Book Talk: Forever 17

UCLA Global

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Coming of Age in the German Asylum System

Ulrike Bialas will be presenting her book Forever 17: Coming of Age in the German Asylum System.

Friday, January 10, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Virtual

Co-Sponsored with UCSD’s Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, and with the UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies.

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.

Sponsor(s): Center for Study of International Migration, Center for European and Russian Studies, UCSD's Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative

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