IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v265y2020ics0277953620307280.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health and hostile hospitality: Understanding asylum applicants’ narratives of life and health in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Tomkow, Louise

Abstract

This paper explores how middle aged and older asylum applicants in the UK speak about health in relation to migratory experiences. It proposes biocredibility as a novel theoretical concept, through which the narratives of those migrating to the UK to seek asylum can be analysed. The UK government's hostile environments policies, which aim to make life uncomfortable for irregular migrants in the UK in order to drive down migration, have been criticised on legal, material and moral grounds. This paper adds to this critique. Narrative analysis of semi-structured interviews shows that the majority of the asylum applicants interviewed felt their health was poor and told of the difficulties of life in the UK. Stories of homelessness, poverty and exclusion dominated, underpinned by the erosion of their perceived trustworthiness and credibility through encounters with the Home Office. Particular personal experiences of social, political and economic strife in exile were narrated closely against stories of illness.

Suggested Citation

  • Tomkow, Louise, 2020. "Health and hostile hospitality: Understanding asylum applicants’ narratives of life and health in the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:265:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620307280
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113509
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620307280
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113509?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenneth Carswell & Pennie Blackburn & Chris Barker, 2011. "The Relationship Between Trauma, Post-Migration Problems and the Psychological Well-Being of Refugees and Asylum Seekers," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 57(2), pages 107-119, March.
    2. Heurtin-Roberts, Suzanne, 1993. "'High-pertension'--The uses of a chronic folk illness for personal adaptation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 285-294, August.
    3. Riessman, Catherine Kohler, 1990. "Strategic uses of narrative in the presentation of self and illness: A research note," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 1195-1200, January.
    4. Laura Smith-Khan & Mary Crock, 2019. "‘The Highest Attainable Standard’: The Right to Health for Refugees with Disabilities," Societies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-22, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jiang, Yi Dragon & Straub, Caroline & Klyver, Kim & Mauer, René, 2021. "Unfolding refugee entrepreneurs' opportunity-production process — Patterns and embeddedness," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(5).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael Hollifield & Eric C. Toolson & Sasha Verbillis-Kolp & Beth Farmer & Junko Yamazaki & Tsegaba Woldehaimanot & Annette Holland, 2021. "Distress and Resilience in Resettled Refugees of War: Implications for Screening," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-15, January.
    2. Richardson, Jane C. & Ong, Bie Nio & Sim, Julius, 2006. "Is chronic widespread pain biographically disruptive?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1573-1585, September.
    3. repec:thr:techub:1009:y:2020:i:1:p:596-610 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Tine Van Bortel & Steven Martin & Sabrina Anjara & Laura B Nellums, 2019. "Perceived stressors and coping mechanisms of female migrant domestic workers in Singapore," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-15, March.
    5. Rhodes, Tim & Watts, Louise & Davies, Sarah & Martin, Anthea & Smith, Josie & Clark, David & Craine, Noel & Lyons, Marion, 2007. "Risk, shame and the public injector: A qualitative study of drug injecting in South Wales," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 572-585, August.
    6. Radley, Alan & Mayberry, John & Pearce, Melanie, 2008. "Time, space and opportunity in the outpatient consultation: 'The doctor's story'," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 1484-1496, April.
    7. Chinedu Obi & Wannes Slosse & Fabio Bartolini & Joost Dessein & Marijke D’Haese, 2023. "Understanding Integration Experience and Wellbeing of Economic-Asylum Seekers in Italy: the Case of Nigerian Immigrants," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 189-210, March.
    8. Weckesser, Annalise & Denny, Elaine, 2017. "Re-working biographies: Women's narratives of pregnancy whilst living with epilepsy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 110-117.
    9. Smith, Shannon L. & Quandt, Sara A. & Arcury, Thomas A. & Wetmore, Lindsay K. & Bell, Ronny A. & Vitolins, Mara Z., 2006. "Aging and eating in the rural, southern United States: Beliefs about salt and its effect on health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 189-198, January.
    10. Atefeh Fathi & Usama El-Awad & Tilman Reinelt & Franz Petermann, 2018. "A Brief Introduction to the Multidimensional Intercultural Training Acculturation Model (MITA) for Middle Eastern Adolescent Refugees," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-14, July.
    11. Amalia De Leo & Giulia D’Adamo & Carlotta Morozzi & Caterina Gozzoli, 2023. "Taking Care of Forced Migrants Together: Strengths and Weaknesses of Interorganizational Work from the Perspective of Social Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-18, January.
    12. David Whitsett & Martin F Sherman, 2017. "Do resettlement variables predict psychiatric treatment outcomes in a sample of asylum-seeking survivors of torture?," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 63(8), pages 674-685, December.
    13. O'Toole Thommessen, Sara Amalie & Corcoran, Paula & Todd, Brenda K., 2017. "Voices rarely heard: Personal construct assessments of Sub-Saharan unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee youth in England," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 293-300.
    14. Georgios Schoretsanitis & Dinesh Bhugra & Sarah Eisenhardt & Meret E. Ricklin & David S. Srivastava & Aristomenis Exadaktylos & Sebastian Walther, 2018. "Upon Rejection: Psychiatric Emergencies of Failed Asylum Seekers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-9, July.
    15. Elizabeth A. Newnham & April Pearman & Stephanie Olinga-Shannon & Angela Nickerson, 2019. "The mental health effects of visa insecurity for refugees and people seeking asylum: a latent class analysis," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(5), pages 763-772, June.
    16. Menkes, David B. & Davison, Mary P. & Costello, Shaun A. & Jaye, Chrystal, 2005. "Stereotactic radiosurgery: the patient's experience," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(11), pages 2561-2573, June.
    17. Cheryl Nakata & Elif Izberk-Bilgin & Lisa Sharp & Jelena Spanjol & Anna Shaojie Cui & Stephanie Y. Crawford & Yazhen Xiao, 2019. "Chronic illness medication compliance: a liminal and contextual consumer journey," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 192-215, March.
    18. Maria Caterina Gargano & Dean Ajduković & Maša Vukčević Marković, 2022. "Mental Health in the Transit Context: Evidence from 10 Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-18, March.
    19. Bulent Akkoyun & Saime Uyar, 2020. "Analysis of the effect of organizational structure and culture on refugee problem and pandemic crisis management with artistic expression," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 9(1), pages 596-610, July.
    20. Mathilde Sengoelge & Øivind Solberg & Alexander Nissen & Fredrik Saboonchi, 2020. "Exploring Social and Financial Hardship, Mental Health Problems and the Role of Social Support in Asylum Seekers Using Structural Equation Modelling," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-14, September.
    21. Julia Manek & Andrea Galán-Santamarina & Pau Pérez-Sales, 2022. "Torturing environments and multiple injuries in Mexican migration detention," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:265:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620307280. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.