Promises play a crucial role in the refugee regimes of Western liberal democracies. They appear in political speeches, bureaucratic practices, asylum law, or integration programs: Protection, a good life, or participation in the receiving society present some of the promised objects that are reserved only for certain ‘deserving’ groups of forced migrants. Meanwhile, the integrity of the nation and the prosperity of the welfare state are often guaranteed as well.
In this seminar, Manuel Insberg will present some of his findings from 11 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Norwegian capital, Oslo. Drawing primarily on recent anthropological and feminist literature, he explores how promises shape the relationship between refugees and the receiving society by engendering powerful images of the future.
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