This article analyses the complex role of hope in relation to sport in the constrained lives of b... more This article analyses the complex role of hope in relation to sport in the constrained lives of boys and young men who have experienced the Swedish asylum process. The data derives from an ethnographical longitudinal project on the social dimensions of hope in the asylum process.
This ethnographic article addresses social work’s participation in exclusionary practices perform... more This ethnographic article addresses social work’s participation in exclusionary practices performed by migration authorities in Sweden, leading to extreme precariousness among young people searching for protection. Through ethnographic descriptions of young people who fled from Sweden to other European countries, we argue that Swedish social workers played an active role in depriving young people of their social rights. A central concept in the article is administrative violence. Such institutionalised violence risks being excluded from a moral assessment. We argue that moral responsibility is not about following state rules, but may instead involve acting in a way that rules do not support. If social work accepts the boundaries of the nation-state, its border work and the logics of neoliberal ideologies, it cannot live up to the ethical standards of social work and its emphasis on social justice.
The aim of this article is to elaborate, theoretically, on the ambiguity of hope and its relation... more The aim of this article is to elaborate, theoretically, on the ambiguity of hope and its relation to social change in the asylum context. This ambiguity involves two different perspectives of hope. One more mundane view of hope where it is considered an emotion used to overcome complex issues and move towards a better situation in the future. A perspective often used by social and migration authorities to urge people to hope for a future should they submit to the authorities’ logic. The other perspective, more common in some research, challenges such positive connotations and argues that hope can put people in a position of suffering where hope may hinder or slow down the realisation of social change. With the aid of scholars who have theorised about hope and ethnographic cases from our research on hope in the asylum context, we develop a theoretical perspective on hope and social change. Our perspective includes concepts such as the governmentality of hope, fragmentation of hope an...
The Norrliden project. Genderisation and ethnification of a low status residential area in the lo... more The Norrliden project. Genderisation and ethnification of a low status residential area in the local pressMedia often contributes to segregation by constructing low status residential areas as “dif ...
Regeringen foreslar nio atgarder for att hitta och utvisa papperslosa. Det kommer att sla hart oc... more Regeringen foreslar nio atgarder for att hitta och utvisa papperslosa. Det kommer att sla hart och framst ga ut over redan svaga och jagade manniskor. Vi uppmanar darfor regeringen att ta tillbaka atgarderna, skriver 43 forskare.
This article argues that court-ritual unawareness, linguistic shortcomings and stereotypical imag... more This article argues that court-ritual unawareness, linguistic shortcomings and stereotypical images about non-Swedish otherness impair the position and acting space for immigrants in a Swedish district court context. Drawing on two ethnographically informed research projects focused on courtroom interaction during more than 20 trials dealing with ‘domestic violence’ and ‘street-related crime’, we claim that immigrant voices are often silenced due to taken-for-granted practices in court. Through analyses of interviews, performances, interpreted hearings and references to a desirable Swedishness, it is argued that situations are created where immigrant participants may experience their possibility of being understood as limited and their voices as being unheard. Such conditions are emotionally draining and may result in participants choosing silence over stating their case. This is a problem, not only within the individual court case, but also for the overall legitimacy of the court s...
This paper is based on an ethnographic research project studying interaction processes and ritual... more This paper is based on an ethnographic research project studying interaction processes and rituals; the interplay between speech and social interaction during interpreted hearings in Swedish Distri ...
This paper deals with methodological challenges presented while carrying out observations during ... more This paper deals with methodological challenges presented while carrying out observations during an ethnographically inspired research project into notions and ideas about culture, ethnicity, gende ...
In this article we address the constructionof familiarity and distance in Swedish district courtc... more In this article we address the constructionof familiarity and distance in Swedish district courtcases, involving young men with both immigrantand Swedish backgrounds. Through ethnographicobservatio ...
This ethnographic article addresses social work’s participation in exclusionary practices perform... more This ethnographic article addresses social work’s participation in exclusionary practices performed by migration authorities in Sweden, leading to extreme precariousness among young people searching for protection. Through ethnographic descriptions of young people who fled from Sweden to other European countries, we argue that Swedish social workers played an active role in depriving young people of their social rights. A central concept in the article is administrative violence. Such institutionalised violence risks being excluded from a moral assessment. We argue that moral responsibility is not about following state rules, but may instead involve acting in a way that rules do not support. If social work accepts the boundaries of the nation-state, its border work and the logics of neoliberal ideologies, it cannot live up to the ethical standards of social work and its emphasis on social justice.
