Living Together through the Asylum Process: Affective Proximity in Home Accommodation of Asylum Seekers

Abstract

This article examines the home accommodation of asylum seekers in Finland from the perspective of hosts’ affective experiences of living through the asylum process from proximity. This study contributes to the research on the affective dimension of pro-asylum solidarity beyond the framework of compassion. Instead of being observers of distant suffering, hosts are personally affected by the asylum seekers’ past involving war and conflict and their present struggle for asylum, which are inseparably intertwined. As a result, the hosts’ homes and domestic lives are transformed. The boundaries between home and faraway events blur when daily life includes technology-mediated connections to war. Affective proximity to asylum struggles may cause an emotional burden for hosts, which can also be politicising. Living together often leads to a shared mission of fighting for the right to remain and increased awareness of the political question of asylum.