Governing through hope: an exploration of hope and social change in an asylum context

Abstract

The aim of this article is to elaborate, theoretically, on the ambiguity of hope and its relation to social change in the asylum context. This ambiguity involves two different perspectives of hope. One more mundane view of hope where it is considered an emotion used to overcome complex issues and move towards a better situation in the future. A perspective often used by social and migration authorities to urge people to hope for a future should they submit to the authorities’ logic. The other perspective, more common in some research, challenges such positive connotations and argues that hope can put people in a position of suffering where hope may hinder or slow down the realisation of social change. With the aid of scholars who have theorised about hope and ethnographic cases from our research on hope in the asylum context, we develop a theoretical perspective on hope and social change. Our perspective includes concepts such as the governmentality of hope, fragmentation of hope and glimmers of hope. To grasp the relationship between hope and social change, we must account for several mixed emotions, such as feelings of despair, fear and bitterness, as well as glimmers of hope. Such mixtures of emotions may be essential to initiate and create social change. A central argument in this article is that an analysis of hope when people risk being governed by hope would benefit from a parallel analysis of social change.

Precariousness, Sport Participation and Hope Among Young People After Rejections in the Swedish Asylum Process

“…Bourdieu (2000: 228) argues that forced waiting is a way of controlling people's 'rate of fulfilment of expectations' that can be seen as 'an art of "turning down" without "turning off", of keeping people motivated without driving them to despair'. As we have argued elsewhere, such a turning down can result in a fragile hope that becomes fragmented but not completely shattered (Herz, Lalander & Elsrud 2022) just a little while not expecting too much (see also Bourdieu 2000). If individuals experience a high degree of uncertainty regarding the future, some hope is needed to believe and feel that the present situation will improve.…”

“…They have also caused a systematic re-ageing of thousands of minors, making them 'adults', 'rejectable' and 'deportable', and asylum investigations that lack many of the components of legal certainty, clarity and predictability that can be expected in a country adhering to the rule of law (e.g. Dahlstedt & Neergaard 2019;Elsrud 2020;Elsrud et al 2021;Herz, Lalander & Elsrud 2022). These changes have increased precariousness among many people seeking asylum in Sweden, forcing some groups into a nearly total loss of legal and social rights (Elsrud 2020).…”

Fragmentation of Hope through Tiny Acts of Bureaucratic Cruelty - Another Kind of War on Afghan People Seeking Asylum in Sweden

“…1 In addition, the processing time for appeals in the migration courts increased from 117.5 days in 2015 to 401 in 2020 (Swedish National Audit Office, 2022, p. 41). The combination of extensive processing time for both first-and second-level decisions has resulted in many Afghans being stuck in uncertainty for several years (Elsrud, 2020;Herz et al, 2022).…”

“…Importantly, hope can be a tool for exploitation used by those in power to govern and control the powerless (e.g., Eagleton, 2017;Herz et al, 2022, Stockdale, 2021. Serving asylum-seeking people with glimmers of hope through appeal processes, extended deadlines, temporary visas, emergency economic support, and a bed for the night, for example, authorities who will not accept them as full members open the door just enough to keep them hoping, docile, and quiet (Fontanari, 2017;Herz et al, 2022). In some circumstances, hope gives people the energy to endure oppression and keep fighting for their rights to safety.…”

“…However, after experiencing multiple profound, life-altering rejections, his capacity for feeling positive and hopeful about the future was injured. Over the years, he has described these rejections as "being killed by a pen," having his "life stolen" and "hope stolen," hinting at a fragmentation of hope that follows upon repeated bureaucratic violence (Herz et al, 2022). Having endured too many instances of "hopes given" and "hopes taken away" eventually leads to erosion and loss of hope.…”