Making meaningful space for oneself: photo-based dialogue with siblings of refugee children with severe withdrawal symptoms

Making meaningful space for oneself:photo-based dialogue with siblingsof refugee children with severewithdrawal symptoms

Malin Svenssona�, Solvig Ekbladb and Henry Ascherc

aNordic School of Public Health, Gothenburg, Sweden; bStress Research Institute, Stockholm

University and Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Section of Psychiatry, Karolinska

Institute, Sweden; cNordic School of Public Health, Gothenburg, Sweden

The current study explores the use of children’s photographs to establish a dialogue about everyday life with

healthy siblings of refugee children with severe withdrawal symptoms (SWS). Asylum-seeking refugee

children in Sweden with SWS have been officially observed since 2000, yet research has overlooked their

healthy siblings. We studied three healthy siblings and found photography to be an applicable

communicative tool. When parents focus their attention on the ill child, the healthy children create space

for themselves and indicate both resilience and vulnerability. We suggest that, together with a dialogue,

children’s own photographs are useful for research with refugee children in vulnerable situations.

Keywords: photographs; sibling; everyday life; severe withdrawal symptoms (SWS); refugee; resilience

Introduction

Research on healthy siblings of severely ill children is presented mainly in journals of nursing,

psychiatry and medicine in Western countries. A number of studies have found that familial and

parental functioning contributes to the healthy sibling’s psychosocial functioning and well-being

(Bellin and Kovacs 2006). Several authors emphasise that these children tend to be overlooked,

not only in research but also by persons in their social environment, e.g., clinicians and teachers,

because of a failure to recognise the serious concerns which healthy siblings face in a family

crisis. Nolbris et al. (2005, 2007) note that, besides generating anxiety, childhood cancer in a

brother or sister tends to intensify and deepen the importance of siblingship. The healthy siblings

emphasise the importance of friends and places (e.g., school) that are not related to sickness, as

they allow everyday life to continue. For a healthy sibling with a refugee background that entails

uprooting, loss of a stable socio-economic context, an unpredictable time perspective during the

asylum-seeking process and the threat of being sent back, having a severely ill brother or sister

may introduce additional risk factors and vulnerability. Our interest in talking with healthy sib-

lings of children with SWS with a refugee background arose in connection with a political

context that concerned their ill siblings in Sweden in 2004.

Children’s Geographies

Vol. 7, No. 2, May 2009, 209–228

�Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

ISSN 1473-3285 print/ISSN 1473-3277 online

# 2009 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/14733280902798902

http://www.informaworld.com

We begin by defining some key concepts and, briefly, the field of severe withdrawal symp-

toms, followed by a presentation of the study’s aim, methodological approach and design,

sampling issues, informed consent, data collection, analysis and results and end with a discus-

sion and conclusion.1

Key concepts

Our definition of a child is based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989): every

human being below the age of 18 years. Young person refers to older children. The definition of

refugee is based on the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention. In an international comparison,

Sweden is very restrictive about accepting persons as refugees in this sense (Swedish Govern-

ment official Report 2006:6, pp. 387–452). Our definition therefore includes the individual’s

perception of being a refugee.

Space and place are perceived as the product of mostly social interrelations and based on

Massey’s understandings (2005). In line with Tuan (1990), we consider the human perception

and experience of space and place to include all senses and these senses are universal, though

their importance may vary with the culture and the individual. Finally, we apply Cele’s

(2006) view that space and place are intertwined, mutually dependent and consist of concrete,

abstract and social aspects, and that place is located space. The spatiality to which we refer is

the need to create different arenas for oneself. Thus, we consider the individual to be a part

of everyday life’s creation. This spatiality is situated and localised in one sense and in

another sense is carried within the body and mind as memories and lived experiences from

the past and ideas about the future. Hence, our notion of spatiality includes temporality.

Severe Withdrawal Symptoms is the notion of a condition among asylum-seeking refugee chil-

dren in Sweden which reached epidemic proportions largely unparalleled in other receiving

countries (e.g., Report 2005, p. 2, Ascher and Gustavsson 2008) and was intensely discussed.

Various diagnostic concepts are used, e.g., Depressive Devitalization (Bodegard 2005), ‘apa-

thetic children’, and Pervasive Refusal Syndrome. We use SWS as a wider concept that includes

these concepts (Ascher et al. forthcoming). The syndrome has been described in non-migrant

children by e.g., Thompson and Nunn (1997) and Lask (2004). The condition is potentially

life threatening and recovery requires professional treatment (Bodegard 2005).

In the discussion, we use the concept of resilience as the positive pole of the individual diver-

sity in responses to stress (Rutter 1987) and liminality as the absence of a given structure in the

individual’s social existence in space and time (Eastmond 1997).

Background

Since World War II Sweden has shifted from a country of emigration to a reception country. In

the post-war period up to the mid-1970s, the Swedish manufacturing sector actively recruited

blue-collar labour abroad, mostly from European countries, e.g., Finland, Italy and Yugoslavia.

Immigrants were then regarded as contributors to the Swedish welfare state. In 1975 an immi-

grant policy adopted by the Swedish parliament was based on equality and values of respect in

interrelations between native Swedes and immigrants (Baarnhielm et al. 2005). Labour immi-

gration was subsequently replaced by the reception of political refugees from places like

Greece, Portugal, Spain, apartheid Africa and Latin America. However, in conjunction with

the economic crisis in the early 1990s, there was a polarised public and political debate about

whether Sweden should restrict immigration and control external borders or maintain a huma-

nitarian position. Increasingly restrictive migration policies have been implemented and the

view of and discourse about refugee migrants have gradually changed into regarding them as

a burden. This development was especially evident after a peak of new asylum-seekers in

210 M. Svensson et al.

1992 during the war in Bosnia (Eastmond 2008). Relatively few of the refugee immigrants who

arrived during the 1990s were integrated into the labour market. A long-term retrospective

analysis indicates that a majority of these persons never attained the same level of material stan-

dard, health and well-being as their Swedish counterparts who were also affected by the econ-

omic difficulties at that time (Vogel and Hjerm 2002). This brief overview indicates a complex

relationship between the official Swedish welfare model and refugee reception in practice, as

well as between the economic situation and the public and political discourses of those often per-

ceived as ‘others’, depending on their region of origin (Eastmond and Ascher forthcoming). This

complexity has tended to result in a neglect of the commitment to human rights.

