PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Housing is considered an important social determinant of health. In the context of refugee migration, living in one’s own apartment is a key indicator of successful integration. The type of housing in which refugees are accommodated, however, varies widely. Empirically, measuring health-related attributes of accommodation is challenging. The (international) refugee camp context has been focused on from various fields of research, often drawing on particular theoretical concepts. In this article, these theoretical concepts – mainly based on the work of Hannah Arendt, Erving Goffman, Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben – form the basis for developing a broad analytical framework of refugee accommodation. Housing in the context of refugee accommodation must be understood from four dimensions, including the broader political context, the immediate surroundings of the accommodation and its’ physical and social boundaries, and the structures and processes inside the accommodation that may establish means of social control. As the conditions on each of these three dimensions can affect individuals differently, a fourth, individual dimension complements this analytical framework by a subjective evaluation of the overall living situation. The framework provides a multidimensional approach to assess the context of refugee accommodation which then can be used to systematically analyse health associations. The relevance the dimensions and contextual factors of this framework have on health is supported by empirical evidence as well as conceptual approaches.