“The Best Risky Point”: Agency and Decision-Making in Young Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers' Stories of Leaving Home and Travelling to Australia
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.41065Mots-clés :
unaccompanied young asylum seekers, asylum decision-making, asylum journeys, agency, vulnerability, non-doxic situations, border situationsRésumé
Chercher l’asile est souvent une entreprise grandement risquée et périlleuse, la traversée des frontières, les perspectives d’obtenir la protection et l’issue de la l’établissement étant imprévisibles. Pour les jeunes demandeurs d’asile non-accompagnés, les risques sont encore plus prononcés. Cependant, les qualifier exclusivement de vulnérables ou de passifs revient à ignorer leur capacité à faire des choix dans une série de circonstances uniques, dynamiques et difficiles. Dans cet article, nous utilisons une méthodologie ethnographique approfondie pour amplifier les voix des jeunes demandeurs d’asile, en examinant leur capacité à agir tout au long du parcours d’asile. Nous utilisons la notion de contextes non-doxiques de Bourdieu et les «situations frontalières» (border situations) pour décrire des environnements instables dans lesquels les jeunes se trouvent dans leur pays d’origine et pendant leur voyage vers l’Australie.
Nos résultats révèlent une image nuancée des jeunes qui sont à la fois objets des décisions d’autrui (avec une agentivité limitée) et fortement engagés dans une prise de décision dynamique au cours de leur voyage vers l’Australie (avec une agentivité plus importante). Ces résultats divergents montrent l’importance des méthodes de recherche qui s’écartent des hypothèses fixes sur la vulnérabilité et le statut de victime pour reconnaître la capacité des jeunes à prendre des décisions déterminantes pour leur vie, et ce même lorsqu’ils se trouvent dans des situations frontalières transnationales contraignantes.
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