Today, Sweden, like many other reception countries, receives both unaccompanied and

accompanied asylum-seeking minors who flee their country of origin on account of uncontrollable

and atrocious living conditions with little reasonable future prospects. In the period 2001–2006,

between 4,800 and 9,500 children a year sought asylum in Sweden. The majority of children

seeking asylum are accompanied and approximately 75% of these were rejected between 2001

and 2004.2 Children seeking asylum in Sweden have the right to health care and education on the

same terms as other children in Sweden.3 Even so, their situation is vulnerable. Many are exposed

to risk factors such as violence, uprooting, limited socio-economic resources, potential rejection of

their application, personal fear of persecution if they are forced to return (Lindencrona et al. 2008)

and reduced support due to parental distress and mental illness (von Folsach and Montgomery 2006).

Severe withdrawal symptoms

Children with SWS are characterised by severe depression, often with distinct anxiety and somatic

signs of a maximal degree of stress. They lose their ability to communicate, feed themselves and

manage their personal hygiene. In the most severe cases the child lies constantly in a foetal position,

dependent on tube feeding and with lost autonomic reflexes. In order to increase the understanding

of SWS, various aspects, which should be regarded complementary rather than contradictory, have

been discussed (e.g., Bodegard 2006, Rydelius 2006, von Folsach and Montgomery 2006). On the

basis of previous research of importance for their emergence and development, suggested factors

could be separated into predisposing, triggering or maintaining factors (Ascher et al. forthcoming).

Examples of predisposing factors are genetic predisposition, personality, parental attachment, living

conditions in early childhood and – perhaps most important – traumatic experiences of war, death,

persecution, humiliating violence and abuse (Bodegard 2006, pp. 203–204, Godani et al. 2008).

Triggering factors involve the asylum-seeking process (e.g., Joelsson and Dahlin 2005, Ascher

and Gustavsson 2008), e.g., a long period of uncertain waiting, and a climate of distrust combined

with experience of a serious threat if forced to return to the country of origin (Bodegard 2005). In

some cases the condition may be triggered by parental dysfunction and/or experiences of violence

in Sweden. Acute traumatic stress reactions may be a normative response to a threat to life and may

tend to subside once conditions of safety have been established (Silove and Steel 2006). The multi-

factor picture of the aetiology suggests that the combinations and importance of different factors

may vary between affected individuals.

A multidisciplinary approach is essential in the care of these children and their parents.

Important prerequisites for successful treatment are a permanent residence permit and support

for the parents’ capacity to care (Bodegard 2005, Ekblad and Raundalen 2005, Ascher and

Gustavsson 2008).

The political context in Sweden 2004–2006

From 2004 to 2006 there was a politicised debate in Swedish media about whether children with

SWS were victims of the severe conditions under which they were living, if they were

Children’s Geographies 211

manipulating symptoms in order to obtain a permanent residence permit or whether their parents

were malingering or drugging the children. In September 2004, a national coordinator for chil-

dren with SWS in the asylum-seeking process was appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

to survey, analyse and develop methods for identifying children at risk and taking preventive

measures. The outcome of these studies and analyses has been heavily criticised. The political

climate was infected and suspicious. In a few cases, police raids with coercive examinations and

blood tests were performed. All prosecutions were subsequently dropped and no cases of intoxi-

cation have been found.

The families of children with SWS were thus exposed to extreme distrust. In a report on

Sweden, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health emphasised that ‘crucially, the

plight of these children must be understood as a health and human rights issue, not as a political

or immigration issue’ (Hunt 2007, p. 22).

The political debate and distrust have stigmatised and thereby frightened the families and

made research more difficult. To our knowledge, lack of consent has led to the cancellation

or alteration of at least three research projects on children who have recovered from SWS.

Healthy siblings’ situation

In addition to the risk factors to which children with a refugee background are potentially

exposed, healthy siblings are affected both by the ill sibling’s condition and by the political

context in the receiving country. In one Swedish study of five hospitalised children that included

observations of the healthy siblings, the latter showed normal degrees of worry and concern

(Bodegard 2005). The healthy siblings benefited from and enjoyed everyday life with main-

tained social support and social connections, although they remained in a vulnerable situation

and were suggested to be in need of long-term follow-up.

Aim

Our first aim is to explore photography as a communicative tool for establishing and deepening a

dialogue with children with a refugee background about their everyday life structures. Secondly,

our aim is to contribute to an understanding of how healthy siblings of children with SWS make

meaningful space for themselves in everyday life. Particular interest is paid to spatial existence

and social network, time perspectives and structuring, and the importance which siblings ascribe

to different aspects of everyday life.

Methodological approach

Ethical, theoretical and methodological aspects of research with children and notions about

childhood have been outlined in several articles and books in the ‘new’ social studies of child-

hood (James et al. 1998, Christensen and James 2000, Holt and Holloway 2006, Sporton et al.

2006, James 2007). We consider children as social actors in their own right, in line with Morrow

(2008), and childhood as non-universal and variable within space and time, in line with Sporton

et al. (2006). Doing research with children as participators involves perceiving the status of chil-

dren and is also an ethical issue (James 2007, Morrow 2008). We regard the human perspective

as the most important perspective in research with children (Christensen 2004).

In line with Punch (2002), one way of approaching children in research is to use techniques

that are considered to be suitable for children, such as participant observation and interviews

combined with task-based and creative methods, e.g., photographs and drawings. Photographs

are used in social sciences for ethnographic studies, e.g., of bullying (Newman et al. 2006),

childhood research (Punch 2002, Rasmussen 2004), young asylum-seekers (Brekke 2004),


unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors (de Jong 2005), refugee children (Gifford et al. 2007)

and children communicating their experiences of place (Cele 2006). Photographs allow the

child to document places which are inaccessible to the adult researcher and to perceive the situ-

ation as controllable. This may provide more useful data than a traditional one-to-one conversa-

tion. Article 13 in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) emphasises the

importance of the child’s own expressions, which may be encouraged with ethnographic

methods.

Qvortrup (2000) argues that the culturally specific and historical macro-level of childhood

complements the micro-level. Nor is either the macro-level in large-scale studies or the

micro-level of ethnographic research with children sufficient by itself for a wider understanding

of the child’s everyday life. His point is that the macro-level of, for example, socio-economy and

politics inevitably influences every child and childhood in one way or another.

A model of the interaction between different societal levels surrounding the child has been

developed by the Western psychologist Bronfenbrenner (1979). It has been acknowledged for

building bridges between disciplines for a holistic understanding of humans and human devel-

opmental contexts; it has been applied in research in different societies (Ekblad 1996) and has

been adapted to form a model for refugee children (Hjern and Bouvier 2004). In this context, a

microsystem consists of immediate environments, a mesosystem comprises connections between

immediate environments, and a macrosystem embraces the larger socio-economic, cultural and

political contexts within the nation as well as globally. The model draws attention to the com-

plexity of the impact between levels in a child’s everyday life.

