'Beyond the political, but in the political': The justification and negotiation of church sanctuary in the Netherlands
(2021) SOLM02 20211Department of Sociology of Law
- Abstract
- In 1975, church sanctuary re-emerged in the Netherlands with a new purpose: to protect asylum seekers from deportation. During church sanctuary events, church sanctuary providers host asylum seekers in or around the church building, operating on the understanding that the government will not enter a church to make arrests. The practice is not illegal, but at the same time is not recognized as a right of the churches by the government. Nevertheless, the Dutch government has tolerated the practice in nearly all of the 59 church sanctuary events organized between 1975-2019. This thesis examines church sanctuary in the Netherlands through a sociolegal lens to uncover the way in which church sanctuary providers navigate multiple legal and... (More)
- In 1975, church sanctuary re-emerged in the Netherlands with a new purpose: to protect asylum seekers from deportation. During church sanctuary events, church sanctuary providers host asylum seekers in or around the church building, operating on the understanding that the government will not enter a church to make arrests. The practice is not illegal, but at the same time is not recognized as a right of the churches by the government. Nevertheless, the Dutch government has tolerated the practice in nearly all of the 59 church sanctuary events organized between 1975-2019. This thesis examines church sanctuary in the Netherlands through a sociolegal lens to uncover the way in which church sanctuary providers navigate multiple legal and normative orders. Based on 14 interviews with church sanctuary providers, the thesis highlights how this navigation is observable in two aspects of each sanctuary event. Firstly, the decision-making process preceding sanctuary: the justification of church sanctuary. The second aspect is the negotiation of the outcome of the church sanctuary, and the strategies church sanctuary providers use to achieve these outcomes. The analysis of these themes is theoretically guided by Emmanuel Levinas’ writings on the responsibility to the Other, Jacques Derrida’s theory of the politics of hospitality, and the sociolegal concept of interlegality. This framework situates sanctuary as a phenomenon ‘beyond the political, but in the political’, and reveals how the different responsibilities that sanctuary providers bear, shape the boundaries and outcome of the sanctuary event. The thesis concludes that the response of government actors to church sanctuary reflects some of the same dynamics. The thesis thereby aims to contribute to the empirical understanding of Dutch church sanctuary, but also to the academic and societal debate on the role of informal practices and exceptional measures in asylum procedures. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9049196
- author
- de Zeeuw, Aartje Jasmijn LU
- supervisor
-
- Amin Parsa LU
- organization
- course
- SOLM02 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Church sanctuary, church and state, hospitality, responsibility, law and morality
- language
- English
- id
- 9049196
- date added to LUP
- 2021-07-07 12:42:10
- date last changed
- 2021-07-07 12:42:10
@misc{9049196,
abstract = {{In 1975, church sanctuary re-emerged in the Netherlands with a new purpose: to protect asylum seekers from deportation. During church sanctuary events, church sanctuary providers host asylum seekers in or around the church building, operating on the understanding that the government will not enter a church to make arrests. The practice is not illegal, but at the same time is not recognized as a right of the churches by the government. Nevertheless, the Dutch government has tolerated the practice in nearly all of the 59 church sanctuary events organized between 1975-2019. This thesis examines church sanctuary in the Netherlands through a sociolegal lens to uncover the way in which church sanctuary providers navigate multiple legal and normative orders. Based on 14 interviews with church sanctuary providers, the thesis highlights how this navigation is observable in two aspects of each sanctuary event. Firstly, the decision-making process preceding sanctuary: the justification of church sanctuary. The second aspect is the negotiation of the outcome of the church sanctuary, and the strategies church sanctuary providers use to achieve these outcomes. The analysis of these themes is theoretically guided by Emmanuel Levinas’ writings on the responsibility to the Other, Jacques Derrida’s theory of the politics of hospitality, and the sociolegal concept of interlegality. This framework situates sanctuary as a phenomenon ‘beyond the political, but in the political’, and reveals how the different responsibilities that sanctuary providers bear, shape the boundaries and outcome of the sanctuary event. The thesis concludes that the response of government actors to church sanctuary reflects some of the same dynamics. The thesis thereby aims to contribute to the empirical understanding of Dutch church sanctuary, but also to the academic and societal debate on the role of informal practices and exceptional measures in asylum procedures.}},
author = {{de Zeeuw, Aartje Jasmijn}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{'Beyond the political, but in the political': The justification and negotiation of church sanctuary in the Netherlands}},
year = {{2021}},
}