Fragmentation of Hope through Tiny Acts of Bureaucratic Cruelty - Another Kind of War on Afghan People Seeking Asylum in Sweden

Abstract

This article analyzes the micro-powers of Swedish “cruel” and “non-cruel” bureaucrats using various logics of control, “tiny acts” enacted with pens, computers, and imposed assignments to condition asylum-seeking peoples’ lives and fragment their hope. Based on interviews with asylum-seeking Afghans and observations of their meetings with authorities, I argue that the bureaucratic treatment of Afghans in Sweden is a form of state-sanctioned racist violence and “departheid” executed to exclude discredited people from the welfare state. The article draws attention to a rapid downhill slide regarding asylum rights in Sweden since 2015 and the harm caused to asylum-seeking people.

Unmasking the Impact of Bureaucratic Violence

“…In this issue, Martinez's (this issue) analysis of the United States-Mexico border reveals that symbolic violence committed in the production of medicalized knowledge blends with the slow violence of waiting indefinitely, often bringing about physical violence in the repeated encounters with US border authorities and gang activities. Demonstrated in Elsrud's (2023) article focusing on Afghani asylum seekers in Sweden, the physical violence experienced in Afghanistan and in the process of flight is followed by symbolic violence, which discursively constructs Afghans as bogus refugees who are not worthy of protection, and structural violence, which places untenable requirements on their ability to receive legal status and survive in Sweden. Survival in the face of bureaucratic violence, as the two case studies demonstrate, has long-term physical and mental effects, which often leave the affected refugees demoralized and without hope.…”

“…The narratives of inclusion/exclusion within asylum processes force some refugees to enact performances of sexual identity that are deemed credible by the bureaucracy. Tiny acts of bureaucratic violence are discussed by Elsrud (2023) and concern many different areas in people's everyday lives. Not giving Afghani refugees access to housing, health care, or even leisure activities, such as playing football, hinder, in delicate ways, them from having a life.…”

Coming of Age While Challenging Borders: Networks of Solidarity and Resistance of Swedish-Afghan Youths on the Move in Europe

“…These circumstances forced thousands of youths who were previously welcomed as refugees into a sequence of repeated rejections, loss of financial support, and loss of sponsored accommodation (Elsrud 2020). Despite the shift in circumstances, many Afghan youths kept their bonds and close relationship with Swedish foster families, friends, and other civil society allies that opposed the State's decision to illegalize them (Elsrud 2020(Elsrud , 2023.…”

“…Welcomed in Sweden as 'unaccompanied minors', many Afghan youths were integrated in local communities, attended school, learned the Swedish language, and had plans for the future when they turned eighteen and were suddenly made illegal-i.e., illegalized-by the Swedish state. This decision prompted political contestation, particularly among former foster families of Afghan children (Elsrud 2020(Elsrud , 2023Elsrud et al 2023;Elsrud and Lalander 2022). The ethnographic study presented in this article delves into a network of informal solidarity that emerged as a result of the relationships of care and political resistance established between Swedish citizens and young Afghans who were made illegal.…”