Urban sociologist Lilja (1999) employs three dimensions that make everyday life surround-

ings meaningful: (a) spatiality and sociality, (b) time perspectives, and (c) the signification indi-

viduals ascribe, consciously or unconsciously, to their everyday life’s surroundings and

activities. According to Zieher (2003 cited in van der Burgt 2006), the spatial structure of

places where children are active is often designed by adults, while it is the children who

create their social life within these places. The temporal structure concerns routines, planning

what to do, where to go, with whom. The feeling of belonging becomes possible through inter-

action in space and time.

Method

Sampling and recruitment

The results are based on empirical material from interviews with three healthy siblings of three

children with SWS. We intended to recruit 10–20 healthy siblings. After approval by the

Regional Ethical Committee at Karolinska Institutet (Dnr IPM.1-2005/0123), we contacted

the Stockholm Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for recruitment of the

interviewees. Six clinically responsible persons were informed about the project and given

authorised translated (and back-translated) information in Armenian, Bengali and Russian.

The staff working close to the families was informed about our project by us and the clinically

responsible persons. The hesitation some staff expressed about our interest in meeting the

families was clearly connected with the current political debate. They argued that the families

had already been over-exposed and this additional study could increase their vulnerability.

Informed consent

The staff in charge of each family conveyed the translated information to a few parents and

children in order to obtain the parents’ informed consent. Three individuals assented and one

declined. Two of the cameras were handed to the children by the staff and one camera was


handed by the researchers to a parent. The staff arranged times and places for us to meet, with the

child’s preference in mind.

Data collection

The children spoke Swedish well enough for an interpreter to be unnecessary. Photographs, an

unstructured interview and participative observation during the interview were used. The

primary purpose of using photographs was to empower the child to illustrate his or her everyday

life and create a platform for conversation. When the results refer to significance in the photos,

this was initiated by the child. To avoid influence from us, no detailed instructions were given

concerning the content of the photos. One week after the cameras had been handed out we devel-

oped the photos in two sets (one for the child, the other for the interviewer) and kept them in a

locked cupboard until the interview.

Analysis

The general issue concerned making space for oneself and the analysis was based on the verba-

tim interviews, the photographs and the field notes. Importance was attached to body language,

the surrounding context and the children’s emotional expressions during the interview. The

whole and parts of the interview were read several times and issues which emerged were

grouped by themes. Each group was exemplified by extracting all the related quotations.

Some quotations were related to more than one group, which may indicate a holistic aspect of

everyday life.

Using the theoretically derived questions mentioned above, interpretation was done more

explicitly and the groups of quotations were reassembled into three main areas: (1) spatial exist-

ence and social network; (2) time perspective and structuring; and (3) meaning. The theoretical

ecological model (Bronfenbrenner 1979) and Qvortrup’s (2000) reasoning help illustrate differ-

ent intermediate levels of contexts surrounding the child. This particular study focuses on the

nearest context, which the child illustrates for us, though the other societal levels are also

considered.

Results

The three healthy siblings included in the study originate from Central Asian countries. The bio-

graphical information at the time of the interviews was as follows: Iljham, 17-year-old boy

whose elder brother is being treated for SWS, holds a temporary residence permit; Said,

17-year-old boy whose younger brother recovered from SWS 1 year ago, holds a permanent

residence permit; Anzhela, 12-year-old girl whose elder brother recovered from SWS, holds a

permanent residence permit. The names are fictitious.

Iljham4

Iljham lives in a Stockholm suburb with his parents and his brother, who is being treated by an

ambulatory domestic medical team. When we arrive at their house, Iljham has come home

from school a while ago and needs time for himself. He takes a shower. While we wait for

Iljham, his parents invite us to sit down for social talk. The pictures of high mountains,

green hills and blue sky on the satellite TV illustrate their home country. They tell us about

their background. Iljham’s mother talks easily and smiles, his father is silent. The family

arrived in Sweden in 2002. After their asylum application had been rejected twice,


they fled by car to a West European country where they were apprehended; the father was

imprisoned for 3 months among criminals and the mother was beaten in front of her children.

The elder son then exhibited symptoms by ceasing to talk. He and Iljham were sent back to

Sweden without their parents. His mother said that instead of being separated, she would

rather have been put in prison with her husband and children. In their home country they

had had everything except political freedom. She points to her husband and says that it is

because of his problems that they had to flee. In 2005 they lived clandestinely in Sweden

as rejected asylum-seekers.

When we meet, they have a temporary residence permit that will expire 4 months later. Their

elder son has been ill for more than a year, i.e., he fell ill after the appeal rejection, and has been

ill while they have been living clandestinely. The father adds that since we met 3 weeks earlier to

hand over the camera, their son has opened his eyes. This is good news. The ambulatory medical

team visits their home twice a week and treats the son without other members of the family being

present in the room. The father says they may have used a special method for this treatment.

During our conversation, the mother goes to the darkened room where the ill son lies, opens

the door slightly and carefully, watches her child and closes the door just as carefully. She

expresses a desire for her children to study, preferably become doctors. Her elder son was

very successful in school. But she worries about Iljham. He does not talk much about his life

and lacks the view of the future and high educational aims she wants him to have. When we

ask for Iljham, she says he is praying. When Iljham comes into the living room he is ready to

talk. The parents stay during the interview and talk discretely with the second author.

Only one of Iljham’s photos shows a person but the face is not visible. He says he did not

photograph people because when he brought the camera, no friends were around, and when

friends were around he did not have the camera with him. He took only 9 photos out of the

film’s total of 27. He mentions that his pictures have an esthetic aspect; sometimes he wanted

to take a picture that resembled other pictures he found beautiful, e.g., the photo at night

covered by snowflakes in the foreground (Figure 2).

Spatial existence and social network

Iljham goes to school by metro every day and uses the metro to go to the gym after school and

during the weekend. He goes there alone. Moreover, he sometimes goes to another Stockholm

suburb to meet friends, once a week or every second week. They do nothing in particular, just

hang around. His friends come from different countries and they communicate in Swedish.

Iljham commands five languages and speaks his mother tongue with some friends. Common

interests are talking about their countries of origin, what life is like in Sweden and about

countries on bad terms with their country of origin:

For example, a Bosnian talks about Serbs, a Somali talks about Eritreans or Ethiopians . . . and I talk about [the

countries on bad terms with] my home country . . .

There are no Swedes among these friends, but Iljham knows some. He spends most of his time

with other boys:

[. . .] I don’t have many female friends . . . I don’t spend time with girls that much.

