Excluded Subjects - A discourse analysis on (bi)sexuality and 'sexual orientation' in Swedish asylum case law

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines how bisexuality get constructed as a distinct sexual orientation category through asylum determination processes in Sweden. With a theoretical focus on the interaction between notions of sexuality and national borders this study also investigates how the assessment of ‘sexual orientation’ asylum claims contribute to the regulation of the Swedish border. To investigate these two research questions the study draws on a variety of theoretical traditions, such as queer migration studies, feminist, and postcolonial border studies, as well as queer and bisexuality theory. By applying Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau’s discourse theory as the analytical method, this study is able to show that bisexuality is constructed as a highly specific and static sexual orientation, receiving its meaning largely from the notion that sexual orientations are innate. This discursive construction means that most bisexual asylum claimants are assessed as not credible and are, therefore, denied asylum. Furthermore, the analysis illustrates how the discourses that are articulated in the assessment of ‘sexual orientation’ asylum claims can be seen to interact with the regulation of the Swedish border by interpellating individual asylum claimants into different subject positions that are aimed for either inclusion or, more often, for exclusion.