Getting In, Getting Out and Getting Back: Conducting Long-term Research in Immigration Detention Centres

Bosworth, Mary; Këllezi, Blerina

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-54642-5_11

Cited by 26 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…However, conducting this type of research was not an easy endeavor. The contentious nature of the political debates surrounding migration, the high levels of mistrust and uncertainty that characterize detention environments, the lack of familiarity with academic research by most people within these sites, as well as the different, and often competing, interests and expectations of the various groups at stake (i.e., detainees, management organization staff, external civil‐society actors, and state authorities) are some of the main challenges that researchers in this field face (Bosworth & Kellezi, , ). In our particular case, the protagonists that we met inside Ponte Galeria, primarily detainees, but also staff members, often presented high levels of distress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lykes, ). However, such deep field immersion also entailed certain risks for the researcher, including being burdened by the emotional weight of detainees’ suffering, in particular, in addition to, the overall lingering distress and uncertainty present in the detention environment (see Esposito, ; but also Bosworth & Kellezi, ). This situation was compounded by the constant questioning regarding the transformative impact of our work on a political level.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecology of Sites of Confinement: Everyday Life in a Detention Center for Illegalized Non‐citizens

Esposito

Ornelas

Briozzo

et al. 2019

American J of Comm Psychol

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Highlights• In spite of concerns about migration-related detention, research inside these sites of confinement is scarce.• We present an ethnographic exploration into the detention of illegalized non-citizens in Italy.• Transcending individual-centered analysis, we adopt an ecological framework with a focus on justice.• We contribute to create knowledge on the psychosocial and cultural world behind the walls of detention.• We discuss the oppressive qualities of detention and avenues for research and action for community psychologists.Abstract Drawing on almost 3 years of fieldwork, comprising qualitative interviews and ethnographic observations, this study provides an exploration into the detention of illegalized non-citizens in Italy. Taking the largest detention center as a case study, the fabric of everyday life and the lived experiences of people, both detainees and professional actors, are the focus of examination. An ecological community psychology framework, with a focus on justice, guided the data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Findings highlight the oppressive qualities of detention, and its ripple effects on people's life spaces. Scarcity of resources, activities, and information created a very distressing environment for detainees, also enhancing feelings of powerlessness and frustration in professionals willing to assist them. Uncertainty and instability, rather than coercion or discipline, emerged as modes of governing and dominating. Bound in a different space and time, detainees were turned into unwanted and expendable others, their confinement becoming a means to extract profit from them. Yet, people languishing in these sites displayed an extraordinary ability to cope with, resist, and challenge the persisting conditions of injustice they endured. We conclude by highlighting the potential of the proposed framework, and discussing broader implications of our findings and avenues for research and action.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecology of Sites of Confinement: Everyday Life in a Detention Center for Illegalized Non‐citizens

Esposito

Ornelas

Briozzo

et al. 2019

American J of Comm Psychol

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“…Testimonies from this project can be found in Bosworth, 2014 andSlade, 2014. management. 5 Research with staff generated distinct methodological and ethical challenges and is discussed in detail in another publication (Bosworth and Kellezi, 2016).…”

Section: Understanding Immigration Detention: Context and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Doing research in immigration removal centres: Ethics, emotions and impact

Bosworth

Këllezi

2016

Criminology & Criminal Justice

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Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) are deeply contested institutions that rarely open their doors to independent research. In this article we discuss some of the complications we faced in conducting the first national study of everyday life in them. As we will set out, research relationships were difficult to forge due to low levels of trust, and unfamiliarity with academic research. At the same time, many participants had unrealistic expectations about our capacity to assist while most exhibited high levels of distress. We were not immune from the emotional burden of the field sites. Such matters were compounded by the limited amount of published information about life in IRCs and a lack of ethical guidelines addressing such places. Drawing on related literature from prison sociology, we use our experiences in IRCs to set out a methodological account of understanding, ethics, and impact within these complex sites.

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“…Institutions engaged with the identification, registration, detention and deportation of illegalised migrants are often located in unattainable places surrounded by material or invisible barbed wire. Migration governance sites are far from public eyes and ears, let alone those of researchers (Bosworth and Kellezi ; Peutz : 219). Dealing with the problem of access, researchers have opted for voluntary work with NGOs (Albahari ; Le Courant ; Hasselberg : 13–18) or visits with members of the parliament (Griffiths : 1992).…”

Section: ‘How Did You Get In?’mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘How did you get in?’ Research access and sovereign power during the ‘migration crisis’ in Greece

Rozakou

2019

Soc Anthropol

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The ‘migration crisis’ has turned migration governance in Greece into a popular research field. At the same time, it has triggered the reconfiguration of sovereign powers with an assemblage of disparate actors engaging in addressing the ‘crisis’. This excess of sovereign power has contributed to a migration maze. In this article I use access to the migration field and in particular the Moria camp in Lesbos, as the lens for an exploration of these fragmented and emergent sovereign powers. In particular, I reflect on the materiality of my research permit and the figure of the humanitarian gatekeeper. As I show, any research access attempt encounters different spheres and agents of jurisdiction and responsibility. This fragmentation provides opportunities for research access, but it also poses methodological and epistemological questions. I finally interrogate the question of research access and knowledge production itself. In particular, I argue that the abundance of accounts does not necessarily produce a more thorough and in‐depth picture, but only a limited one, like the access that enables it. As researchers of a blossoming crisis scholarship, we are often complicit in epistemologically reproducing the very border we seek to scrutinise through our critical work.

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Getting In, Getting Out and Getting Back: Conducting Long-term Research in Immigration Detention Centres

Cited by 26 publications

References 24 publications

Ecology of Sites of Confinement: Everyday Life in a Detention Center for Illegalized Non‐citizens

Ecology of Sites of Confinement: Everyday Life in a Detention Center for Illegalized Non‐citizens

Doing research in immigration removal centres: Ethics, emotions and impact

‘How did you get in?’ Research access and sovereign power during the ‘migration crisis’ in Greece

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