The only photo he took of humans is, however, the one of his and a female friend’s feet

(Figure 1).

At home, Iljham has a room of his own and a computer which he uses to chat with people

on the internet and exchange audio and video files with them. The place he mentions as import-

ant to him is the mosque in central Stockholm. Talking about the photo he took of the mosque

(Figure 2), he says:


[the mosque] is situated somewhere in the city and . . . here one is so to say . . . in front of the mosque . . . one is

about to enter so to say. One has arrived. (Figure 2)

At first Iljham does not talk much about himself but in connection with the mosque he opens up a

little and the conversation becomes more interesting for him.

Time perspectives and structure

Iljham goes to the mosque alone on Fridays:

On Fridays I must, though sometimes I haven’t time. But if I’m in town, then . . . if it’s time to pray then I can go to

the mosque. Yes, it’s good if I do. As quickly as possible then . . . I take the nearest place.

Figure 1. Iljham with a female friend in the metro.

Figure 2. The mosque.


He expresses the uncertain wait for an answer from the Migration Board:

When I came to Sweden I felt sort of . . . empty, so to say . . . empty. . . don’t know the language, for example . . .

and now sort of . . . know the language but wait and so on . . . for an answer [from the Migration Board]. (Iljham’s

emphasis in bold type)

He does not like waiting, even for the metro. His photo from the metro platform (not published

here) illustrates a situation in which he feels uncomfortable:

Not here . . . where one waits . . . that’s not good . . . it’s not such fun . . .

Iljham is interested in natural science, notably chemistry and physics, but cannot take these sub-

jects and expresses disappointment:

[. . .] chemistry and physics. . . but we don’t have these classes, we just don’t have them. They should be included. I

brought it up. The teacher suggested we vote so that at least five of us would contact the vice principal . . . but there

were only two of us who wanted these subjects . . .

This makes Iljham less interested in school. If conditions were otherwise, he would be more

motivated for his own future:

If I were to have higher grades I would go in for natural . . . they say one can then become sort of anything . . .

In accordance with his mother’s wish, he makes clear that he then would become a paediatrician.

He has thought about becoming a policeman but adds that it is not a good profession. His view of

the future is in Sweden and he says he wants to stay where he is. When asked about himself and

his family in the future, he says:

Ordinary . . . ordinary family.

Iljham emphasises that he does not want to talk to anyone about his feelings; his words and body

language express that this integrity perspective is important to him. When asked if he brings

friends home, he says:

No. Because, that is . . . my brother . . . isn’t so well . . . so it’s . . . I tell them [his friends] . . . that he’s working or

something like that . . . Why should they know?

Meaningful activities

The mosque is a place where Iljham feels safe and he says he likes the photo because there are

snowflakes covering the picture and one has to strain every nerve to see the lights from the

mosque behind the flakes (Figure 2):

To be in the mosque. It’s like a home, that is . . . you go in, you do what one has to, that is pray perhaps . . . or rest a

little perhaps . . . I don’t know . . . but it’s as it were . . . a home but in another way [the difference between the home

and the mosque]. Here at home you do everything possible . . . watch TV, take a shower, or sleep, or sit at the com-

puter. But . . . there you are sort of to read sort of some lecture book or . . . that is it’s a religious place, so you are to

think religion. For instance if you have Islam as religion . . . so yes, they can assist . . .

Religion has a meaning for Iljham:

[Religion means] the way to the goal . . . perhaps yes, roughly something like that. That is . . . before one dies one

shall deal with that . . . also so I think it’s sort of a . . . what shall I say . . . a duty or . . . I don’t know how I shall

describe . . . a thing you have to experience before you die. Some pillars in Islam. If I can afford it so . . . I’ll go [to

Mecca].

It was when they first arrived in Sweden that Iljham and his family discovered what Islam is

really about because they met other Muslims who explained to them what they had not under-

stood before. This is the only context in which Iljham talks about himself and his family as ‘we’:

[. . .] then we became . . . Muslims . . .


Iljham’s father prepares a nutritional drink with a straw for his brother and goes through a form

of silent acting as he approaches the door. Iljham expresses a longing for things to be different in

the family:

I’d like to have that is . . . some more siblings . . . mostly older. Then you are respected by mates. It’s Dad who

usually looks after my brother. Sometimes I that is . . . help him to lift. Though I . . . try to keep out of the way.

He finally expresses that an elder sibling should be able to protect a younger.

Said5

Said lives in a Stockholm suburb with his parents and his 12-year-old brother who recovered

from SWS a year ago. He meets us after school at the second author’s workplace. The photos

Said has taken show him and his friends in the metro train. They express vivid body language

and seem to be having fun. There is only one photo (not published here) of the room he

shares with his brother, showing their computer. He took 21 photos out of a possible 27. Said

speaks openly about himself.


Said moves about the city by metro but also likes walking. He walks to school but takes the

metro to the gym and to central Stockholm, e.g., the Old Town, where he loves walking

around by himself or with his family. The family has a flat with two bedrooms, a living-room

and a kitchen. He does not bring friends home; they meet somewhere outside. They talk

about their countries of origin:

[. . .] development . . . not like Sweden, Sweden is . . .ahead. I think that Sweden in Europe, first country with a good

atmosphere. The atmosphere, socially . . . I think that. Norway and Sweden. I haven’t lived there, but . . . I’ve heard.

In my home country, there is everything, but there is not democracy. They say there is but there isn’t. In Sweden

there’s no bribery and that’s good. But in my home country it isn’t the same thing. In Sweden it’s good that a person

has knowledge. Then he gets on. There it’s not the same thing. I would go [there] but . . . it’s a fine country, but it

. . . there’s no social [security]. I can’t change anything because I’m not a president. (Said’s emphasis in bold type)

Said uses the Internet frequently for various purposes, e.g., to chat with people and to visit the

Swedish Migration Board’s home page:

I check the news, what’s happening in Sweden and so on . . . sometimes I chat and . . . maybe there are words that

need to be translated between Russian and Swedish. [I visit the Swedish Migration Board’s home page] to be aware

of the situation . . . how could I explain . . . immigrants’ situation. Rules and so on . . . sometimes we have guests

who bring letters that I translate . . . or just checking out the migration news. It’s not difficult to understand what’s

written in Swedish.

Moreover, he watches television from Sweden, his home country and Russia with his family. A

year ago he lived with his family in another Stockholm suburb. He reflects upon the surroundings

at that time:

Sometimes I went fishing . . . it was good . . . how could I explain . . . forest . . . all over but ok, it was supposed to be

nature, but it should also be for example . . . flats . . . or open space as well . . . In [my suburb] for example, there’s

not as much forest as in [the suburb where I lived before] . . . it’s open everywhere . . . what I want to stress is that it

would have been better with both nature and open areas.

He took this photo in order to illustrate how he would like the surroundings to be (Figure 3).

He loves everything that grows. In the previous suburb he had only one friend, a boy 1 year

younger from his home country who was his neighbour. Now he has several friends with differ-

ent countries of origin; some are older than him and they are from his home country. They com-

municate in Swedish.



Reflecting on the period when his brother suffered from SWS, Said says that some important

things have changed for the better. At home, there is a good atmosphere since his brother

recovered:

[. . .] at home . . . the atmosphere . . . a feeling of security. Because . . . my brother recovered. He has been ill. Then

the atmosphere was no good because my mother was sad too. I went to the psychologist . . . because when one talks

to someone . . . one gets it out from the inside.

Thinking of his future, he wants to become a doctor:

My mother is a doctor, that’s why I want to become a doctor too. She has worked 20 years in the home country.


As the older brother, Said feels responsible for his brother:

I think it’s good to be a big brother . . . to advise my younger brother. For example I tell him that he has to study. ‘If

you don’t study, it won’t be good for you’ I usually tell him. He listens but . . . he’s good at Maths but he doesn’t do

Figure 3. Said wants the physical environment to be planned with both trees and buildings.


his homework, even when I tell him to. Next year he will be in the [senior level]. He sits by the computer and at

eleven o’clock he remembers his homework. When he’ll be eighteen years old, he can decide for himself, but now

[I feel responsible for him].

Said in turn gets advice from his Dad about different things.

He considers himself a Muslim though he does not practice religion apart from fasting 2 or 3

days. His mother told him he is too thin to fast the whole Ramadan and he agrees but adds that he

is aware that some Muslims look askance at not doing his duty. He believes that good or bad

things in the world are ordained by God.

Said does things that make him feel good and sometimes encourages his friends:

[. . .] playing the clarinet. Physical training is also good for the body. I tell them to go training . . .

He has played the clarinet for 8 years and takes clarinet lessons in a neighbouring suburb once a

week. He likes singing and listening to classical music and jazz.

Anzhela6

Anzhela is waiting for us with her mother, younger sister and the responsible medical person in

the room which the ambulatory domestic medical team uses in central Stockholm. She is there

because the team treats family members at home as well as in their reception. Her elder brother

has recovered from SWS. She has charisma and seems relaxed at the thought of being alone with

us and even eager to tell us about her photographs. Her family members and the medical person

move to an adjacent room. When asked if she can tell us about her photographs, she knows what

this is about:

You said it’s good that I talk about myself. You know what I’m called [laughs.] My birthday was in March. 12

years.

She is straightforward and definite. Her photographs illustrate her everyday life; she used 25 out

of 27 snaps and enjoyed it. She has a plan and knows what every photo is about.


She lives with her parents, a 13-year-old brother and a 7-year-old sister in a Stockholm suburb.

They moved there from another suburb a year ago. She likes their apartment after they had reno-

vated it. She chose pink for the walls in her and her sister’s room, though her mother suggested

white. One photo shows where she walks every morning when she takes her sister to school

(Figure 4). The walk takes about 20 minutes.

Getting up in the morning is hard, she is very tired. She starts school at eight o’clock; her sister

starts at nine. She takes responsibility for her younger sister and imitates how she has to pull her

along:

She gets so tired, she can’t walk, she says: ‘I don’t want to go’. She has to wait an hour at the after-school centre.

In the afternoon it is the opposite, Anzhela has to wait an hour for her sister, so she plays in the

school yard:

I only play in the school yard for an hour then I take her home. And friends come asking shall we go and play

somewhere until your little sister is finished. No, I can’t be with you any longer . . . It isn’t good if friends say

things and then I say ‘no’.

On her birthday she brought a cake:

[. . .] I brought a cake so that everyone could eat. My mother made it. [classmates said] ‘Anzhela is nice Anzhela is

nice’. I am the only one [who brings a cake].


This confirmation is important for her. There are also areas of insecurity. Talking about a task in

school:

I didn’t have to present it. I can’t talk so much. I think I wouldn’t do so well. If you are in the first year to talk for the

whole class . . .

Despite expressions of insecurity, she also shows determined and pleasure in learning, e.g., she

doesn’t think she’s good at Maths though she likes Maths. And talking about one photo (not pub-

lished here):

This is needlework. [. . .] here you are to write what you want to be better at. I just wrote ‘sew’. And here, what shall

you do to be better at them. I wrote ‘practice’. Practice so that I will become good. At sewing. [. . .] I read a lot at

home. In order to be better at reading in class. Everyone does it on Fridays [. . .] and one has to read out loud and

everyone has to follow in the book.

Anzhela describes every photo accurately, i.e., who sits where in the classroom, who made what

in the crafts classroom and the importance of putting one’s coat in the cloakroom on the hook

that is actually yours. Otherwise there is chaos:

[. . .] here everyone hangs their clothes so that there is fuss a great deal. For instance, I hang here. There! Not here.

Yes. Then there is fuss a great deal. One who comes takes away throws my clothes then hangs theirs. There isn’t

room. But [. . .] each one shall get their [clothes hook]. Names that are here. No one who may hang with me.

(Anzhela’s emphasis in bold type) (Figure 5)

She talks eagerly about school but also wants to tell us about her parents:

Dad is 37. He goes to school. He goes to learn Swedish. Mum too. Mum is 31. Mum finishes at . . . eleven.

She gets home at twelve. Then Dad starts at one o’clock and finishes at five o’clock. Because Dad can’t

wake up so early . . . earlier than eight o’clock. Because he gets terribly tired at night . . . and then he

can’t wake in the morning . . . [laughs]. [. . .] Dad wants to go very much, Mum too, because he wants to

learn Swedish (Anzhela’s emphasis in bold type).

And her sister: they squabble but she says they are best friends and like being together:

[At weekends] then I go out with my little sister. She talks with me all the time. ‘Anzhela shall we go out today?’ I

say ok, just today [demonstrates with body language]. I’ll be terribly tired. [. . .] I take her only round the house and

Figure 4. The view from Anzhela’s window.


back home. [My sister says] ‘I shall sleep with you, I also want pink’. I tell like this [invents something] tales to her.

I’m good at that. Write tales (Anzhela’s emphasis in bold type).

And her brother:

I like singing very much. To watch something on home country TV, then [sings] I go to my room and very loudly

‘ahahah’ [laughs]. I have [music from the computer] from my big brother. He understands . . . he knows about

computers and that sort of thing, has music and talks and so on . . .

The brother does not want to be photographed. But when asked what she would photograph if

she had a camera again, she is persistent and laughs:

My brother.

She likes playing football and handball, but only during school breaks. In her free time she likes

to play with her friend from school. They go home to each other:

[We] talk so much. I show her my room first. Then we dance . . .

She listens to music from her country of origin as well as in Swedish and English.


Memories of her country of origin are vague:

I don’t remember very much [of the home country]. [When I came to Sweden I was] nine or ten . . . One year I think

I [attended school in the country of origin].

When talking about the photo of the family’s TV (not published here), she expresses attachment

to the country she does not remember so well:

Here is my favourite programme. They sing there. It’s from the home country’s channel. My favourite is called

[name of singer]. I like just her, not the song she sings. She looks good. I always watch there [home country

TV]. Almost always. They tell about how it’s going in the home country . . . what is there . . . flowers, trees and

one sees sort of some plants away there.

Figure 5. Anzhela by the hooks in the cloakroom.


Anzhela mentions several school routines that seem important to her, e.g., her timetable that she

even photographed (not published here):

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. It’s only Tuesday and Friday that we finish earlier, 12.55. I want

to go home at four o’clock.

Talking about her future:

Write songs. I can do that. I can write the text, nothing more. I don’t know, I haven’t really decided [what the text is

to be about]. I believe I’m good at that.


Anzhela mentioned many things in her everyday life she considers meaningful. School is one of

the most important things, both socially and spatially, and it fills her time with meaning (Figure 6):

I think this picture is the finest picture. Here . . . my classroom! Here is the map of Sweden. I like this picture. My

classroom, the benches and . . . yes, I always want to go there. I don’t want to go home. It’s fun . . . that children

come. It’s fun being with them. It’s great fun being with classmates all the time. I think the school is great. I want to

go there . . . (Figure 6) (Anzhela’s emphasis in bold type).

When asked if there is anything she wants to add about her photos:

I’ve told everything I thought of. I did like this . . . when I take the pictures I take one and [work out what] I’ll tell

about her.

Discussion

This study was conducted in a political and societal context in Sweden that seriously affected our

possibilities of carrying out the research. The difficulties in getting the opportunity to talk with

healthy siblings of refugee children with SWS, due to the families’ fear and some staff’s

vigilance, were a part of the methodological and ethical challenge and also a part of the results.

The study has some considerable limitations, e.g., our not being in a position personally to

inform the children and their parents about the study and consequently the small number of indi-

viduals in the empirical material, which restricts diversity. Moreover, our pre-understanding as

Figure 6. Anzhela’s classroom.


adult researchers may have affected the interpretation of the results. And although we found the

interviews fruitful without an interpreter, there may have been language barriers despite the fact

that the interviewees speak good Swedish. Limited command of a language may lead one to say

what one’s command allows rather than what one wants to say.

Reflexions about the methods used concern their appropriateness in this particular study. We

find the combination of photographs, dialogue and observational field notes fruitful; many of the

topics in the dialogue may not have been brought up with either photographs or dialogue alone,

e.g., the ill or more or less recovered siblings. The traditional interview situation is likely to be

dominated by the adult researcher and the scope of questions limited to the interviewer’s frame

of reference. We use the photographs as a platform for conversation and the analysis has a docu-

mentary rather than a pictorial character. Hence the combination of photographs and dialogue

provides access to and conversation with the young person about what he or she wants to com-

municate. The interviewee’s control of the camera also increases his/her possibility to prepare

him/herself for the interview, deepening the content and maintaining his/her integrity in the

interview. Anzhela and, to a certain degree, Said used their cameras both for fun and as task-

based informative tools for sharing their stories with us. Iljham was more restrained and this

resulted in fewer pictures, though he did share his thoughts with us from his photographs.

The interviewees used their cameras in different ways, perhaps for individual reasons, but we

also consider e.g., age and gender as differential aspects. We interpret the outcome of their

use of the camera in combination with the dialogues that they felt noticed and recognised as

persons in their own right. Therefore we found this method valuable in dealing with this particu-

lar group of young people.

We found that despite the fact that the ill sibling’s state of health is or has been in the family’s

focus, it is notable that the healthy siblings bring it up to just a little extent. There may be differ-

ent reasons for this silence. It could be a sign of integrity and also of disgrace and stigma due to

the political context of refugee children with SWS in Sweden. Another aspect of the intervie-

wees saying little about their ill or recovered sibling might be a need to speak for themselves

and be seen. However, when we ask Iljham whether he brings friends home, he does talk

about his brother and this is evidently very painful and burdensome for him. Silence in unaccom-

panied asylum-seeking minors’ meetings with authorities and social workers is highlighted by

Kohli (2006) as both ‘burdensome and protective’ (2006, p. 4, Kohli italics) for the individual

child. There are several reasons for not opening up, e.g., the rigorous asylum-seeking process’s

emphasis on evidence and truth, an ‘advantageous aspect of ordinary adolescence’ and a part of

becoming independent (2006, p. 3). We can only speculate on the reasons for our interviewees’

silence about the ill or recovered sibling, but the interpretation of silence being both burdensome

and protective is plausible in this context.

Our reflections on the interviewees’ vulnerability refer back to the connection between the

macro and the micro levels, i.e., the interrelationships between the experiences of being a

child or a young person with a refugee background and having a chronically ill sibling. Restric-

tive Swedish migration policy, the media image of parents willing to sacrifice their children to

obtain a permanent residence permit and children manipulating their symptoms are important

macro-level factors that affected the meso-level with some cautious staff at the Stockholm

CAHMS and the micro-level everyday life. We are aware that the interviewees and their families

have been exposed to risk factors in the pre-migration and migration phases. Additionally, the

Swedish political context in 2004–2006 contributed to the complexity of everyday life for

this particular group of young people.

Iljham’s social attachment to and sanctuary in the mosque, Said going to the gym with friends

or playing the clarinet and Anzhela’s devotion to school and the possibilities she experiences

there may be different expressions of making meaningful space for oneself. The concept of resi-

lience (Rutter 1987) may be relevant here. The interviewees’ space-making, their silence about


their ill or recovered sibling, and their refugee background are probably of great importance for

their resilience and well-being as well as for their vulnerability.

We regard resilience as permeating the spatial existence, social network, time perspectives

and structures and meaningful activities of the interviewees as a positive internal force that

empowers each of them to manage life. Factors that enable resiliency in children may include

the presence of one or more important persons who provide direct or indirect support for the indi-

vidual’s everyday life. Said and Anzhela seem to have this social support from somebody and

Iljham, who seems more lonely, brings up the spiritual dimension as supportive; the girl

whose feet he photographed might also be an important person for him. There were too few

interviewees in our study for a fuller discussion of this aspect.

All three talk about meaningful places where they spend their time. Said expresses the will to

create and recreate space in the nearest physical environment in his suburb to become places of

belonging with both buildings and trees (Figure 3). Anzhela chooses pink walls for her room and

the space by her clothes hook in school is her expression of territoriality and a place of belonging

(Figure 5). Iljham expresses the will to have social and emotional stability within his family in

Sweden. The mosque is a place where he turns to religion by both practicing and resting

(Figure 2) and the gym may be a space for his physical expressions. The feeling of waiting

on the metro platform is indicative of the uncertainty about his future. It illustrates a situation

of liminality, possibly due to e.g., the temporary nature of his residence permit (Figure not pub-

lished). This uncertainty and the fact that his brother is still ill may be reasons for not having

many social relationships and for taking so few photos of everyday life.

The three interviewees structure their time, day by day, in different ways, e.g., Iljham regu-

larly goes to the mosque, Said plays the clarinet once a week and Anzhela adapts her everyday

life to the school schedule. These are ways of making meaning and meaningful space. Their ill

siblings do not seem to have such a resilient capacity, at least not during a certain period of time,

and the reasons for this diversity among siblings go beyond the scope of our study.

Conclusion

Healthy siblings of chronically ill children are in a special situation in life, whether the ill child

has cancer or SWS. Research by Nolbris et al. (2005) indicates that when a sister or brother

suffers from cancer, the healthy sibling experiences a strengthened siblingship. Among siblings

of children with SWS we have seen that the link between the healthy and the ill sibling becomes

vulnerable, with decreased possibilities of communication due to the withdrawal symptoms.

Our intention is not to compare one group of children with another but to highlight some of

the healthy siblings’ everyday lives, which have been overlooked in research. The results under-

score that the macro-level society’s reception and regulations have both a weakening and a

favourable impact on the individual child or young person in terms of spatial existence and

social networks, time perspective, structures, activities and meaning.

Finally, we stress that further research is needed on healthy siblings of severely ill children

with a refugee background. This study could not be carried out as planned originally. Still we

consider it an important contribution to ethnographic childhood research on young persons

with a refugee background. The results indicate that the combination of photographs and dialo-

gue is a fruitful approach that yields useful information about healthy siblings making space for

themselves.

Acknowledgements

This study has been financed by the Mayflower Charity Foundation for Children, Sweden: http://www.majblomman.se.

We are also grateful to the participating children and their parents and to Hamid Ardalan, Goran Bodegard, Guhn


http://www.majblomman.se

http://www.majblomman.se

Godani, Birger Grondahl, Anna Kullman, Charlotta Wiberg for their support. We also thank Patrick Hort for help with

the English and Emma Ricknell for editing the photographs.

Notes on contributors

Conception and design of the study (MS/SE)

Supervision (SE/HA)

Interviews (MS) under supervision (SE)

Observations of interviews (SE)

Analysis, interpretation of data and drafting the paper (MS)

Critical revision for substantial intellectual content (MS/SE/HA)

Authorship (MS/SE/HA)

Notes

1. The present study is the first part of a doctoral research project entitled ‘The influence of everyday life structures on

health and well-being in children in asylum-seeking families’.

2. All data were obtained from those responsible for information at the Statistics Bureau of the Swedish Migration

Board on 13 June 2008.

3. Swedish Migration Board fact sheet, 2007 [online]. Available from: http://www.migrationsverket.se/infomaterial/asyl/allmant/mottagandet_en.pdf [Accessed 22 August 2008].

4. Interview conducted 21 November 2006.

5. Interview conducted 9 December 2006.

6. Interview conducted 10 April 2007.

References

Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, [online]. Available from: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm.

[Accessed 20 August 2008].

Ascher, H. and Gustavsson, T., 2008. Clearing conference about children with refusal symptoms [article in Swedish].

Lakartidningen, 105 (1–2), 31–33.

Ascher, H., Gustavsson, T., Malmstrom, C. and Ricknell, E., eds., Asylum-seeking children with severe withdrawal

symptoms, Experiences from Sweden (forthcoming).

Bellin, M.H. and Kovacs, P., 2006. Fostering resilience in siblings of youths with a chronic health condition: a review of

the literature. Health & Social Work, 31 (3), 209–216.

Bodegard, G., 2005. Life-threatening loss of function in refugee children: another expression of pervasive refusal

syndrome? Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 10 (3), 337–350.

Bodegard, G., 2006. Att ha ratt till vard=att fa tillgang till vard. Vard av asylsokande barn med uppgivenhetssymtom. In:

A. Groglopo and B.M. Ahlberg, eds. Halsa, vard och diskriminering. Stockholm: SOU 2006, 78, 171–229.

Brekke, J., 2004. While we are waiting: uncertainty and empowerment among asylum-seekers in Sweden. Oslo: Institute

for Social Research.

Bronfenbrenner, U., 1979. The ecology of human development: experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press.

Baarnhielm, S., Ekblad, S., Ekberg, J., and Ginsburg, B.E., 2005. Historical reflections on mental health care in Sweden:

the welfare state and cultural diversity. Transcultural Psychiatry, 42 (3), 394–419.

Cele, S., 2006. Communicating place: methods for understanding children’s experience of place, Thesis (PhD), Acta

Universitatis Stockholmiensis, Stockholm.

Christensen, P., 2004. Children’s participation in ethnographic research: issues of power and representation. Children

and Society, 18, 165–176.

Christensen, P. and James, A., eds., 2000. Research with children: perspectives and practices. London: Falmer Press.

de Jong, M., 2005. Vardagen for asylsokande ungdomar som kommit ensamma till Sverige [online]. Malmo University

Electronic Publishing. Malmo, Sweden. Available from: http://dspace.mah.se/dspace/bitstream/2043/1689/1/

utbrapp_405.pdf [Accessed 20 August 2008].

Eastmond, M., 1997. The dilemmas of exile: Chilean refugees in the U.S.A. Thesis (PhD). Acta Universitatis Gothobur-

gensis: Goteborg.

Eastmond, M., Egalitarian ambitions, constructions of difference: the paradoxes of refugee integration in Sweden.

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (forthcoming).


http://www.migrationsverket.se/infomaterial/asyl/allmant/mottagandet_en.pdf



http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm

http://dspace.mah.se/dspace/bitstream/2043/1689/1/utbrapp_405.pdf



Eastmond, M. and Ascher, H. In the best interest of the child? The politics of vulnerability and negotiations for asylum.

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (forthcoming).

Ekblad, S., 1996. Ecological psychology in Chinese societies. In: S. Ekblad, ed. The handbook of Chinese psychology.

Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.

Ekblad, S. and Raundalen, M., 2005. Asylum seeking children . . . authorities are waiting and demanding ‘all the facts’.

All necessary knowledge already exists – accusation of malingering should be condemned [article in Swedish].

Lakartidningen, 102 (28–29), 2082–2083.

Gifford, S.M., Bakopanos, C., Kaplan, I., and Correa-Velez, I., 2007. Meaning or measurement? Researching the social

contexts of health and settlement among newly-arrived refugee youth in Melbourne, Australia. Journal of Refugee

Studies, 20 (3), 414–440.

Godani, G., Bodegard, G. and Rydelius, P.A., 2008. Bordan de kom med [online]. Report No 10332, Save the Children,

Sweden. Available from: http://www/rb.se/SiteCollectionDocuments/Rapporter/Svenska%20rapporter/B%C3%

B6rdan%20de%20kom%20med.pdf [Accessed 4 April 2009].

Hjern, A. and Bouvier, P., 2004. Migrant children – a challenge for European paediatricians. Acta Paediatrica, 93 (11),

1535–1539.

Holt, L. and Holloway, S.L., 2006. Editorial: theorising other childhoods in a globalised World. Children’s Geographies,

4 (2), 135–142.

Hunt, P., 2007. Mission to Sweden. Report of the special rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the

highest attainable standard of physical and mental health [online]. United Nations General Assembly, Human

Rights Council. Available from: http://www.humanrights.se/upload/files/2/Rapporter%20och%20seminariedok/

Hunt%20report%202007.pdf [Accessed 20 August 2008].

James, A., 2007. Giving voice to children’s voices: practices and problems, pitfalls and potentials. American

Anthropologist, 109 (2), 261–272.

James, A., Jenks, C., and Prout, A., 1998. Theorizing childhood. Cambridge, New York: Polity Press: Teachers College

Press.

Joelsson, L. and Dahlin, K., 2005. The asylum seeking process a breeding ground for apathy among certain children. A

negative answer concerning the residence permit is often a triggering factor [article in Swedish]. Lakartidningen, 102

(48), 3646–3650.

Kohli, R.K.S., 2006. The sound of silence: listening to what unaccompanied asylum-seeking children say and do not say.

British Journal of Social Work, 36 (5), 707–721.

Lask, B., 2004. Pervasive refusal syndrome. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 10 (2), 153–159.

Lilja, E., 1999. Den ifragasatta fororten: identitet och tillhorighet i moderna fororter, Byggforskningsradet: Stockholm.

Lindencrona, F., Ekblad, S., and Hauff, E., 2008. Mental health of recently resettled refugees from the Middle East in

Sweden: the impact of pre-resettlement trauma, resettlement stress and capacity to handle stress. Social Psychiatry

and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 43 (2), 121–131.

Massey, D.B., 2005. For space. Sage: London.

Morrow, V., 2008. Ethical dilemmas in research with children and young people about their social environments.

Children’s Geographies, 6 (1), 49–61.

Newman, M., Woodcock, A., and Dunham, P., 2006. ‘Playtime in the borderlands’: children’s representations of school,

gender and bullying through photographs and interviews. Children’s Geographies, 4 (3), 289–302.

Nolbris, M. and Hellstrom, A.L., 2005. Siblings’ needs and issues when a brother or sister dies of cancer.

Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 22 (4), 227–233.

Nolbris, M., Enskar, K., and Hellstrom, A.L., 2007. Experience of siblings of children treated for cancer. European

Journal of Oncology Nursing, 11 (2), 106–112.

Punch, S., 2002. Research with children: the same or different from research with adults? Childhood, 9 (3), 321–341.

Qvortrup, J., 2000. Macroanalysis of childhood. In: P. Christensen and A. James, eds. Research with children. Perspec-

tives and practices. London: Routledge, 77–97.

Rasmussen, K., 2004. Places for children – children’s places. Childhood, 11 (2), 155–173.

Report 2005:2 Asylum-Seeking Children with Severe Withdrawal Behaviour – status of knowledge and survey (updated

version) from the national coordinator for children with severe withdrawal symptoms in the asylum-seeking process

[online]. Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Available from: http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/04/66/96/

5250a7bd.pdf [Accessed 4 April 2009].

Rutter, M., 1987. Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57 (3),

316–331.

Rydelius, P.A., 2006. Rapport om s k apatiska barnen. Research report No 25: Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.

Silove, D. and Steel, Z., 2006. Understanding community psychosocial needs after disasters: implications for mental

health services. Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, 52 (2), 121–125.

Sporton, D., Valentine, G., and Nielsen, K.B., 2006. Post conflict identities: affiliations and practices of somali asylum

seeker children. Children’s Geographies, 4 (2), 203–217.


http://www/rb.se/SiteCollectionDocuments/Rapporter/Svenska%20rapporter/B%C3%B6rdan%20de%20kom%20med.pdf

http://www/rb.se/SiteCollectionDocuments/Rapporter/Svenska%20rapporter/B%C3%B6rdan%20de%20kom%20med.pdf

http://www.humanrights.se/upload/files/2/Rapporter&percnt;20och&percnt;20seminariedok/Hunt&percnt;20report&percnt;202007.pdf



http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/04/66/96/5250a7bd.pdf

http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/04/66/96/5250a7bd.pdf

Swedish Government Offical Report 2006:6. Skyddsgrundirektivet och svensk ratt [online]. Swedish Ministry of Justice.

Available from: http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/05/64/40/3306e2de.pdf [Accessed 4 April 2009].

Thompson, S.L. and Nunn, K.P., 1997. The pervasive refusal syndrome: the RAHC experience. Clinical Child

Psychology and Psychiatry, 2 (1), 145–165.

Tuan, Y., 1990. Topophilia: a study of environmental perception, attitudes, and values. New York: Columbia University

Press.

van der Burgt, D., 2006. ‘Dar man bor tycker man det ar bra’: Barns geografier i en segregerad stadsmiljo [‘Where you

live you like it’: Children’s Geographies in a Segregated Urban Environment], Thesis (PhD). Department of Social

and Economic Geography, Uppsala University.

Vogel, J. and Hjerm, M., 2002. Integration towards Swedish living standards? Living conditions of immigrants to Sweden

in the 1990s, Report 96: Statistics Sweden. The National Institute for Working Life.

von Folsach, L.L. and Montgomery, E., 2006. Pervasive refusal syndrome among asylum-seeking children. Clinical

Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 11 (3), 457–473.


http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/05/64/40/3306e2de.pdf