Forever 17 - (Ethnographic Encounters and Discoveries) by Ulrike Bialas (Paperback)

About the Book

"Heartbreaking images of children in distress have propelled some of the most urgent calls for action on immigration crises. While we might feel a personal impulse to help the vulnerable, this often extends to state asylum policies. In Forever 17, sociologist Ulrike Bialas follows young African and Central Asian migrants in Germany as they navigate an immigration system engineered to protect minors. Without official paperwork or even knowledge of their exact age, migrants must decide how to present their complicated life stories to government officials. Age in particular often has an outsized effect on their cases. A migrant under 18 can't be deported, for instance, but might be placed in a youth home with strict curfew laws that are especially infantilizing as peers at home begin to start families. An 18-year-old adult will have permission to work, but not opportunities to go to school. And a 15-year-old mother will be separated from her child. No matter their age or "choice" of age, migrants face psychological burdens as well as practical barriers. But the psychological and practical burdens don't exclusively affect migrants. Bialas also spends time with the social workers and doctors charged with determining a migrant's age and national origins. Though Germany's infamous bureaucracy is constructed to issue clear statements about refugees, the truth is often more complicated. Social workers and doctors grapple with the difficult implications of their decisions. Ultimately, Bialas shows, policies surrounding asylum seekers and other immigrants fall dramatically short of their humanitarian ideals. Even those policies designed to help the most vulnerable can lead to outcomes that drastically limit the possibilities for migrants in real need of asylum and impede them from leading fulfilling lives"--

Book Synopsis

An exploration of how age affects the experience and life prospects of asylum-seekers in Germany.

Heartbreaking images of children in distress have propelled some of the most urgent calls for action on immigration crises, and that compassion often affects how state asylum policies are structured. In Germany, for example, the immigration system is engineered to protect minors, which leads to unintended consequences for migrants.

In Forever 17, Ulrike Bialas follows young African and Central Asian migrants in Germany as they navigate that system. Without official paperwork or even, in many cases, knowledge of their exact age, migrants must decide how to present their complicated life stories to government officials. They quickly realize that their age can have an outsized effect on the outcome of their cases. A migrant under 18, for example, can't be deported, but might instead be placed in a youth home, where they will be subject to strict curfew laws. An 18-year-old adult, on the other hand, can get permission to work, but not opportunities to go to school.

Regardless of their age--actual or assumed--migrants face great difficulties. Those classified as minors must live with the psychological burden of being treated like children, while those classified as adults must live without the practical support and legal protections reserved for minors. The significance of age stands in stark contrast to the ambiguities inherent in its determination. Though Germany's infamous bureaucracy is designed to issue clear statements about refugees and migrants, the truth is often more complicated, and officials are forced to grapple with the difficult implications of their decisions. Ultimately, Bialas shows, policies surrounding asylum seekers fall dramatically short of their humanitarian ideals. Even those policies designed to help the most vulnerable can lead to outcomes that drastically limit the possibilities for migrants in real need of protection and keep them from leading fulfilling lives.

Review Quotes

"An important testimony of the refugee crisis in Europe in 2015-16 and its aftermath."-- "American Journal of Sociology"

"Forever 17 makes a crucial contribution to the interdisciplinary fields of refugee studies, youth studies, and migration policy research while bringing a fresh perspective and approach to academic research and writing. Its accessible style makes it suitable for wider audiences beyond academia . . . The book strikes a balance of narrative writing with soulful depth and scholarly analysis which sets it apart, offering an innovative and compassionate depiction of young migrants' lived experiences and struggles within the German asylum system."-- "International Migration Review"

"This book will be an excellent, generative guide to students and practitioners of German and European Studies, international migration, qualitative fieldwork, science and technology studies, and more. Forever 17 should be admired, cited, emulated, and revisited often as an exemplary piece of scholarship."-- "Social Forces"

"This brilliant and incisive ethnographic study unpacks how to determine eligibility fairly under conditions of great demand. Bialas profoundly understands a crunch point at which global demand for opportunity confronts local desires to limit access, and explores all the ambiguities, ambivalences, and indeterminacy that follow. This is a must-read in terms of both the 'bureaucratic incorporation' of immigrants and the liminal lives so generated."--John Mollenkopf, CUNY Graduate Center

"This ethnography of young asylum seekers in Germany shows how a process that might seem obvious--defining a person's age and its meaning--is a wobbly social construction erected by architects with competing visions. Bialas is a perceptive observer of the conflicts, mutual adjustments, and unintended consequences."
--David Scott FitzGerald, coauthor of The Refugee System: A Sociological Approach

"Forever 17 is outstanding, original, impeccably researched, and eminently engaging. With deep ethnographic engagement, humanity, and lucid prose, Bialas brings razor-sharp intellect to demystify the seemingly neutral category of age, debunking the taken-for-granted naturalness of social categories and revealing their complexity, ambiguity, and malleability. This brilliant contribution has enormous theoretical significance and will have a lasting impact on policy debates about the asylum system and beyond. I highly recommend it, especially to anyone open to having their assumptions challenged."
--Cecilia Menjívar, University of California, Los Angeles

About the Author

Ulrike Bialas is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Socio-Cultural Diversity at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity.