Sri Lankan Tamil refugees (SLTRs) have lived in the United Kingdom in substantial numbers for about three decades. However, they remain under‐represented in academic and public discourse, and little is known about their migration experiences. This study examined first‐hand accounts of such experiences, with special attention paid to identity and acculturation. Data were collected through four semi‐structured interviews and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The results suggest that SLTRs' experience of conflict as an imposed life disruption continues to shape their adaptation, identity, and meaning‐making (“Afflicted life”). Changing social identities mediate protection from, as well as risk of, trauma. SLTRs try to remedy the socio‐economic and emotional losses suffered in the conflict, but achieve only a partial compensation. Consequently their repair efforts are a source not only of positive emotions but also of dissatisfaction (“Living past”). Finally, participants' sense of belonging and quest for home represent a challenging socio‐emotional process in which they continue to engage even decades after migration (“Continuing quest for home”). This nuanced analysis of how the past continues to shape lived experience, contributes to the under‐developed literature on qualitative psychological investigations of acculturation, research on forced migration, and the establishment of IPA in social psychology.

中文翻译：

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斯里兰卡泰米尔难民在英国的生活经历：移民与身份

大约三十年来，大量斯里兰卡泰米尔难民（SLTR）在英国生活。然而，他们在学术和公共话语中的代表性仍然不足，而且人们对他们的移民经历知之甚少。这项研究考察了此类经历的第一手资料，特别关注身份和文化适应。通过四次半结构化访谈收集数据，并使用解释现象学分析（IPA）进行分析。结果表明，SLTR 的冲突经历（作为强加的生活干扰）继续塑造着他们的适应、身份和意义建构（“痛苦的生活”）。改变社会身份可以调节免受创伤的保护以及创伤的风险。SLTR 试图弥补冲突中遭受的社会经济和情感损失，但只实现了部分补偿。因此，他们的修复努力不仅是积极情绪的源泉，也是不满的源泉（“活在过去”）。最后，参与者的归属感和对家园的追求代表了一个具有挑战性的社会情感过程，他们甚至在移民几十年后仍继续参与其中（“继续寻求家园”）。这种对过去如何继续塑造生活经验的细致入微的分析，导致了关于文化适应的定性心理调查、强迫移民研究以及社会心理学中 IPA 建立的文献的不发达。