Shelter Rhetorics: Narrative Pathways & Assemblages of the U.S. Asylum
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Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons English Theses & Dissertations English Summer 8-2020 Shelter Rhetorics: Narrative Pathways & Assemblages of The U.S. Asylum Process Monica Reyes Old Dominion University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/english_etds Part of the International Relations Commons, Public Policy Commons, and the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Reyes, Monica. "Shelter Rhetorics: Narrative Pathways & Assemblages of The U.S. Asylum Process" (2020). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Dissertation, English, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/ k9r5-p946 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/english_etds/108 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the English at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SHELTER RHETORICS: NARRATIVE PATHWAYS & ASSEMBLAGES OF THE U.S. ASYLUM PROCESS by Monica Reyes B.A. December 2003, The University of Texas at Brownsville M.A. August 2013, The University of Texas at Brownsville A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ENGLISH OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY August 2020 Approved by: Delores Phillips (Director) Erika Frydenlund (Member) Julia Romberger (Member) Katrina M. Powell (Member) ABSTRACT SHELTER RHETORICS: NARRATIVE PATHWAYS & ASSEMBLAGES OF THE U.S. ASYLUM PROCESS Monica Reyes Old Dominion University, 2020 Director: Dr. Delores Phillips A person is eligible to apply for asylum if they are able to effectively persuade the U.S. that they are “unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality . because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” However, when attempting to compose such credibility narratives, people seeking asylum are often within liminal spaces of their journey, such as detention centers or temporary shelters; these sites are complex spaces for someone to compose such a high-stakes narrative. This project inquired how the variety of stories displaced people tell about themselves is influenced by the rhetorical ecology— a varied and shifting context of narratives, events, people, materials, and policies— that is the U.S. asylum system. To complete the project, I collaborated with an emergency shelter located in South Texas. I interviewed 17 people: 11 shelter clients (5 men and 6 women) representing 9 countries from 6 different geographical regions; 1 full-time staff member who was also a previous client; 2 full-time staff members; 2 seasonal volunteers; and 1 student intern. To better interpret their quotidian experience, I used audio-recorded interviews, as well as participants’ own visualizations (drawings and photos they created themselves). Through a methodology of located-listening, a community-based research approach I have created, I was able to center participants’ contextualized expertise about their own lived experiences. This blended methodology relies on cultural rhetorics, rhetorical ecologies and Chicana feminisms, as well as concepts from the field of refugee and forced migration studies. A critical discourse analysis of participant’s stories and visuals helped me analyze both participant interviews and their visualizations because it scrutinizes how ideology and context are connected to language (Cameron; Rose). Ultimately, I argue that the shelter operates as an influential “Third Space” for asylum hopefuls as evidenced through distinct shared rhetorical practices of daily life— like silence and routine—that both safeguard vulnerabilities and enact agency for individuals within precarious spaces. I term these practices shelter rhetorics. Third Space, as articulated by respective Chicana feminists such as Candace Zepeda, Lisa A. Flores, and Adela C. Licona, posits that in-between sites, such as LHB, may provide space for marginalized people to cultivate alternative perspectives and shared rhetorical practices which speak back to hegemonic and fixed representations of their experiences. This scholarship adds to the conversation by analyzing how the underlying ideologies of tangible materiality liberates and constrains the stories the shelter composes about asylum experience (Bennett; Edbauer; Reynolds). iv For my everything—Rod, Sloane and Judah . and of course, Michael G. Scott v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank my LHB family, especially the willing people who shared their stories with me. I can’t thank them by name here, but I see all of their faces, and I hear their voices. I have learned from each one of my participants about humanity. I also thank the sweet Sisters who gave me a place to go every Tuesday and Thursday. They were my mother and sisters when I needed them the most. My committee has read so many drafts, doing the scholarly equivalent of entering my messy house, unkept rooms and dirty sinks included. Thank you, Dr. Phillips for believing in me and this project. You led me through this work with overwhelming positivity and energy in each step. You always point forward, and that is incredibly inspiring. Thank you, Dr. Romberger for patiently reading and asking questions that pushed me to see your perspective, especially about methodology. Thank you, Dr. Powell for offering your feedback on this work. Your scholarship changed the trajectory of my professional career. And Dr. Frydenlund, I am so glad I have met you. You were willing to listen, not just about my ideas, but about me too. You mentored me through the most difficult scholarly endeavor I have pursued. I couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you for every letter you’ve written, every chat, every meeting and every encouragement. Your faith in this project helped me keep writing. I also thank Dr. Candace Epps-Robertson for teaching me about cultural rhetorics and feminist rhetorical perspectives. I am also grateful to Dr. Staci Defibaugh who graciously took a semester to guide me through my first project with human subjects in her Discourse Analysis course. vi I am especially grateful to Reynaldo Leaños Jr. for allowing me to use his photos he took for Texas Public Radio in this project (Figure 3.3.). I’m grateful to my participants for allowing me to use your photography: Ayana (Figures 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 5.4 and 6.1), Michelle (Figures 1.4 and 6.2), Esther (Figures 1.5, 2.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.8 and 5.9) Amal (Figure 1.7), Benjamin (Figure 4.2), Yazmin (Figures 5.3 and 5.5) and Alex (Figures 5.6 and 5.7). I thank Katie Randall, my PhD buddy from Virginia Tech who shared similar writing struggles and victories with me every week. To my sweet family—I know I’ve already dedicated this to you, but I must also acknowledge that each of you have made this scholarship a reality. Rod, you are my husband, but you are also my friend, supporter and partner. You have taken over our home, so I could type, study and meet in class. You have heard me cry about how I should give up. You’ve put aside your shop time. You’ve sat up at night with sick babies so I could finish that paper. I want everyone to know that your love helped me achieve many dreams, including this PhD. I know that this was not possible without you. I only hope to return this kind of support for you one day. Sloane and Judah, thank you for being yourselves. Your fun, sweet and precious lives are such a pleasure to me. I love you for asking questions about this project. I love you for cheering me on, and I want you to know that your company is the sweetest reprieve from every frustration this PhD has given me. Also, I thank my sweet dog Mona who jogged with me most mornings before I would sit to write this dissertation. Thank you for being by my side. And finally, I am so grateful to God for giving me an opportunity to study, earn a graduate degree and be around people that inspire me. I am truly humbled that God has vii given me material opportunities that I thought were just dreams. I owe everything to God’s grace. viii NOMENCLATURE ELL English Language Learning LHB La Hostería Bendecida RGV Rio Grande Valley CBP Customs and Border Protection UNHCR United Nations High Commission on Refugees UTRGV The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1. A SHORT TOUR OF THE PROJECT ............................................................................. 1 Challenges & Significance ........................................................................................ 4 La Hostería Bendecida ............................................................................................. 6 Unexpected Agency within Liminal Contexts ......................................................... 12 Chapter Layout ........................................................................................................ 16 2. LA MESA REDONDA: A LOCATED-LISTENING APPROACH TO KNOWLEDGE-BUILDING ........................................................................................... 19 Positioning Myself as a Contributor of Knowledge ............................................... 22 La Mesa Redonda/ The Round Table .................................................................... 28 Third Space