‘Little prisons’: Revisiting trajectories and carcerality in a Danish asylum camp

Abstract

This article, closely grounded in empirical examples from an ethnographic fieldwork, draws attention to trajectories as an integral part of how carcerality amongst men seeking asylum in Denmark is experienced and navigated. By expanding on ‘trajectory approach’ to also explore how trajectories can be ‘revisited’, understood here as a ‘return to’ in person but most importantly in conversation, the author dives into an example of an interlocutor's stories of Bosnia, revisited from a camp in Denmark. It is argued, through this example, that the contrast between ‘being in the camp’ and the trajectory leading to the camp, offers up new insights on how everyday life in the camp is experienced and talked about as carceral.

Accommodation centres for asylum seekers as sites of conflict and collaboration: Strategies for the prevention of violence

“…Following the same crimigrative logic, the management and operation of many of these sites directly borrow from and rely on the operation of prisons, with formal ties and exchange of workforce and practices between these institutions (Lindberg, 2022). As a result, many reception camps, some of the purportedly least punitive sites [in terms of function], produce prison-like conditions (Jakobsen, 2022;Whyte et al, 2021). It is safe to argue that these institutions are not politically neutral and not exclusively concerned with care for asylum seekers.…”

“…This particular phenomenon can be seen in various national contexts. For example, residents in a Danish reception camp complained of a chronic shortage of activities coupled with a lack of opportunities to work in or out of the camps, get education, or pursue "normal life" (Jakobsen, 2022). Similarly, Australian offshore camps for asylum seekers deliberately deprive residents of meaningful activities (Judge and Loughnan, 2022), and asylum seekers in an Israeli detention centre were prohibited from learning Hebrew (Amit & Lindberg, 2020), and operating their own improvised market (Katz, 2022), despite being offered minimal or no sanctioned meaningful activities.…”

“…Similarly, Australian offshore camps for asylum seekers deliberately deprive residents of meaningful activities (Judge and Loughnan, 2022), and asylum seekers in an Israeli detention centre were prohibited from learning Hebrew (Amit & Lindberg, 2020), and operating their own improvised market (Katz, 2022), despite being offered minimal or no sanctioned meaningful activities. Consequently, a general sense of stuckedness (Turner and Whyte, 2022;Jakobsen, 2022) and an experience of seemingly endless waiting and immobility (Jakobsen, 2022;Hartman, 2017;Kreichauf, 2017) characterise the lives of those who reside in the camps. Adding to the sense of stuckedness is often a spatially induced inability to leave the camps and socialise with the local population, even for those living in "open camps."…”

“…Moreover, administrative choices often favor placing large groups of residents from the same ethnic background together, making it even harder for residents who do not share the dominant ethnic and linguistic background, or whose set of values or gender identity differ from the majority (Kreichauf, 2017;Wimark, 2020;Träbert & Dörr, 2020). These conditions lead to pressures that can quickly deteriorate into conflicts and violence (Al Ajlan, 2022;Jakobsen, 2022;Katz, 2022).…”