Towards citizenship : experiences of seeking asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity in the United States

What is the experience like for LGBT Asylum Seekers in the United States? How can we conceive a sense of citizenship belonging among this population? For LGBT asylum seekers in the United States, the notion of gaining formal status as a refugee and ultimately U.S. citizenship is often a long, challenging process. An extended waiting time for asylum adjudication exasperates gaps in protection within an overall system of laws and policies that lean toward heteronormative - often unwelcoming or discriminatory - definitions of sexual orientation and gender identity. As such, these hurdles are not simply administratively remedied. They are meaningful conditions that restrict rights and ultimately a fundamental sense of citizenship belong. I argue that we can define a unique notion of transnational citizenship among LGBT asylum seekers who are caught between oppressive and unequitable formal institutions. Drawing from existing migration theory and citizenship studies, I claim that LGBT asylum seekers may form a sense of transnational citizenship that is not linked to a habitual physical crossing of national boundaries, but rather is concerned with the formation of enclaves of closely-knit LGBT sub-diaspora communities with the United States.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Isaak, David J. (David James)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Balakrishnan Rajagopal.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105066

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/105066