Thesis Format
Monograph
Degree
Master of Arts
Program
Anthropology
Supervisor
Granadillo, Tania
Abstract
The present thesis “Colombian women’s experiences of the Canadian refugee and asylum adjudication process” is an ethnographic description and analysis of the experiences of Colombian refugee women as they move through the refugee and asylum adjudication system in Ontario, Canada. Using concepts such as liminality, politics of waiting, hermeneutics of suspicion and arbitrariness, the refugee and asylum adjudication system is shown to be a site of power and domination that creates negative emotions in the people who face it, especially in the oral hearing as a central event in the process. Centering Colombian refugee women’s voices, their experiences and emotions are prioritized to construct a bottom-up approach that helps to understand the difficulties of being a refugee in the current moment and recent past.
Summary for Lay Audience
The present thesis is an ethnographic description and analysis of the experiences faced by Colombian refugee women as they move through the refugee and asylum adjudication system in Ontario, Canada. Using concepts such as liminality, politics of waiting, hermeneutics of suspicion and arbitrariness, the refugee and asylum adjudication system is shown to be a site of power and domination that creates negative emotions on the people who face it, especially in the oral hearing as a central event in the process. Centering Colombian refugee women’s voices, experiences and emotions are prioritized to construct a bottom-up approach that helps to understand the difficulties of the refugee adjudication process even from the beginning when they claim protection. Special attention has been paid to feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, discomfort, vulnerability, and powerlessness that were common in the women’s narratives that helped to understand how the process is lived from their perspective, in comparison with the mainstream works in the field that are centred on the process of decision making. This thesis also provides insight into the Colombian population in Canada, especially in Ontario, where most have immigrated through the refugee and asylum program. It also poses the question of whether what the authorities have been doing through the years to help refugees’ claimants and refugees is enough.
Recommended Citation
Parra Carrillo, Camila N., "Colombian women’s experiences of the Canadian refugee and asylum adjudication process" (2022). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 8798.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/8798
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