Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 26th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview General Session Author(s) Michal Sedlacko University of Applied Science FH Campus Wien Vienna Austria Dahlvik Julia, Title The Asylum Procedure and its Institutional Context: Dehumanization and Alienation in Bureaucratic Practice File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Michal Sedlacko Abstract This paper examines the effects of dehumanization produced in the bureaucratic procedure of refugee status determination in Austria. The issue of asylum is not only highly topical; it also represents a fundamental issue since it touches upon basic human rights – individuals not granted protection usually have to return to their countries of origin, where their lives are often be in danger. In our ethnographic study, we conceptualize dehumanization as objectification and (work) alienation. We consider both the perspective of the asylum claimants (as the subjects of the bureaucratic procedure), as well as of the public servants as workers, using three tiers of analysis – the asylum interview, the sequence of the asylum determination procedure (a case), and the public official’s workplace and its organizational context.
