2013/01/01 by Anthea Vogl · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #International Law and Human Rights #Judicial and Constitutional Studies #Torture, Ethics, and Law
paper · doi:10.1080/10383441.2013.10854767
openalex publication_date 2013/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
When someone seeking refugee status comes before a departmental officer or administrative body, the applicant’s first-person testimony plays a crucial role since there is often little or no other evidence – such as documents or witnesses – to support the claim being made. The distinctly narrative form of refugee applicants’ evidence, and its central place in the status determination process, make such testimony an ideal site from which to explore the law’s relationship with narrative. In this article, I use one Refugee Review Tribunal decision to exemplify how demands for narrativity, in relation to both the content and form of evidence, influence determinations about the plausibility of refugee testimony. I argue that part of the law’s requirement for ‘plausible’ evidence involves an expectation that refugee applicants tell a good story – that is, one that predominantly conforms to the conventions of model narrative forms. When the law responds to the events and accidents within refugee testimony, narrative expectations are at play – and the precise terms of these standards and the content of ‘good’, orderly narratives are implicit, shifting and inconsistent.