Becoming Refugee in Cairo: The Political in Performativity

Häkli, Jouni; Pascucci, Elisa; Kallio, Kirsi Pauliina

doi:10.1093/ips/olx002

Cited by 38 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…It is precisely the ability to experience a relation to offered subject positions -either accepting, averting or renegotiating them -that animates political subjectivities. As we have shown elsewhere, this is the case also with various charged and contested subject positions related to asylum seeking (Häkli et al, 2017;. Among asylum seekers, there is a great deal of attentiveness to power relations vested in the 'figure of the refugee', and in particular, the expectations of what is required from potential refugees (Lacroix, 2004;Luker, 2015).…”

Section: Embodiment and Empathy In Asylum Encountersmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…To this end, institutional knowledge is deemed objective and thus disembodied from context, while the refugees' knowledge is seen as subjective, embodied and based on their firsthand experiences only (Jensen, 2018;Kobelinsky, 2019;Kynsilehto and Puumala, 2015;Puumala and Kynsilehto, 2016). In this sense refugees' own speech may end up being the least convincing form of knowledge, always potentially corrupted by the endeavor to be recognized as a refugee (Fassin and d'Halluin, 2005;McGhee, 2000;Häkli et al, 2017). Moreover, the body itself (e.g.…”

Section: Embodied Encountersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bodies and persons: The politics of embodied encounters in asylum seeking

Häkli¹,

Kallio

2020

Progress in Human Geography

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In this paper, we propose that there is a politics of encounters centered on the body at play in seeking asylum and refuge, and that it is critical to study how it unfolds from the point of view of both governing and agency. Building on existing work that looks at the role of embodiment in the political struggles of refugees, and leaning on Helmuth Plessner’s original thinking about social embodiment, we develop a theoretical understanding of this political dynamic, illustrating how it can help us make sense of power relations and forms of governance and (latent) resistance involved in it.

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Section: Embodiment and Empathy In Asylum Encountersmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Embodied Encountersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bodies and persons: The politics of embodied encounters in asylum seeking

Häkli¹,

Kallio

2020

Progress in Human Geography

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“…In a similar vein, analyses of refugee subjectivity have moved beyond the focus on the pervasive “grammar of domination” (Rivetti, 2013, 306) that would determine the self‐government of the refugee subject in institutions of asylum. This has led to the emergence of more nuanced accounts of the myriad agentic capacities and contextual negotiations involved in the experience of refugeeness, also when the latter unfolds in spaces of liminality and waiting (Dyck and McLaren, ; Szczepanikova ; Ehrkamp, 2016; Häkli and others ). As Ehrkamp notes, this body of work has been essential in exposing global processes that have the effect of “de‐subjectifying refugees by placing them into unexamined categories” and “individualizing them by demanding particular identity performances” (2016, 818–819).…”

Section: Refugee Economic Subjectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Refugees in the IT Sector: Young Syrians’ Economic Subjectivities and Familial Lives in Jordan

Pascucci

2019

Geographical Review

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This article explores refugee economic subjectivity in the context of restrictive asylum policies and disrupted transnational family lives. Drawing on fieldwork with young Syrian refugees pursuing IT training in Jordan, I focus on the “coding boot camp,” an emerging educational format in the field of refugee professional training. I thus explore how Syrian youths approach humanitarian policies in which, in the absence of full social and economic rights for refugees, the question of livelihoods is addressed through the paradigms of self‐reliance, creativity, and innovation. Reframing the refugee from a “protected” to a “productive” subject, and offering individual solutions to a structural economic impasse, these policies produce tensions between individual responsibilities and more‐than‐individual relations and identifications—with families, religious identities, and national communities—that remain unresolved. The findings contribute to geographical scholarship on economic subjectivity, familial relations, and the migrant and refugee condition, while shedding light on some of the effects of the encounter between technology‐centred, neoliberal approaches to humanitarianism and restrictive migration regimes in responses to the Syrian displacement.

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“…As one of us understands Arabic rather well, we could follow the interpretation closely and felt that it succeeded well. Additionally, we consider non-verbal communication an important element of the discussions, especially in conveying emotions (for more details see Häkli et al 2017;Pascucci et al 2018;Kallio et al forthcoming).…”

Section: Familial Agency In the Lives Of Young Male Refugeesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leading refugee lives together: Familial agency as a political capacity

Kallio¹

2019

Emotion, Space and Society

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Family life is constituted by affective relationships and emotional bonds between individuals connected through kinship, yet in many cases involving people from beyond the lineal descent group as well. In precarious migratory processes and situations, the significance of these relations often grows. Even if put under increased pressure, they encompass important resources that individuals alone could not possess. Then again, for some people certain familial relations are part of the problematized life situation, challenging rather than reinforcing their personal agency. This paper explores political dimensions of refugee agency and discusses how mundane familial political agency is acquired and practiced in refugee situations. Specifically, analyzed are intimate relationships as unfolding in some young male refugees' transnational lives, as personal and shared experiences and practices. The paper takes notice of conflicted familial relations, too, to create a better understanding about the manifoldness of intergenerational political agencies. Drawing from interviews with Iraqi, Afghan and Somali refugees, it demonstrates how familial agency is irreducible to the personal agencies of family members yet does not exist beyond subjective stances. In conclusion, the paper proposes that familial mundane politics remain poorly noticed in refugee situations, which harmfully effects on the humanitarian aid system as well as refugee lives.

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Becoming Refugee in Cairo: The Political in Performativity

Cited by 38 publications

References 61 publications

Bodies and persons: The politics of embodied encounters in asylum seeking

Bodies and persons: The politics of embodied encounters in asylum seeking

Refugees in the IT Sector: Young Syrians’ Economic Subjectivities and Familial Lives in Jordan

Leading refugee lives together: Familial agency as a political capacity

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