Paper Borders. Children and young people inside the Belgian asylum procedure. By Marijke Van Buggenhout (Owl Press, 2024)

Session Submission Type: Author meets critics

Abstract

In this author meets critic session, we delve into the book “Paper Borders. Children and young people inside the Belgian asylum procedure. A multi-voiced and performative study.” The author, Marijke Van Buggenhout, engages with esteemed critics who will offer their insights, reflections, and perspectives about the work. The book under discussion results from a Ph.D. study addressing the tension between a (children’s) rights-based approach and the imperative to ascertain the veracity of claims in asylum processes, specifically in asylum interviews. Drawing on narrative interviews with professionals and co-creative visual research with young newcomers in Brussels, this work unravels the daily intricacies of the asylum procedure. The primary focus is on the pivotal moment where children heavily rely on their voice, story, and institutional performance to determine their fate.
The results, echoing multiple voices, reveal the challenges young people face to meet institutional requirements in a system not set up with children in mind. Notably, the narratives of the young participants in the project underscore that an understanding of asylum hearings cannot be isolated from experiences of injustice before, during, and after the hearing itself. As such, the results depict the complex interaction between waithood, time, and existential uncertainty and shed light on experiences of procedural injustices that permeate the asylum process. Yet, beyond mere exposition, this work ventures into the realm of a provocation, posing a profound and incisive query: can procedures be fair and “just” in a system that is experienced as inherently violent?
The critics bring their own unique expertise to the table, allowing for an interesting exchange about immigration control, juvenile justice, children’s rights as well as a profound discussion on doing criminological science off the beaten path in a hard to research field.

Subtopic

• Topic 5: Social Control and Criminal Justice / Juvenile Justice and Children’s Rights (Juvenile Justice WG)

Critics

• Stefaan Pleysier, LINC, KU Leuven

• M.H. Kox, Erasmus University Rotterdam

• Valeria Ferraris, University of Turin

Book Author

• Marijke Van Buggenhout, Vrije Universiteit Brussel