Transversal sanctuary enactments in Sweden: challenges, opportunities and implications

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article contributes to scholarly discussions about sanctuary enactments. We analyse transversal sanctuary enactments, i.e. when migrants in search of protection are provided with basic welfare and an opportunity to remain, in contestation of the state’s migration politics. The study draws on empirical data collected through a transdisciplinary research initiative in Sweden, the Asylum Commission. The analysis is based on interviews with 90 people, asylum seekers and people voluntarily or professionally involved in support work. The article explores bottom-up transversal processes paralleled and intertwined with a growing institutional disenchantment. By analysing practices and challenges in sanctuary enactments and their implications for individuals and institutions, we argue that such disenchantment may have broader societal implications in terms of fundamental changes in relationships between public institutions and civil society actors. Furthermore, our study points to the importance of seeing beyond the city as sites for sanctuary enactments and acknowledging sanctuary enactments initiated in Sweden’s rural areas.