Narrating Asylum in Camp and at Court

Abstract

In Denmark, as elsewhere, narratives are central to the asylum determination procedure. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this chapter investigates the ways in which asylum seekers and asylum lawyers present and re-present asylum narratives across two contrasting narrative contexts: Danish asylum centers (“camp” to asylum seekers) and the Danish Refugee Appeals Board (“court” to asylum seekers). Distinguishing between “asylum motive” and “asylum talk”, or stories for and stories of asylum, we argue that context strongly shapes the kinds of asylum narratives that are presented and shared, but also that these kinds of narratives influence each other. We show that uncertainty, credibility and authorship are central both in the Danish asylum process and for the ways in which it is understood by the actors invested in it.

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

“…People who are seeking asylum are not viewed and treated as potential citizens through this system but quite the opposite. Through an unpredictable asylum process, unpredictable not only in terms of length and outcome but also in terms of its judgement of ‘truth’ and credibility (see also Danstrøm and Whyte, 2019), the whole process and its inconsistencies breed the mistrust with which it not only meets the people seeking asylum but also, in turn, shapes how they understand and meet the system.…”

Exposing the private, engaging in the public. Asylum seekers, intimate publics and normative performances of public participation

“…I want to be respectful, but I don’t know very well how to relate to those silences. ( Transcript of Interview, 5 December 2019 )Since the publication of Lisa Malkki’s (1996) (Malkki, 1996) seminal article on refugees’ dehistoricization and their public image of “speechless emissaries”, a great wealth of ethnographic studies has been dedicated to the multiple ways in which refugees’ experiences are either silenced or shaped by institutional and humanitarian processes (Cabot, 2013; Fassin, 2013; Danstrom and Whyte, 2018). Against this background, reconstructing and restoring “refugee voices” – their complex and unique experiences – have become a major task for ethnographic work, as much as for artistic practices and advocacy projects (Cabot, 2016).…”

Social work with refugee and displaced populations in Europe: (dis)continuities, dilemmas, developments

“…What soon becomes clear, however, is the centrality of the interview with the case worker assessing the asylum application, and possibly of the following appeals, to their life conditions and opportunities; hence, the crafting of a self-narrative, and possibly of an identity, perceived to be the most suitable to make it through these critical thresholds. In fact, there was hardly any monolithic or 'authentic' refugee story or identity in the first place, to be 'manipulated' at a later stage (Danstrøm & Whyte, 2018). Even so, the experience of asylum seekers and refugees is marked by a continuous narrative and identity work, on oneself and one's memories.…”