Suffering and the struggle for recognition: lived experiences of the US political asylum process PDF
Preview Suffering and the struggle for recognition: lived experiences of the US political asylum process
UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Suffering and the struggle for recognition : lived experiences of the U.S. political asylum process Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7pd0w87k Author Haas, Bridget Marie Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Suffering and the Struggle for Recognition: Lived Experiences of the U.S. Political Asylum Process A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Philosophy in Anthropology by Bridget Marie Haas Committee in charge: Professor Janis H. Jenkins, Chair Professor Thomas J. Csordas Professor Fonna Forman Professor Steven M. Parish Professor Jonathan Sadowsky Professor Christena Turner 2012 Copyright Bridget Marie Haas, 2012 All rights reserved The Dissertation of Bridget Marie Haas is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2012 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page……………………………………………………………… iii Table of Contents…………………………………………………………… iv List of Abbreviations ………………………………………………………. viii List of Figures and Tables…………………………………………………. ix Acknowledgements………………………………………………………… x Vita…………………………………………………………………………. xii Abstract of the Dissertation……………………………………………….... xiii Chapter 1 Introduction: Overview, Context, and Literature Review …….. 1 Setting the Stage: Asylum in the United States …………………… 3 Theoretical Orientations …………………………………………… 11 Outline of the Dissertation ………………………………………… 34 Chapter 2 Setting, Methods, and Background …………………………… 39 Research Setting …………………………… ……………………… 39 Recruitment Process ……………………………………………….. 42 Sample ……………………………………………………………… 54 Methods of Data Collection………………………………………… 65 Asylum Process …………………………………………………….. 76 Conclusion …………………………………………………………. 83 Chapter 3 The Ethos of Asylum and the Paradox of Visibility …………… 84 Introduction ………………………………………………………… 85 Asylum Seekers: ‘Pure’ Refugee or ‘Polluted’ Migrant? …………... 88 Political Ethos of Asylum and the Paradox of Visibility ……………. 94 iv Confusion, Anxiety, and Anger within the Asylum Process ……...… 108 Criminalizing Tactics: ISAP and Being a “Prisoner in America”…… 137 Conclusion…………………………………………………………… 155 Chapter 4 “It’s a Matter of Life and Death”: Uncertainty, Temporality, and Suffering ………………………………………………………………... 157 Ruth ………………………………………………………………….. 157 Introduction…………………………………………………………….. 172 Theoretical Approaches to Temporality, Power, and Subjectivity ……. 174 Existential Limbo: Time and Power in the Context of Asylum Seeking 184 Temporal Blurring ……………………………………………………. 207 Enactments of Temporal Blurring ……………………………………. 212 Forging Hope and Exercising Agency ………………………………… 223 Conclusion …………………………………………………………….. 235 Chapter 5 Structural Vulnerability and the Reshaping of Self and Social Relations ……………………………………………………………….. 237 Introduction …………………………………………………………… 237 Employment Authorization Documents and the Institutional Logic of Deservingness ……………………………………………………… 241 “How Can I Survive?”: Economic Marginalization as Existential Threat …………………………………………………………………. 245 “I’m Not a Lazy Man!”: Economic Marginalization and ‘Productive Personhood’ …………………………………………………………… 249 “I’m Still Their Mother”: Structural Vulnerability and the Reshaping of Family Relations ………………………………………. 253 “At the Mercy of Someone Else”: Relying on Others and Its Personal and Social Consequences …………………………………………… 271 v Struggling to Make Ends Meet: Work, Wages, and Documentation .. 281 Health Care, Suffering, and Structural Vulnerability ……………….. 291 Embodying (Un)deservingness, Vulnerability, and Uncertainty …… 293 Conclusion …………………………………………………………. 300 Chapter 6 The ‘Psychologization’ of Suffering: Therapeutic Interventions and the Struggle Over Meaning ….................................................................... 302 Introduction…………………………………………………………… 302 THP Approaches and Philosophies ………………………………….. 306 “There’s No Pill for That”: Rejection of Therapeutic Interventions … 313 The Ambivalent Embrace of Therapeutic Interventions …………….. 320 Ambivalence Beyond Medication : Perceived Limitations of Therapeutic Interventions ……………………………………………… 331 Therapeutic Interventions as Recognition, Connection, and Structure .. 335 Paradox of Empowerment ……………………………………………... 346 “Asylum in the Most Powerful Medicine”: Legal Status as ‘Real’ Healing ………………………………………………………………… 349 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………... 353 Chapter 7 Performing and Assessing Fear, Persecution, and Truthfulness ….. 357 Introduction………………………………………………………………. 357 Asylum as ‘Benefit’: Rewarding the Deserving, Deterring the Fraudulent ……………………………………………………………. 360 Credibility as Key: Did this Really Happen? …………………………… 364 Trauma, Credibility, and Eligibility ……………………………………. 377 Translation of Histories and the Making of a “Good Witness” ………… 393 vi Disjunctures in Logic and Conceptions of Deservingness ……………… 407 Asylum Adjudication as (Inter)subjective Milieu ………………………. 420 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………... 424 Chapter 8 Conclusion ………………………………………………………….. 427 References ………………………………………………………………………. 443 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ATDs: Alternatives to Detention BI Inc. Behavioral Interventions Incorporated CHR: Center for Human Rights CPDM: Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement DHS: Department of Homeland Security DO: Deportation Officer DOJ: Department of Justice DRO: Detention and Removal Operations EAD: Employment Authorization Document EOIR: Executive Office for Immigration Review ERO: Enforcement and Removal Operations ICE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement ISAP: Intensive Supervision and Appearance Program IJ: Immigration Judge SCNC: Southern Cameroons National Council SDF: Social Democratic Front THP: The Healing Place USCIS: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services viii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 2.1: Asylum Process Flow Chart ……………………………………… 81 Table 2.1: Study Participants’ Location in the Asylum Process ………………… 82 ix
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