In search of respect: Refused asylum seekers and the emotional landscapes of ethnographic research

This post forms part of our series in showcasing abstracts of presentations featured at our annual postgraduate interdisciplinary conference on refugee and forced migration research, hosted in November 2018 at The University of Melbourne.

MARK JUSTIN RAINEY

This paper reflects on the emotional landscape of ethnographic research undertaken with refused, male asylum seekers living destitute in the UK. At its core, this paper argues that feelings such as respect and shame should not only be viewed as themes and topics for research, but should also be recognized as forming key desires (or aversions) on the part of the researcher. In other words, the emotional landscape of research is often situated between any formal distinctions between the ‘field’ and the ‘social’ and between the ‘researcher’ and ‘research topic’.

Alongside the humiliation of not being believed in their claims for refugee status, refused asylum seekers in the UK are denied the right to work, have no recourse to public funds and live under threat of arrest, detention and/or deportation. Many are pushed into destitution and become dependent on others, including charities, to meet basic needs. In this context feelings of dignity and indignity come to the fore and the logic of the deserving and underserving is often reproduced and activated on the fringes of what Bridget Anderson terms ‘the community of value’.

This paper also argues that moments of uncertainty and the provocation of shame can have an important role to play in ethnographic research, particularly if they serve to push the researcher out of the ‘enchanted ordinary’ and recognize the uneven tragedy of border regimes. And in this respect, anger – understood in the manner of Audre Lorde and Michael Keith – can become a productive force within ethnographic writing.

Mark Justin Rainey writes on politics and migration from an interdisciplinary perspective. In 2017 he completed a PhD at the University of London a joint project between the School of Geography, Queen Mary and Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths. Last year he founded and co-chaired the Migration and Destitution Action Group within the Manchester Homelessness Partnership in Manchester, UK. He is currently an Academic Visitor at SHAPS, University of Melbourne. He also volunteers at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Footscray.