articles by words or keywords and to copy or print partially or fully any article.