Experiencing forced migration in childhood: the case of refugees from the former Yugoslavia in Norway

Abstract

This article discusses how former child refugees from Yugoslav wars, who have permanently resettled in Norway, narrate their past refugee experiences, and how they negotiate their belonging and integration in the present. The article argues that child refugees are particularly important research subjects in the field of migration and forced migration studies: refugees and forced migrants are the most vulnerable of all migrants, while children are the most vulnerable and powerless among all forced migrants. Turning back to the past experiences and memories of people who went through this type of experience in the not so distant past, might helps us understand what challenges the numerous refugees of today are facing, and help answer what receiving societies can do in response to the arrival of the new refugees.