Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2012
Capstone Advisor
Professor John Western
Honors Reader
Professor Marjorie DeVault
Capstone Major
Sociology
Capstone College
Arts and Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Social Sciences
Subject Categories
Community-Based Research | Inequality and Stratification | Other Sociology | Politics and Social Change | Sociology
Abstract
I am interested in the experiences of individuals in Upstate New York throughout the process of seeking asylum. I want to know asylum law influences the daily lives of individuals in relation to their cases and other emotions and activities. To address this, I traveled to Vive, Inc. in Buffalo, a shelter for individuals seeking asylum in either the U.S. or Canada, and conducted nine interviews. I interviewed people seeking asylum, one woman who already obtained asylum in the United States, and the two staff members.
Based on my interviews, I argue that seeking asylum in the United States is a complex political, legal, and social process. Specifically, I argue that conceptions of work that asylum seekers hold are more varied than current scholarship recognizes based on the types of work asylum seekers engage in and the difficulty an asylum seeker has finding employment. I also suggest that there is a range of experiences of asylum seekers with the branches of government depending on their personal journeys to Vive and how far into the legal process they are. I also discuss the ways in which objectification occurs throughout the process based on conversations with the asylum seekers and my observations. Additionally, the amount of knowledge an individual has about the process and their case significantly impacts their outlook on the process, based on people’s varied understandings of asylum and opinions about it. Finally, I argue that there may be some disconnect between critiques that asylum seekers make and those voiced by service providers based on different problems and solutions offered by my interviewees.
In conclusion, it is important that particular attention is paid to the perspectives that individuals seeking asylum have to offer and view them not exclusively through this term, but as people with extremely complex lives. Utilizing these perspectives can help humanize the asylum process in the United States and help organizations better assist individuals throughout.
Recommended Citation
Salisbury, Meagan Nicole, "Waiting in “The House of Life”: Experiences of Seeking Asylum in the United States while Living in Buffalo, New York" (2012). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 197.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/197
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Included in
Community-Based Research Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Other Sociology Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons
