We are eager to announce that Marijke Van Buggenhout will be defending her doctoral thesis in Criminological Sciences titled: ‘Paper Borders. Children and Young People Inside the Belgian Asylum Procedure. A Multi-voiced and Performative Study’.
This PhD study addresses the inherent tension between a (children’s) rights-based approach and the imperative to ascertain the veracity of claims in asylum processes, specifically present in asylum interviews. The perspective adopted in this work is holistic as it attends to both the bureaucratic underpinnings of the asylum procedure in Belgium and the examination of the everyday experiences of young people subjected to asylum processes. Drawing on narrative interviews with professionals (migration officers, legal guardians/representatives) and co-creative visual research with young newcomers in Brussels, this research unravels the daily intricacies of the asylum procedure. It sheds light on the unique challenges young people face in their procedural trajectory. The primary focus is on the pivotal moment in the asylum process where children heavily rely on their voice, story, and institutional performance to determine their fate.
The results, echoing multiple voices, reveal the challenges young people face to meet institutional requirements in a system not set up with children in mind. Notably, the narratives and performances of the young participants in the project, represented in the rich narrative, ethnographic materials, and in the co-creative movie Paper Borders, underscore that an understanding of asylum hearings cannot be isolated from young people's experiences of injustices before, during, and after the hearing itself. As such, the results depict the complex interaction between waithood, time, and temporalities and shed light on experiences of procedural injustices that permeate the asylum processes. Based on these findings, the author makes a provocation: can procedures be fair and “just” in a system that is experienced as inherently violent? This PhD research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges children and young people face within the immigration systems, and recognizes the interconnectedness of these experiences with broader socio-political issues.
Following the defense, a reception will be held to celebrate Marijke's achievement. Register here for the reception.
Location: Promotion room D2.01 (VUB Humanities, Science & Engineering Campus)