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Migrant Smuggling, Reasons for Fleeing, and Uses of Asylum Capital among Afghan Asylum Seekers in Sweden

Skodo, Admir LU (2018) In Nidaba: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Middle East Studies p.1-11
Abstract
In 2015 Afghans were the second largest group of asylum seekers in Sweden (and Europe). In this article, I analyze interviews conducted in early 2017 in Scania County with six adult male Afghan asylum seekers, an executive officer at the Swedish Migration Agency, the head of a private asylum seeker camp, and a voluntary worker. I show how the asylum seekers made their way to Sweden not so much through a pre-meditated choice, but by the combined effect of a worsened security situation in Afghanistan since the 2014 withdrawal of foreign troops, increasingly harsher measures against Afghans in Iran and Pakistan, and the migrant smuggling industry. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory, I then focus on practices surrounding the... (More)
In 2015 Afghans were the second largest group of asylum seekers in Sweden (and Europe). In this article, I analyze interviews conducted in early 2017 in Scania County with six adult male Afghan asylum seekers, an executive officer at the Swedish Migration Agency, the head of a private asylum seeker camp, and a voluntary worker. I show how the asylum seekers made their way to Sweden not so much through a pre-meditated choice, but by the combined effect of a worsened security situation in Afghanistan since the 2014 withdrawal of foreign troops, increasingly harsher measures against Afghans in Iran and Pakistan, and the migrant smuggling industry. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory, I then focus on practices surrounding the interviewed Afghans in the time encompassing their arrival, asylum application, and waiting for a decision in a privately run asylum seeker camp. I introduce the concept of asylum capital as a means to spell out the opportunities and constraints for being granted asylum in Sweden as an Afghan. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nidaba: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Middle East Studies
pages
1 - 11
ISSN
2002-3588
project
Contesting and Negotiating Afghan Refugeehood in the San Francisco Bay Area and Scania During the Cold War and the War on Terror
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2eff8f21-3f27-472f-b1e7-0ed88485670b
date added to LUP
2017-10-20 08:07:29
date last changed
2020-04-30 13:10:12
@article{2eff8f21-3f27-472f-b1e7-0ed88485670b,
  abstract     = {{In 2015 Afghans were the second largest group of asylum seekers in Sweden (and Europe). In this article, I analyze interviews conducted in early 2017 in Scania County with six adult male Afghan asylum seekers, an executive officer at the Swedish Migration Agency, the head of a private asylum seeker camp, and a voluntary worker. I show how the asylum seekers made their way to Sweden not so much through a pre-meditated choice, but by the combined effect of a worsened security situation in Afghanistan since the 2014 withdrawal of foreign troops, increasingly harsher measures against Afghans in Iran and Pakistan, and the migrant smuggling industry. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory, I then focus on practices surrounding the interviewed Afghans in the time encompassing their arrival, asylum application, and waiting for a decision in a privately run asylum seeker camp. I introduce the concept of asylum capital as a means to spell out the opportunities and constraints for being granted asylum in Sweden as an Afghan.}},
  author       = {{Skodo, Admir}},
  issn         = {{2002-3588}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1--11}},
  series       = {{Nidaba: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Middle East Studies}},
  title        = {{Migrant Smuggling, Reasons for Fleeing, and Uses of Asylum Capital among Afghan Asylum Seekers in Sweden}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/39963094/17410_Article_Text_44180_3_10_20180314.pdf}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}