ASSEMBLING HOSPITALITY. WELCOMING ELDERLY PEOPLE FROM UKRAINE, EXILED IN FRANCE.
The study focuses on the organization of reception in relation to the intentions of Ukrainian elderly people to integrate into French society.
Studying the invisibility of elderly Ukrainian migrants in France and their reception conditions
The significant presence of elderly people in Ukraine requires special attention to these people among migrants. One of the well-documented effects of these forced displacements is the significant spread of psycho-trauma, which also depends on the pre-migration experience. At present, data on elderly Ukrainian migrants are insufficient to account for their experience and reception in France.
Thus, this research covers three main objectives, the first being to shed light on the divergence between the urgency of the problem of welcoming elderly Ukrainian migrants and the lack of information on this subject.
The second is to probe the positioning of elderly Ukrainian migrants with regard to the purposes of reception services. Elderly people may have difficulty or be unwilling to ask for support from French services.
The last objective is to explain how the migrant reception system in France makes room for elderly Ukrainians.
Collecting the experiences of caregivers and elderly Ukrainian migrants
Psycho-trauma is one of the most frequent effects of forced displacement and exposure to the violence of armed conflicts. The High Council of Health has given priority to the management of the psychological suffering of Ukrainian migrants. To this end, since 2015, France has had 11 regional psycho-trauma centers (CRP) prepared to care for migrants. This research is based on a tripartite survey conducted in two of these centers, it includes semi-directed interviews conducted with the managers of the structures and with elderly Ukrainian migrants, a short ethnography and an ethnometodological experiment. The latter aims to assess that professionals make of the people assisted as well as the system in which they work.
Biography
A postdoctoral researcher at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, Giovanni Matera defended a thesis entitled “Transforming psychiatry to democratize society. The legacy of Franco Basaglia in two community psychiatry services in France and Italy” in 2019 at the EHESS. Today his research focuses mainly on psychiatry, democracy, migration, the third sector and the social economy.