Reception Centres Above.The Mountain, Emblem of the Paradox of the Integration of Asylum Seekers in Switzerland
| Autor: | Viviane Cretton |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Physical geography
History Refugee media_common.quotation_subject Geography Planning and Development mountain 0507 social and economic geography Subject (philosophy) integration asylum Representation (politics) Valais Geography. Anthropology. Recreation 050602 political science & public administration reception centres Narrative Earth-Surface Processes media_common Emblem 05 social sciences Media studies visibility Romance GB3-5030 0506 political science Feeling recognition 050703 geography Tourism Switzerland |
| Zdroj: | Revue de Géographie Alpine, Vol 108, Iss 2 (2020) |
| Popis: | This article analyses “what the mountain does” to people seeking asylum in Switzerland. It focuses on their experiences while they are accommodated in collective reception centres at high altitudes. At the level of Swiss society, asylum seekers are subject to an « integration » injunction, despite the uncertain outcome of their application. When the waiting and uncertainty imposed by the asylum procedure is experienced at an altitude of more than 1300 metres, the feeling of being kept away from life in urban centres is reinforced and the emotional burden exacerbated.The specific experiences of collective accommodation in the mountains, experienced by asylum seekers - and by the professionals or volunteers accompanying them - are expressed in their story telling of the place. Far from the tourist and romantic representations of the mountains, the oppositions between the top and the bottom (the valley and the plain), between the periphery and the centre (the mountain and the town) run repeatedly through the collected narratives. They maintain a representation of the mountain as a non-place of social life, an isolated place, as opposed to cities on the plain. When the reception "above" lasts, it sustains a process of social effacement « below» which makes the injunction to integrate into Swiss society eminently paradoxical. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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