Based at: Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

(in cooperation with the Institute of Anthropology at the University of Leipzig, Dr. Markus Hoehne)

 

This baseline study aims at closing the knowledge gap concerning Somali refugees in Germany. The research will be carried out by students from the university and by Somali migrants themselves, under the supervision by Dr. Markus Höhne (University of Leipzig) and Dr. Tabea Scharrer (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle). The project will explore which factors are important for the way people settle down in their new locations. Somalis often perceive themselves as 'second class refugees': they feel they do not receive the same support from the state as other refugees would get. Many Somalis do not have their cases decided quickly; they are kept in a limbo for many months and sometimes years; for a long time they found it more difficult to enrol in German courses and were more often unemployed. The project will also explore if their migration trajectories vary according to pre-migration differences among them. Furthermore, it will be asked how their post-migration situation influences their perception of life in Germany. The research also investigates if there is considerable ‘onward-migration’ within Europe, or if there are any deportations/voluntary returns happening from Germany back to Somali.

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Student researchers (all Leipzig University): Inga Albrecht, Malika Autorkhanova, Vittoria Fiore, Monika König, Julia Kühl, Stephan Steuer

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Post-graduate researchers: Samia Aden, Najah Osman

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This project was part of the Research Initiative on Migration of the Max Planck Society 'The Challenges of Migration, Integration and Exclusion'