Keynote Speech of Clara Bombach

On the 5th October, following the Annual General Assembly, SNyMS Member Clara Bombach will deliver an open to public presentation entitled 'Waiting for transfer - Everyday life of children and their families in camps.'

Clara Bombach will present findings from her ethnographic study on the everyday lives of children in Swiss asylum camps. These children are awaiting decisions on their asylum applications, a period that can span from months to years. Conducted between July 2019 and July 2020, the study involved 365 hours of observation, day and night. A total of 44 children participated and shared their experiences of an indefinite waiting period in the camps, which they described as 'not normal,' 'isolated,' and 'boring.' The presentation will outline the major findings of the study and conclude by contextualising them within broader research from outside Switzerland. This research supports the central argument that accompanied children seeking asylum are not necessarily protected by the presence of their parent(s); their specific vulnerability is also shaped by their placement in these camps.

Clara Bombach is a social and cultural anthropologist and childhood researcher. She is a lecturer at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Social work.