Gendered Impacts of Migration Regimes: Structural Violence, Vulnerability, and Masculinities
2022 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
The relationship between masculinities and forced migration emerged recently in academic literature. Only limited attention is attributed to vulnerabilities men face due to their gender in receiving countries’ asylum designs. This thesis addresses this lacuna, by investigating the impact of exposure to asylum systems on displacement from gendered personhood (DGP). DGP is hereby a concept describing a state, whereby one feels that one can no longer conform to the ideals of the hegemonic notion of one’s gender identity (‘I no longer feel like a real man’). Creating a novel causal mechanism, I argue that asylum systems fabricate layered vulnerabilities, concretely precarity and experiences of structurally embedded racism. When exposed, refugee men are challenged in their performance of hegemonic masculinity, and over-time this has a disempowering effect on the individual, leading to DGP. I argue that the longer refugees are exposed to asylum systems, the greater their extent of DGP. The hypothesis is tested through a qualitative research approach of structured focused comparison and process tracing, analyzing the cases of 11 refugee men from Afghanistan having fled to Germany between 2015 and 2021. Overall, the analysis does not support the hypothesis, and only marginally supports the theorized causal chain.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2022. , p. 91
Keywords [en]
Gender, Forced Migration, Asylum System, Structural Violence, Vulnerabilities, Displacement from Gendered Personhood
National Category
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified Gender Studies International Migration and Ethnic Relations
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-477216OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-477216DiVA, id: diva2:1670127
Subject / course
Peace and Conflict Studies
Educational program
Master Programme in Peace and Conflict Studies
Supervisors
2022-06-152022-06-152022-06-15Bibliographically approved