“Momentariness as a subjectively important and an objective societal condition for refugee children”

This contribution suggests conceptualizing ‘momentariness’ as an objective sociomaterial condition with significant subjective importance. Working methodologically and analytically with children’s perspectives as the starting point of the exploration of four Syrian refugee children’s conduct of everyday life, ‘momentariness’ emerged as an empirically central phenomenon, which seemed highly significant for their possibilities of taking part in the situated sociomaterial practices at the daycare. The phenomenon herewith points to participation and concrete possibilities to influence and transform the social practices the children take part in. Conceptually, ‘momentariness’ can be thus be linked to a subject’s ability to expand individual and joint conduct of lives. This point is made drawing on German-Danish critical psychological conceptualizations of dialectic relations of societal structures and individual subjects. It conceives of societal structural conditions as significant, in sociomaterially different and varied ways, depending on the standpoint of the subject in and across various action contexts. Through a co-creation of knowledge with the children as co-researchers, new insights and action possibilities emerged for both the researcher and the children, which this contribution wishes to highlight as a form of resistance or psychological counter-research-practice. But how can this conceptualization be developed further? Could ‘momentariness’ be explored as a common societal condition in everyday life? And could such a conceptual development shed new light on the complexity of the dialectic dynamics between objective sociomaterial conditions and subjectively experienced human suffering? Further development of conceptualizing ‘momentariness’ might contribute, counter, and address relevant issues that arise, particularly in an era of acceleration.