IMER Lunch Seminar

 Time:  Thursday 23^rd of March 2023, 12.00 – 13.00

Place: Bergen Global, Jekteviksbakken 31

You can also follow through zoom. 

It will be great to know if you plan to join us using the registration link here. A light lunch will be served.

About the Seminar

(Re)building supportive relationships is a key task for unaccompanied minor refugees aspiring for a good life. In this seminar, Marte Knag Fylkesnes explores the role of new family-like relationships in building and sustaining wellbeing, from the perspectives of young people in Finland, Norway, and Scotland. She also discusses the usefulness of the wellbeing approach in this context.

Rather than conceiving wellbeing as an individual output, the analysis is inspired by Sarah White’s concept relational wellbeing. This directs the gaze towards how wellbeing is negotiated in the space between individuals and social systems. Across the three case countries, young participants emphasized the importance of building close, committed, mutual relationships with friends and professionals; “like a father”, “a brother I live with”. The presentation will unpack the needs these relationships meet, as circumstances change over time in the transition to adulthood, and what this can tell us about the social structures unaccompanied minor refugees negotiate, aiming for a good life in migration.

The presentation is based on the project “Relational wellbeing in the lives of young refugees in Finland, Norway and Scotland (the Drawing Together project), developed together with partners Marja Tiilikanen and Sharon McGregor. For further information about the project: https://www.drawingtogetherproject.org/

Marte Knag Fylkesnes is a researcher at the NORCE Norwegian research center, affiliated with the Regional center for children and young people’s mental health and child welfare. Her research interests are children in migration and social justice through welfare service provision. Her most recent publication is a chapter based on data from the Drawing together project:

Haswell, N., Kaukko, M., Fylkesnes, M.K, Sullivan, P. (2023). Keeping each other safe: Young refugees’ navigation towards a good life in Finland, Norway, and Scotland. In Reimer, K., Kaukko, M., Kemmis, S., Windsor, S. and Mahon,K. (eds) Living Well in a World Worth Living in for All: Current Practices of Social Justice, Sustainability and Wellbeing. Springer.

For questions about the event or if you experience problems registering, etc., please contact: Felicity.Okoth@uib.no