Asylum as a Relationship of Otherness: a Study of Asylum Holders in Nuremberg, Germany

Abstract

In this paper, it is argued that the analysis of the experience of exile and asylum should be located on a double axis of presence and absence, as well as in the medium of time, both in its quantitative and qualitative aspects. The point of departure for the analysis is a rejection of the integration problematic prevailing in the sociology of migration, employing in its stead the perspective of the relationship of otherness as a heuristic device. The paper draws upon textual material generated by narrative interviews with asylum holders from Eritrea, Iran and Afghanistan presently living in the city of Nuremberg in south Germany.