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"What kind of system have we built?": A Qualitative Analysis of the Asylum-Seeking System for Gender-Based Asylum Seekers in the United States

Many asylum seekers have experienced trauma that causes them to flee their home country. A large portion of asylum seekers are women and are fleeing gender-based violence or experiencing it while fleeing. Due to this trauma, the researcher and the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, a non-profit legal and social services organization, developed a research project to examine how trauma-informed,the asylum-seeking system is in the United States, specifically for those who are fleeing gender-based violence. A trauma-informed care approach attempts to address trauma and retraumatization systematically for both traumatized persons and those who work with traumatized people. This research takes a qualitative approach because it would allow for more in-depth and detailed analysis through trauma-informed, governmentality, and necropolises lenses. I interviewed 18 experts who, either as a social or legal service, specialize in working with asylum seekers who have experienced gender-based violence. These interviews, ranging from thirty minutes to an hour and a half, were recorded, transcribed, and coded for themes such as gender, trauma, and social determinants of health. None of the participants found the United States asylum-seeking system to be trauma-informed. The asylum-seeking system in the United States is not set up to meet clients where they are, and it works against their needs in a way that retraumatizes them and makes arguing their cases more complicated.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1944226
Date05 1900
CreatorsByth, Janice Kay
ContributorsRe Cruz, Alicia, Henry, Doug, Noble, Charlotte
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
FormatText
RightsPublic, Byth, Janice Kay, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved.

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