Abstract
Seeking asylum in Denmark usually begins with life in 'open' asylum centres and, for some, can end in closed detention. Many aspects of the former are arguably spaces of existential confinement: people are technically free, but spatially or financially unable to exercise freedom. This chapter focuses on the production of a confinement continuum through three key spaces: an asylum centre, a deportation centre, and a closed immigration detention centre.
In this chapter I reflect on the ways in which these ‘soft’ centres influenced my sense that the only direction for immigration detention to move is toward abolition. Entering centres as a white researcher, awkwardly shuffling past confined Black and Brown bodies, repeatedly induced feelings of shame. In any other space, these people might be my friends or colleagues. Here, I was a voyeur, a cog in machinery that takes people’s freedom based almost exclusively on racialised notions of national identity.
Based on insight from interviews with detention staff, psychologists and women seeking asylum, as well as activist ethnography from an asylum centre, I highlight the tensions between perceived liberty and existential confinement. In grappling with the contrast between seeking sanctuary and safety and the limits of everyday freedom, the chapter addresses my own unease in the very existence of such spaces. Simply put: despite friendly coffees with staff, informative tours and insightful interviews; regardless of access to gymnasiums or television or books, the illusion of humanity in detention cannot overshadow its fundamental function: the confinement and removal of the unwanted 'Other'.
In this chapter I reflect on the ways in which these ‘soft’ centres influenced my sense that the only direction for immigration detention to move is toward abolition. Entering centres as a white researcher, awkwardly shuffling past confined Black and Brown bodies, repeatedly induced feelings of shame. In any other space, these people might be my friends or colleagues. Here, I was a voyeur, a cog in machinery that takes people’s freedom based almost exclusively on racialised notions of national identity.
Based on insight from interviews with detention staff, psychologists and women seeking asylum, as well as activist ethnography from an asylum centre, I highlight the tensions between perceived liberty and existential confinement. In grappling with the contrast between seeking sanctuary and safety and the limits of everyday freedom, the chapter addresses my own unease in the very existence of such spaces. Simply put: despite friendly coffees with staff, informative tours and insightful interviews; regardless of access to gymnasiums or television or books, the illusion of humanity in detention cannot overshadow its fundamental function: the confinement and removal of the unwanted 'Other'.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Sensory Penalties |
| Subtitle of host publication | Exploring the Senses in Spaces of Punishment and Social Control |
| Publisher | Emerald |
| Chapter | 9 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-1-83909-726-3 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-1-83909-727-0 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 8 Feb 2021 |
Research Groups and Themes
- SPS Centre for the Study of Poverty and Social Justice
Access to Document
- Full-text PDF (accepted author manuscript)
This is the accepted author manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Emerald at 10.1108/9781839097263. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.