Definition: Asylum
Arab Literary Travels
2/11/16
Definition Assignment- Asylum
My first encounter with the term “asylum” was last semester while working with a refugee resettlement agency, where on my first day, I was asked to think about the meanings of the words refugee, immigrant, and asylee. I realized a couple of things from this exercise: first, that I knew the least about asylum from those three terms, and secondly, that asylum brings to my mind, a place of safety and calm, especially for those who need it the most. In writing about asylum for my term, my aim was to dig deeper into what that means in relation to people seeking refugee or immigrant status.
What I found was in some ways a more concrete way of thinking about what I already knew about asylum. Several definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary helped me assemble a more complete meaning of asylum:
Breaking these definitions apart is helpful to realize that we can talk about a place or a people looking for that place. In addition, I think that a mixture of these two meanings would result in a description of the political process: the way people must apply and be granted asylum from a new nation.asylum n. a secure place of refuge, shelter, or retreat.
asylum seeker n. a person seeking refuge, esp. political asylum, in a nation other than his or her own.
More than I expected, I found refuge and asylum, as well as refugee and asylee, to be intertwined and sometimes indistinguishable. I believe that the perceived difference lies in the causes of why a person has to leave their home country. While the causes of being an asylee are especially seen as political, refugees can be fleeing from religious persecution, unjust punishment, and even natural disasters. In some ways, even the term “grant” meaning to give asylum status to someone makes it seem like a gift sanctioned by the government, whereas refugees are often seen as burdens. The UNHCR differentiates refugees and asylees based on urgency, again emphasizing the process of being granted either an asylum status or refugee status. They assert that asylum-seekers need asylum quickly and effectively, often on an individual basis, while refugees are more likely to be part of a large group, which can take longer to process within a government.
In the context of our class, I think it is helpful to think about asylum as a place of refuge, but more so as a destination of refuge. In thinking about movement, asylum is a place someone is going while leaving home behind. Asylees or asylum seekers are travelers, but with a specific destination in mind: safety and sanctuary.
Works Cited
"Asylum." Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001
"Asylum-Seekers." UNHCR News. Web. 9 Feb. 2016. <http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c137.html>.