The long turning: A Palestinian Refugee in Belgium

Abstract

This article considers the duration and meaning of insecurity-as it is experienced over the course of a life and moves over borders-through the narrative of a Palestinian woman from Shatila now seeking asylum in Belgium. Structured around one person's account of the asylum process, it considers what a singular case can reveal about a collective migrant condition, the inconstant line separating secure from insecure states, and the reconstitution of a secure self in conditions of chronic uncertainty.