@article{ref1,
title="On Silence, Sexuality and Skeletons: Reconceptualizing Narrative in Asylum Hearings",
journal="Social and legal studies",
year="2011",
author="Johnson, Toni A. M.",
volume="20",
number="1",
pages="57-78",
abstract="This article considers the nature of silence in UK asylum cases involving lesbian and gay claimants, asking whether the ambiguous and textured quality of silence can be a productive site of resistance, or whether the effect of silence perpetuates the problematic conceptualization of the refugee as a subjugated actor whose voice is muted within a hearing. The article discusses silence in light of the formal provisions of the Refugee Convention and evidentiary necessities around proof of an objective/subjective fear of persecution, questioning the impact silence has on the rendering of testimony and whether it is detrimental to an asylum claim. The equivocal nature of silence imparts a vulnerability to interpretation, rendering it subject to the imposition of unsolicited meaning. Silence’s indeterminacy, it is suggested, should give pause to the court to proceed in a manner that invokes caution around such inference.<p />",
language="",
issn="0964-6639",
doi="10.1177/0964663910391205",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0964663910391205"
}