Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Before the Law: A postcolonial analysis of credibility in the Danish asylum process

Vinther Christiansen, Lærke LU (2022) SOLM02 20221
Department of Sociology of Law
Abstract
This study explores credibility assessment in the Danish asylum determination system, through the perspective of advisors to asylum seekers. These advisors are either lawyers, aid workers, or volunteers, but are all people who have experience supporting asylum seekers through the bureaucratic process of the Danish asylum system. The element of credibility has long been considered an elusive and largely discretionary practice, but this study seeks to ascertain what some components of the structural make-up of credibility assessment in Denmark are. For this the study employed a postcolonial lens, using the theoretical framework of Said's Orientalism and Foucault's power/knowledge discourse. From this the study concluded that on each... (More)
This study explores credibility assessment in the Danish asylum determination system, through the perspective of advisors to asylum seekers. These advisors are either lawyers, aid workers, or volunteers, but are all people who have experience supporting asylum seekers through the bureaucratic process of the Danish asylum system. The element of credibility has long been considered an elusive and largely discretionary practice, but this study seeks to ascertain what some components of the structural make-up of credibility assessment in Denmark are. For this the study employed a postcolonial lens, using the theoretical framework of Said's Orientalism and Foucault's power/knowledge discourse. From this the study concluded that on each bureaucratic level of the asylum process, one key element of credibility existed, meaning that there were three main components to credibility assessment in Denmark; background materials, communication, and volunteers. However, the study also found that the main underlying component in all of these was knowledge, and the Westernized idealization of knowledge interpreted into different levels of the bureaucratic process. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Vinther Christiansen, Lærke LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOLM02 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
postcolonialism, credibility, asylum, Denmark, knowledge, Orientalism, Foucault, volunteers, assessors
language
English
id
9090126
date added to LUP
2022-08-01 14:22:55
date last changed
2022-08-01 14:22:55
@misc{9090126,
  abstract     = {{This study explores credibility assessment in the Danish asylum determination system, through the perspective of advisors to asylum seekers. These advisors are either lawyers, aid workers, or volunteers, but are all people who have experience supporting asylum seekers through the bureaucratic process of the Danish asylum system. The element of credibility has long been considered an elusive and largely discretionary practice, but this study seeks to ascertain what some components of the structural make-up of credibility assessment in Denmark are. For this the study employed a postcolonial lens, using the theoretical framework of Said's Orientalism and Foucault's power/knowledge discourse. From this the study concluded that on each bureaucratic level of the asylum process, one key element of credibility existed, meaning that there were three main components to credibility assessment in Denmark; background materials, communication, and volunteers. However, the study also found that the main underlying component in all of these was knowledge, and the Westernized idealization of knowledge interpreted into different levels of the bureaucratic process.}},
  author       = {{Vinther Christiansen, Lærke}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Before the Law: A postcolonial analysis of credibility in the Danish asylum process}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}