(Un)belongings: within and against asylum dispersal in Sheffield

This thesis asks how people who are made to move in the asylum system develop a sense of belonging to people and place over time. Immigration and asylum policy can marginalise and exclude migrants. People seeking asylum are excluded from belonging to the state via citizenship. Refugees and people seeking asylum are often excluded from belonging to the British nation. This thesis engages with the consequences of one aspect of asylum policy: dispersal. Enacted in 1999, dispersal compulsorily moves people seeking asylum to different parts of Britain – usually post-industrial urban centres. The policy of asylum dispersal is driven by deterrence, discomfort and disintegration. Its drivers can reduce or limit a sense of belonging by systematically excluding people from full participation in British society.

Through ethnographic fieldwork with 15 people in the major dispersal city of Sheffield in the North of England, this study explores how people can be both excluded from and struggle for belonging. It considers participants’ rich lives and connections to people and place within and against a suite of policies that actively seek to deter and exclude. The study finds that repeat moves and changes to legal status over time can disrupt a sense of belonging for people. In addition, it finds that being dispersed to relatively peripheral locations within a city can create everyday challenges and disrupt a sense of belonging. The study finds that migrant-owned businesses – salons and restaurants – as well as leisure practices both online and offline can lead to a sense of belonging and its practice. The study contributes to sociological debates on belonging by considering its practice and focusing on how people seeking asylum can forge a sense of belonging within and against unbelonging.