Asylum after Empire: Colonial Legacies in the Politics of Asylum Seeking

Author: Lucy Mayblin

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Print Length: 210 pages

Genre: Non-Fiction / Political Science, International Relations, Colonial & Post-Colonial Studies, Social Science

Topic: Asylum, Asylum & Refugee System, Refugees & Forced Migration, Colonialism & Post-Colonialism, Decolonization & Anti-Colonization, History & Origin, Movement of People and Ideas, Freedom to Move and to Stay, Racism, Slavery, Equality & Inequality, United Nations, Dehumanization, Self-Determination

Asylum seekers are not welcome in Europe. But why is that the case? For many scholars, the policies have become more restrictive over recent decades because the asylum seekers have changed. This change is often said to be about numbers, methods of travel, and reasons for flight. In short: we are in an age of hypermobility and states cannot cope with such volumes of ‘others’.

This book presents an alternative view, drawing on theoretical insights from Third World Approaches to International Law, post- and decolonial studies, and presenting new research on the context of the British Empire. The text highlights the fact that since the early 1990s, for the first time, the majority of asylum seekers originate from countries outside of Europe, countries which until 30-60 years ago were under colonial rule. Policies which address asylum seekers must, the book argues, be understood not only as part of a global hypermobile present, but within the context of colonial histories.

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

2. The Asylum ‘Problem’

3. Decolonising the ‘Problem’: An Alternative Standpoint for Analysing the Exclusionary Politics of Asylum

4. Slavery and the Right to Be Human

5. Colonialism, the League of Nations and Race Equality

6. The United Nations and the Right to Be Human

7. Dehumanisation: Asylum Seeker Support in the Twenty-First Century

8. Asylum after Empire

References

Index

About the Author

Lucy Mayblin is a Political Sociologist whose research focuses on asylum, human rights, policy-making, and the legacies of colonialism. She holds a first class degree from the University of Birmingham and Distinctions at Masters level from the Universities of Birmingham (European Studies) and Warwick (Social Research Methods) as well as a PhD in Sociology from the University of Warwick. She is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at University of Sheffield.

Source: https://www.international.ucla.edu/migration/event/14187

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