Staging Injustice: Performance and Asylum Hearings

A seminar with keynote speakers Dr Emma Cox (Royal Holloway, U.L.) and Prof Nick Gill (Exeter University) organised by the Trinity College Dublin Drama Department, The “Identities in Transformation” thematic network and the Centre for Forced Migration Studies.

Please register for this event here.

The aim of this seminar is to examine asylum-hearing procedures as a form of courtroom drama in which the state’s policies are played out against the refugee in secrecy. We will consider the systems of control that affect the process, such as the policies and practices of national governments, border police, national and international surveillance mechanisms, which determine the extent to which various countries welcome, intimidate, criminalize, or push back refugees. We plan to explore the diverse practices of asylum hearings in various countries and the role that performance can play in responding to them.

Hybrid participants can join the event here. 

Schedule:

3.00 pm - Introduction by conference organizers Prof Steve Wilmer and Prof Rachel Hoare

Welcome by Prof Carmel O’Sullivan, Dean of Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Chair: Prof. Evangelia Rigaki, Department of Music, TCD

3.15 pm - Nick Gill, Inside Asylum Appeals: Access, Participation and Procedure in Europe

3.30 pm - Matsaseng Ralekoala, The EU Migration Pact

3. 45 pm - Natalie Katsou, Artificial and Intelligent Borders – on British ports of arrival

4.00 pm– Q&A

4.15 pm – break

Chair: Prof Gillian Wylie, Head of School of Religion, Theology and Peace Studies, TCD

4.30 pm - Emma Cox, The Para-Jurisdictions of European Asylum

4.45 pm - Abdulai Mansaray, Challenges facing asylum seekers in Ireland

5.00 pm- Sean Metzger, Queering Asylum Case Law (online)

5.15 pm – Q&A

5.30 pm – break

Chair: Prof Nicholas Johnson, Head of Drama Studies, TCD

5.45 pm - Yana Meerzon, Performing Motherhood – On Displacement and Feminist Dramaturgy of Border Crossing

6.00. pm - Rosaria Ruffini, Words without bodies. And bodies without words.

The representation of asylum seekers and asylum policies on the Italian stage

6.15 pm - Sanaz Afshin, Find the actor – On the edge of politics, aesthetics, and entertainment (online)

6.30 pm – Q&A

7.00 pm – Concluding discussion

Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: swilmer@tcd.ie