Asylum seekers have become the primary symbols of - as well as participants in - contemporary struggles over geo-political, intellectual and moral terrain. By moving place, by their mere presence in western industrial states, by demanding their refugee status claims be examined, by exposing themselves to all the techniques of scrutiny and evaluation in the presentation of their claims, asylum seekers displace traditional western ways of feeling at 'home,' and of knowing about and acting in the world. In doing so, they reveal the extent to which the legal system of rights upon which the international refugee regime is based is a messy zone of contested demands, refracted by the varying material circumstances and political power of participants. This thesis looks at asylum in Aotearoa New Zealand from the perspective of those most involved; asylum seekers, lawyers, adjudicators, members of non-government organisations and medical professionals. Situated mid-way between abstract human rights talk and the details of individual claims, it presents refugee status determination as a complex negotiation through culturally-laden frameworks of understanding and operation that are as prevalent as they are often camouflaged. In doing so, it explores how we are to evaluate the credibility and legitimacy of representations of the cultural 'other.'
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/217405 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Robertson, Julie, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Department of Anthropology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright Julie Robertson |
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