The power of narratives in advocacy media–a non-subsumptive interpretation of the documentaries Out of Iraq: A Love Story and Unsettled: Seeking Refuge in America

Abstract

This article draws attention to narrative practices in LGBTI refugee advocacy work in the scope of the media. In dialogue with two human rights documentaries, Out of Iraq: A Love Story by Chris McKim and Eva Orner (2016) and Unsettled: Seeking Refuge in America by Tom Shepard (2019), I discuss the usage of LGBTI asylum seekers’ and refugees’ life stories in advocacy media and its ramifications for queer visibility in migration politics. Following narrative hermeneutics’ performative understanding of narratives, I argue for a “non-subsumptive” approach that acknowledges both the destructive and subversive possibilities of narrative practices and highlights the role of the interpreter. I argue that a self-reflexive and nuanced interpretation process enables a more ethical practice of narrating and interpreting stories of distant and vulnerable others for activism and research.