Embodied and Embedded Vulnerable Subject: Asylum Seekers and Vulnerability Theory

The article discusses vulnerability of victims of torture in asylum process. Based on case study materials, recognizing and addressing vulnerability seems random in asylum process. Vulnerabilities of torture victims are systematically ignored in the process and expert medical certificates are not taken into account. In the background exists an assumption of a logical subject, who is able to make rational decisions and produce a coherent account of events, even when individuals are suffering from medical conditions making them unable to manifest such behaviour. This article searches for explanations relying on Martha Fineman´s vulnerability theory. It will be argued that the difficulties of taking the vulnerability of the tortured asylum seeker into account in the asylum process reflect different understandings and uses of the concept of vulnerability. Moreover, it seems that the asylum process tends to confuse the question ‘who is entitled to international protection?’ with the question ‘who is vulnerable?’. The globalized context is briefly discussed, which offers yet another way to explain the difficulties that the asylum system has with vulnerability. The article argues that a paradigm change is needed ‒ a change where we would look at the concept of vulnerability in a dynamic and contextual way. Vulnerability should be understood as socially embedded notion and relational to the institutional and societal contexts in which it is produced. Vulnerability should be seen as primary human condition that does not exclude agency, but is rather qualified by different levels of resilience. These, in turn, are produced within and through institutions and relationships which confer privilege and power.