The thesis is researching adolescents with experiences of migrations and living abroad. The emphasis is placed primarily on their first-person experiences, subjective views, needs and issues, connected to the return to their country of origin – in the context of this thesis, that is Slovenia. In Slovenia, these adolescents are poorly researched and often overlooked. As consequence, when smaller or bigger problems arise, they often have no one to turn to for specific help and support they need. Instead, they are often left all to themselves.
In theoretical part of the thesis, we first take a look at migrations and the place children and adolescents take in migration contexts. Then we are introduced to findings of Slovenian and foreign researchers about the phenomena, connected to the migrants’ return to their country of origin: most common problems, consequences of (return) migration experiences on relationship to oneself and relationships to others and benefits of living abroad. In empirical part of the thesis, this is followed by concrete examples of experiences and thinking of four adolescents, who returned to Slovenia in 2016 after living abroad. It is possible to find many similarities between them. In many ways, their experiences are also very similar to those described in literature. At the same time, the international experiences of each one of them are very special and specific, which has great impact on the way they look at their life abroad, their return to Slovenia and their life now. For some it is easier in Slovenia than for others. Among the problems they are dealing with are reverse culture shock, issues with the sense of belonging and identity issues, issues with continuation of education, problems with Slovenian language, losses of people, the loss of the sense of control over one’s life, etc. In all four cases when dealing with problems and adjusting to living in Slovenia, a great importance of strong social networks, self-help and recognition of the value of living abroad is apparent.
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