Towards a Wider Understanding of the Refugee Experience

Abstract

The following three chapters present results from the fieldwork in England and Finland. This chapter is focused on the experiences of Kurdish refugees in these two countries. Obviously, the Kurdish refugees have encountered a whole range of problems, and this book cannot deal with all of them. The aim is to indicate and discuss the main problems experienced by refugees, and thereby to present the framework in which the social relations of the refugees were constructed in the two countries of reception. The research findings outlined in this chapter form a basis for the discussion in the following two chapters concerning the process of integration and the social organization of the refugee communities.