{"title":"Self-generated asylum evidence: Scripting, staging and desperation in the assessment process","authors":"Ben Laws","doi":"10.1093/jrs/feae057","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n The demonstrable rise in self-generated asylum evidence—most typically via social media—is in need of explication. Drawing on cases from ethnographic research in Sweden this article sets out to understand why asylum seekers turn to extreme forms of activity such as filming themselves burning the Quran. It appears that such ‘staged’ evidence is most often born out of a sense of emotional desperation in the face of a stone-wall assessment system which leans heavily towards rejection. To reach this conclusion, however, the article first engages with more traditional asylum ‘scripts’ and roadmaps endorsed and shaped by NGO’s and legal practitioners. The 2015 Migration Crisis in Europe has fundamentally altered the assessment process, not only in its ‘bar-raising’ aspects for positive decisions, but also by reconfiguring the very form and structure of evidence presented.","PeriodicalId":51464,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Refugee Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Refugee Studies","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feae057","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"DEMOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The demonstrable rise in self-generated asylum evidence—most typically via social media—is in need of explication. Drawing on cases from ethnographic research in Sweden this article sets out to understand why asylum seekers turn to extreme forms of activity such as filming themselves burning the Quran. It appears that such ‘staged’ evidence is most often born out of a sense of emotional desperation in the face of a stone-wall assessment system which leans heavily towards rejection. To reach this conclusion, however, the article first engages with more traditional asylum ‘scripts’ and roadmaps endorsed and shaped by NGO’s and legal practitioners. The 2015 Migration Crisis in Europe has fundamentally altered the assessment process, not only in its ‘bar-raising’ aspects for positive decisions, but also by reconfiguring the very form and structure of evidence presented.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Refugee Studies provides a forum for exploration of the complex problems of forced migration and national, regional and international responses. The Journal covers all categories of forcibly displaced people. Contributions that develop theoretical understandings of forced migration, or advance knowledge of concepts, policies and practice are welcomed from both academics and practitioners. Journal of Refugee Studies is a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal, and is published in association with the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford.