Layered journeys: Experiences of fragmented journeys among young Afghans in Greece and Norway

Abstract

This article focuses on the fragmented journeys towards and within Europe among a group of young people originating from a country marked by war and conflict. It explores how thejourney towardsEuropemay be part of a complexmigration history that leads to layered journeys. I use the term 'layered journeys' to refer to multidimensional and multi-experiential journeys in which past, present and future experiencesofmobility areintertwined. Theymayincludemultiple stagesand various statuses. The article is based on ethnographic fieldwork, creative methods and lifehistory interviews. It focuses on a case study of a group of young Afghan males who arrivedinGreece andNorway between 2008 and 2015, looking at theirjourneysin the context of mobility, undocumentedness and return. Young Afghans have represented the largest group of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers arriving in Europe between 2008 and 2018. While the last decade saw a considerable increase in the number of young Afghans arriving in Europe, migration itself is not a new phenomenon in the Afghan context. Afghanistan has a long history of migratory movements as part of livelihood and survival strategies, of which the past four decades of war and conflict in Afghanistan and its resulting millions of refugees are part.