The Refugee Status Determination of Transgender Asylum-Seekers: a Queer Critique.
by Irene Manganini
In this publication, issued from her Masters dissertation, Irene Manganini, a Graduate Institute Alumni, offers a new perspective on the subject of transgender Asylum Seekers by joining research on queer theory and International Asylum Law. She uncovers rarely explored ground for the understanding of the transgender asylum-seekers locus.
Abstract
This research deals with the topic of transgender asylum-seekers and specifically with their refugee status determination process. It aims at finding out if and in which way a queer critical framework could help explain the shortcomings and misunderstandings which often arise during said process. After analysing the main controversial legal and practical issues occurring during transgender asylum-seekers refugee status determination processes, it argues that a good insight into the reason why these issues arise can be found in the queer concept of hierarchies of power, and in the ways they underlie and shape the whole asylum system. Building on that, the research finally argues that these narratives cannot be subverted by simply modernising refugee law but that it is rather the whole conceptual foundations of the asylum system that need to change and that transgender asylum-seekers’ experiences could help in showing the way forward.
