Type
Text
Type
Dissertation
Advisor
Levy, Daniel | Kimmel, Michael | Forbis, Melissa | Vidal-Ortiz, Salvador.
Date
2015-12-01
Keywords
Sociology | asylum, gender, immigration, sexuality
Department
Department of Sociology.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/76825
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
In the United States, individuals may apply for asylum if they have a “well-founded†fear of persecution in their country of origin based on one of five enumerated grounds: race, religion, national origin, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the U.S. saw an influx of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) applicants. While gender and sexual orientation are not specified in the refugee definition, these applicants contended that their persecution could be attributed to their membership in a particular social group. In response to the growing number of cases, the U.S. has slowly recognized both gender and sexual orientation as legitimate grounds for asylum While many women and LGBT applicants have made successful cases, a growing body of literature and evidence suggests resistance to and uneven incorporation of gender and sexual orientation into U.S. asylum law. Given that gender and sexual orientation persecutions have been incorporated into the asylum system but have not been specified as enumerated categories, what accounts for the differences between successful and unsuccessful gender and sexual orientation asylum cases in the United States? How are typical asylum terms—such as particular social group, persecution, and credibility—applied in these cases? How do these terms reflect gender, sexual, race, national inequalities? How do they reproduce inequalities? In this dissertation, I dissect the deployment of these terms and the consequences of their interpretation on the outcomes of cases heard by the highest level of appeals in the United States. | 129 pages
Recommended Citation
Llewellyn, Cheryl, "Deciding What Counts as Persecution: An Analysis of Gender and Sexual Orientation Asylum Cases in the United States" (2015). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 2701.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/2701