Constructed objectivity in asylum decision-making through new technologies.
Asylum decision-making is a complicated process. The vast ethnographic scholarship on refugee status determination underscores the interplay of subjectivities among various individuals involved in the process, including decision-makers, interpreters and invited experts. In recent years, several asyl...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies Vol. 51; no. 14; pp. 3629 - 3649 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Aug2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=187097714&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 187097714 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 1369183X 56F jtl: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies issn: 1369183X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2025 vid: 51 iid: 14 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 187097714 10.1080/1369183X.2025.2513161 ppf: 3629 ppct: 20 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 506KB tig: atl: Constructed objectivity in asylum decision-making through new technologies. aug: au: Ozkul, Derya affil: Department of Sociology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK su: Technological innovations Digital technology Right of asylum Institutional logic Narratives sug: subj: Technological innovations Digital technology Right of asylum Institutional logic Narratives keyword: Artificial intelligence asylum dialect recognition evidence mobile phones ab: Asylum decision-making is a complicated process. The vast ethnographic scholarship on refugee status determination underscores the interplay of subjectivities among various individuals involved in the process, including decision-makers, interpreters and invited experts. In recent years, several asylum authorities have introduced new technologies into the asylum procedure. This article focuses on the adoption of two specific tools, 'automated dialect recognition' and 'automated mobile phone data analysis', by German authorities to support country-of-origin determination and assessment of applications. Drawing on social constructionism and sociology of knowledge, the article investigates the circumstances under which these tools have been integrated into the decision-making process and explores their implications for asylum procedures and practice. It shows that these tools serve to reinforce a bureaucratic logic that prioritises speed, and that this shift is embedded in a broader trend of digitalisation within public administration and reflects an assumption that asylum seekers are inherently deceptive. The analysis demonstrates that authorities construct objectivity by outsourcing the analysis to private tech companies, i.e. entities that are outside the decision-making process, and by using numerical probabilities that appear to produce precise outcomes. Ultimately, the article argues that these technologies obscure existing subjectivities and place the burden of proof on applicants. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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