Ballin and Manganini, ‘Fixed Categories vs. Fluid Identities’, 2023
- Category: Literature
- Source: Academic
- Subject: Sexual Orientation/Sexuality, Gender Identity, Refugee/Asylum
- Place: International, Europe, United Kingdom
- Year: 2023
- File: OxMo Volume 11.1
- URL: https://764cab94-a9b5-43c3-a608-3aca9e914cb0.filesusr.com/ugd/701039_2288106217364189ab9c6f231e0a2855.pdf
Samuel Ballin and Irene Manganini, ‘Fixed Categories vs. Fluid Identities: How Are Queer Voices Silenced in the Theory and Practice of Asylum Law?’, Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration, Vol. 11., No. 1, February 2023, 20-28
Abstract
Taking a queer theoretical approach, our article explores the challenges inherent in defining and/or categorising the sexual and gender identities of certain forced migrants, which can result in queer voices being less heard. We focus on the asylum system as a practical example, examining the tensions between its demands for strict categorisation and the fluidity at the core of certain queer identities. We interrogate the circumstances in which categories may be genuinely necessary or beneficial in adjudicating forced migrants’ protection claims. Other practical issues we touch upon include data collection in forced migration settings, and the limited fixed categories and legal statuses available to forced migrants to assert and/or declare.