Asylum: Refugees and Mental Health

In the First World War, Belgian refugees labelled with melancholia, anxiety and emotional disturbance were documented in British medical records and admitted to British asylums. Until now, their life histories and migratory journeys have remained untold. Asylum: Refugees and Mental Health is an international research project which aims to give voice to refugees' experience of mental ill-health and make visible the emotional impacts of displacement. Modern-day statistics show that asylum seekers and refugees are more likely to suffer mental distress and less likely to receive support than the general population. Humanitarian agencies and mental-health professionals stress the importance of individual stories in fully understanding the vulnerabilities caused by displacement. While the stories of the 250,000 Belgians who arrived into Britain in 1914 - 1918 are being made known through public histories (particularly the Tracing the Belgian Refugees database project https://belgianrefugees.leeds.ac.uk/), the emotional impacts of displacement and re-settlement are not. Our project raises timely questions about the relationship between refugee dispersal programmes, sponsorship and well-being. Using newly-available institutional case notes, material culture and asylum photography, we have a unique opportunity to uncover the affective histories of refugees and to challenge the power dynamics of labelling and categorisation. Crucially, we will examine the life histories of Belgian refugees in this period to consider refugee wellbeing as an ongoing question of public mental health.

The project is led by a UK-based Principal Investigator and Co-Investigators in the UK and Hollandwho will pursue this new research agenda with partner organisations which themselves have direct links to the history of migration and mental health, and work with contemporary refugee service-users. This includes the London Metropolitan Archives, Alexandra Palace and the Mental Health Museum in the UK, and In Flanders Fields Museum in Belgium. In collaboration with our partners' community volunteer programmes at the LMA and IFFM, we will extend and refashion the Tracing the Belgian Refugees database to centre the institutional records and emotional histories of Belgian refugees in British institutions such as workhouses and asylums for online audiences. Our publications and public engagement activities will use these resources to inquire into the negotiation of mental health and care in the case histories Belgian refugees in the UK and Belgium. Through co-produced activities with our partners, our research will support an exhibition designed with refugee service users, and a theatre programme for schools. This reflects a demand from within these organisations to develop creative and person-centred approaches to their public engagement programmes to better reflect the complexity and diversity of affective experiences and perspectives among their audiences and communities. This deepening awareness of the emotional history of refugeedom has significant policy implications for both the heritage and archival sectors' classification and representation of refugee history, and government policy on contemporary refugee sponsorship schemes under the banner of 'Homes for Ukraine'.