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Migrants, Refugees, Asylum Seekers: Use and Misuse of Labels in Public Health Research

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Refugee Migration and Health

Part of the book series: Migration, Minorities and Modernity ((MMMO,volume 4))

Abstract

Public health researchers in Germany increasingly acknowledge refugees’ and other migrants’ right to access healthcare. In their decisions regarding the definition of population sub-groups, however, researchers face a dilemma. On the one hand, they need to differentiate between groups for thorough analysis of access barriers in order to identify and challenge health inequalities. On the other hand, they recognise that categories are constructed and may replicate discourses of “othering”, or a separation between “us” and “them”. This chapter firstly summarises Germany’s history of migration to describe the research field. Then it discusses the difficulties of categorising population sub-groups to research the health of migrants and refugees and their access to healthcare, while running the risk of “categorical fetishism”. To overcome this dilemma, three strategies are proposed: (1) caution toward politically defined categories through continuous reflection on constructs, variables and methods, taking the position of a “moral third”; (2) considering a life course approach to migrant health to account for the heterogeneity of life courses among migrants; (3) collecting and using data that allow for a detailed and not purely political differentiation between migrants and non-migrants as well as within the group of migrants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology & International Public Health, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Judith Wenner, Yudit Namer & Oliver Razum

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  1. Judith Wenner
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  2. Yudit Namer
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  3. Oliver Razum
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Correspondence to Judith Wenner .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Medicine, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Alexander Krämer

  2. Department of Public Health Medicine, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Florian Fischer

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Wenner, J., Namer, Y., Razum, O. (2019). Migrants, Refugees, Asylum Seekers: Use and Misuse of Labels in Public Health Research. In: Krämer, A., Fischer, F. (eds) Refugee Migration and Health. Migration, Minorities and Modernity, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03155-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03155-8_4

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