Alèxia Rué | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (original) (raw)
Book Chapters by Alèxia Rué
Quest for Refuge. Reception Responses from the Global North, 2020
Intersecciones encarnadas. [Con]textos en género, identidad y diversidad, 2020
Torture and Migration, 2019
Grounded on the results of an ethnographic investigation on asylum seekers as victims of torture ... more Grounded on the results of an ethnographic investigation on asylum seekers as victims of torture in Spain, this chapter analyses the governmental devices that define the reality of migrants as victims of torture. Stemming from a critical review of the concept of torture, in relation to migration in contemporary European societies, the chapter puts forward the double vulnerability to which migrants are exposed, as
unprotected victims of torture in their countries of origin and as potential victims of torture on arrival to Europe. The paper argues that the precarious legal status and the failure of systems victim protection, combined with meritocratic approaches to migrant incorporation, not only fail to ensure full protection of victims of torture but, moreover,
it exposes these victims to further situations of violence and exclusion.
Articles by Alèxia Rué
Social Sciences 2023, 12(3), 2023
When, where, and how do asylum seekers encounter the state? Anyone seeking asylum in the Global N... more When, where, and how do asylum seekers encounter the state? Anyone seeking asylum in the Global North might meet state authorities of the country where they want to apply for international protection long before arriving at its borders. However, if the state often becomes “very present” by transcending its geopolitical margins in border control, once asylum seekers have managed to cross into national territory, the state frequently vanishes. Insufficient information, opaque proceedings, and difficulties in reaching state agencies, which dramatically increased with the COVID pandemic, often translate into a denial of asylum seekers' rights and their exclusion from welfare programs. Moreover, following a widespread tendency to outsource public services, access to asylum and related welfare programmes are being increasingly mediated by a range of nonstate actors (such as NGOs, activist groups, companies, and individuals) acting as state agents. Drawing on the analysis of ethnographic results from Spain and Italy, this article proposes the concept of “ghost bureaucracy” to theorise the street-level bureaucrats from their absence and explore asylum seekers’ encounters with a seemingly powerful and omnipresent but unreachable state through closed offices, digital bureaucracy and third-party actors.
Quest for Refuge. Reception Responses from the Global North, 2020
Intersecciones encarnadas. [Con]textos en género, identidad y diversidad, 2020
Torture and Migration, 2019
Grounded on the results of an ethnographic investigation on asylum seekers as victims of torture ... more Grounded on the results of an ethnographic investigation on asylum seekers as victims of torture in Spain, this chapter analyses the governmental devices that define the reality of migrants as victims of torture. Stemming from a critical review of the concept of torture, in relation to migration in contemporary European societies, the chapter puts forward the double vulnerability to which migrants are exposed, as
unprotected victims of torture in their countries of origin and as potential victims of torture on arrival to Europe. The paper argues that the precarious legal status and the failure of systems victim protection, combined with meritocratic approaches to migrant incorporation, not only fail to ensure full protection of victims of torture but, moreover,
it exposes these victims to further situations of violence and exclusion.
Social Sciences 2023, 12(3), 2023
When, where, and how do asylum seekers encounter the state? Anyone seeking asylum in the Global N... more When, where, and how do asylum seekers encounter the state? Anyone seeking asylum in the Global North might meet state authorities of the country where they want to apply for international protection long before arriving at its borders. However, if the state often becomes “very present” by transcending its geopolitical margins in border control, once asylum seekers have managed to cross into national territory, the state frequently vanishes. Insufficient information, opaque proceedings, and difficulties in reaching state agencies, which dramatically increased with the COVID pandemic, often translate into a denial of asylum seekers' rights and their exclusion from welfare programs. Moreover, following a widespread tendency to outsource public services, access to asylum and related welfare programmes are being increasingly mediated by a range of nonstate actors (such as NGOs, activist groups, companies, and individuals) acting as state agents. Drawing on the analysis of ethnographic results from Spain and Italy, this article proposes the concept of “ghost bureaucracy” to theorise the street-level bureaucrats from their absence and explore asylum seekers’ encounters with a seemingly powerful and omnipresent but unreachable state through closed offices, digital bureaucracy and third-party actors.