Labelling Refugees: Forming and Transforming a Bureaucratic Identity

Zetter, Roger

doi:10.1093/jrs/4.1.39

Cited by 397 publications

(223 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This is in direct contrast to analyses conducted within the related field of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (i.e. Zetter 1991Zetter , 1997Gupte and Mehta 2007;Ludwig 2013). Inter alia, these argue that asylumseekers strive to be recognised as refugees in order to obtain international protection and opportunities for resettlement to a country in the global North, and yet certain groups may simultaneously reject the 'refugee label' as an imposed bureaucratic category charged with stigmatizing and insulting connotations which constitute them as "stupid, misfits, ignorant, poor and uncivilized" (Kumsa 2006: 242).…”

Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 57%

On the threshold of statelessness: Palestinian narratives of loss and erasure

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh

2015

Ethnic and Racial Studies

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This article examines how Palestinians in France, Sweden and the UK negotiate, mobilise and/or resist, and ultimately problematise, notions of statelessness as a concept and as a marker of identity. Centralising Palestinians' conceptualisations in this mannerincluding accounts which directly challenge academics' and policy-makers' definitions of the problem of, and solution to, statelessness -is particularly important given that statelessness emerges as both a condition and a label which erase the ability to speak, and be heard. The article draws on the narratives of 46 Palestinians to examine perceptions of statelessness as a marker of rightlessess, home(land)lessness and voicelessness. It then explores statelessness through the paradigm of the 'threshold', reflecting both on interviewees' ambiguity towards this label, status and condition, and the extent to which even Palestinians who hold citizenship remain 'on the threshold of statelessness'. It concludes by reflecting on interviewees' rejection of a label which is imposed upon them 'from a distance' via bureaucratic processes which reproduce, rather than redress, processes of erasure and dispossession.

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Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 57%

On the threshold of statelessness: Palestinian narratives of loss and erasure

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh

2015

Ethnic and Racial Studies

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“…In his labeling theory, Zetter (1991Zetter ( , 2007 underlined how this process has a strength of its own in contributing actively to the definition of collective identities. It creates a powerful picture of the forced migrant, remolding the person as a victim to be looked after; one unintended outcome of this process is that refugees may therefore act on the basis of this ascribed identity, perpetuating dependency.…”

Section: The Integration Of Forced Refugees Into Western Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Integration of Forced Migrants Into the Italian Labor Market

Ortensi

2015

Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies

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“…Although extensive empirical evidence shows that refugees perceive their identity to be very different to that ascribed to them by the institutionalised refugee determination system, surprisingly little is known about how refugees present themselves within this context. Zetter (1991) raises an interesting point by arguing that refugees may be interested in the label they are given by others. They may also object to it.…”

Section: Official and Unofficial Representations Of The Selfmentioning

confidence: 99%