This article analyses the complex role of hope in relation to sport in the constrained lives of b... more This article analyses the complex role of hope in relation to sport in the constrained lives of boys and young men who have experienced the Swedish asylum process. The data derives from an ethnographical longitudinal project on the social dimensions of hope in the asylum process.
This ethnographic article addresses social work’s participation in exclusionary practices perform... more This ethnographic article addresses social work’s participation in exclusionary practices performed by migration authorities in Sweden, leading to extreme precariousness among young people searching for protection. Through ethnographic descriptions of young people who fled from Sweden to other European countries, we argue that Swedish social workers played an active role in depriving young people of their social rights. A central concept in the article is administrative violence. Such institutionalised violence risks being excluded from a moral assessment. We argue that moral responsibility is not about following state rules, but may instead involve acting in a way that rules do not support. If social work accepts the boundaries of the nation-state, its border work and the logics of neoliberal ideologies, it cannot live up to the ethical standards of social work and its emphasis on social justice.
The aim of this article is to elaborate, theoretically, on the ambiguity of hope and its relation... more The aim of this article is to elaborate, theoretically, on the ambiguity of hope and its relation to social change in the asylum context. This ambiguity involves two different perspectives of hope. One more mundane view of hope where it is considered an emotion used to overcome complex issues and move towards a better situation in the future. A perspective often used by social and migration authorities to urge people to hope for a future should they submit to the authorities’ logic. The other perspective, more common in some research, challenges such positive connotations and argues that hope can put people in a position of suffering where hope may hinder or slow down the realisation of social change. With the aid of scholars who have theorised about hope and ethnographic cases from our research on hope in the asylum context, we develop a theoretical perspective on hope and social change. Our perspective includes concepts such as the governmentality of hope, fragmentation of hope an...
The Norrliden project. Genderisation and ethnification of a low status residential area in the lo... more The Norrliden project. Genderisation and ethnification of a low status residential area in the local pressMedia often contributes to segregation by constructing low status residential areas as “dif ...
Regeringen foreslar nio atgarder for att hitta och utvisa papperslosa. Det kommer att sla hart oc... more Regeringen foreslar nio atgarder for att hitta och utvisa papperslosa. Det kommer att sla hart och framst ga ut over redan svaga och jagade manniskor. Vi uppmanar darfor regeringen att ta tillbaka atgarderna, skriver 43 forskare.
This article argues that court-ritual unawareness, linguistic shortcomings and stereotypical imag... more This article argues that court-ritual unawareness, linguistic shortcomings and stereotypical images about non-Swedish otherness impair the position and acting space for immigrants in a Swedish district court context. Drawing on two ethnographically informed research projects focused on courtroom interaction during more than 20 trials dealing with ‘domestic violence’ and ‘street-related crime’, we claim that immigrant voices are often silenced due to taken-for-granted practices in court. Through analyses of interviews, performances, interpreted hearings and references to a desirable Swedishness, it is argued that situations are created where immigrant participants may experience their possibility of being understood as limited and their voices as being unheard. Such conditions are emotionally draining and may result in participants choosing silence over stating their case. This is a problem, not only within the individual court case, but also for the overall legitimacy of the court s...
This paper is based on an ethnographic research project studying interaction processes and ritual... more This paper is based on an ethnographic research project studying interaction processes and rituals; the interplay between speech and social interaction during interpreted hearings in Swedish Distri ...
This paper deals with methodological challenges presented while carrying out observations during ... more This paper deals with methodological challenges presented while carrying out observations during an ethnographically inspired research project into notions and ideas about culture, ethnicity, gende ...
In this article we address the constructionof familiarity and distance in Swedish district courtc... more In this article we address the constructionof familiarity and distance in Swedish district courtcases, involving young men with both immigrantand Swedish backgrounds. Through ethnographicobservatio ...
This ethnographic article addresses social work’s participation in exclusionary practices perform... more This ethnographic article addresses social work’s participation in exclusionary practices performed by migration authorities in Sweden, leading to extreme precariousness among young people searching for protection. Through ethnographic descriptions of young people who fled from Sweden to other European countries, we argue that Swedish social workers played an active role in depriving young people of their social rights. A central concept in the article is administrative violence. Such institutionalised violence risks being excluded from a moral assessment. We argue that moral responsibility is not about following state rules, but may instead involve acting in a way that rules do not support. If social work accepts the boundaries of the nation-state, its border work and the logics of neoliberal ideologies, it cannot live up to the ethical standards of social work and its emphasis on social justice.
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Papers by Torun Elsrud