Violence of uncertainty as symbolic violence: Experience of Afghan refugees on the border of recognition-unrecognition in Istanbul

This study aims to reveal the factors shaping the migration experiences of asylum-seekers originating from Afghanistan seeking asylum in Turkey, how they experience the prolonged process of waiting and unpredictability during the process of obtaining legal status and until a permanent solution is found for them, how this process shapes their self-perception, positioning in social life and social relations, and how the violence of uncertainty they are exposed to transforms their migration movements, hopes and expectations. The studies on the uncertain process experienced by asylum-seekers have mostly focused on the time cost of the resettlement procedures that follow the status determination interviews, and the process of uncertainty has not been linked to symbolic violence in terms of sovereignty and subordination relations. In the present study, by referring to how violence has been historically positioned in social and political life, the violence of uncertainty has been tried to be associated with the concepts of authority, law and sovereignty as a sub-type of symbolic violence, and answers have been sought on how this relationship shapes the migration experiences of asylum seekers. In this context, face-to-face semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with fifteen asylum seekers from Afghanistan residing in Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul. As a result of the interviews, it was revealed that Afghan asylum-seekers seeking asylum in Turkey are exposed to prolonged uncertainty and waiting at every stage of the process of obtaining refugee status, which has a detrimental effect on their ability to make predictions about their future and their sense of self-determination over their own lives. On the other hand, it was found that Afghan asylum-seekers experience the violence of uncertainty in relation to failure to register and obtain documents, administrative detention, deportation, and being pushed back and subjected to ill-treatment in irregular border crossings. Finally, the study concludes that Afghan asylum-seekers' exposure to uncertainty violence increases their motivation to seek asylum in another country and that uncertainty violence may be used as a migration management strategy by migration authorities.