Sophie Andreetta
Biographic Data
| ID | 105299 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sophie Andreetta |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sophie |
| FAMILY NAME | Andreetta |
| SIGNATURE | ANDREETTA S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Liège |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9427-3007 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 54 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Enquêter sur la justice et le droit de la famille en contexte post-colonial
Dans cet entretien, l’anthropologue Sophie Andreetta et la sociologue Marième N’Diaye reviennent sur leurs recherches, menées respectivement au Bénin et au Sénégal, portant sur la façon dont le droit encadre les relations familiales en contexte post-colonial. Si Marième N’Diaye a exploré la production du code de la famille sénégalais depuis les années 1960 dans un contexte de rupture avec la période coloniale, Sophie Andreetta s’est davantage con…
Human Dignity on Trial: Welfare Judges, Immigration Politics and Social Change
Building on ethnographic fieldwork in welfare hearings in French‐speaking Belgium, this article explores how judges decide between irregular migrants claiming social assistance and the public welfare administrations refusing such claims. Investigating these cases helps to analyze how members of the bench establish truthfulness and ponder the social and political consequences of their decisions. In these contexts, irregular migrants, despite being…
Governing Migration Through Paperwork: Legitimation Practices, Exclusive Inclusion and Differentiation
To better understand migration governance and the concrete, daily practices of civil servants tasked with enforcing state laws and policies, it is important to focus on documents, which are core artefacts of bureaucratic work. These can include certificates, letters, reports, case files, decisions, internal guidelines and judgements in both digital and paper form. Based on ethnographic studies in various geographical and bureaucratic contexts, th…
Governing Migration Through Paperwork: Legitimation Practices, Exclusive Inclusion and Differentiation
Legal pluralism and the production of (un)certainty in lived migration orders
This article builds on three of Keebet von Benda-Beckmann's core concepts, namely, legal pluralism, social security and relational social theory, to reflect on the place of law in lived migration orders, both in the global north and in the global south. To do this, we build on three empirical case studies from our respective fieldsites in Germany, Belgium and the DRC. These cases illustrate how 'thinking with Keebet's work' not only offers useful…
Litigation as a Governance Strategy: Courts, Bureaucracies and the Welfare Rights of Irregular Migrants
Over the last few years, the welfare rights of illegalized migrants living in Belgium have become increasingly restricted. Without a legal residence status, such rights are limited to (conditional) access to public healthcare. Welfare courts have, however, sometimes gone against the grain and granted social assistance benefits to irregularized applicants, based on fundamental rights principles. Conflicting jurisprudential trends have emerged and …
A broken trust: Defence lawyers and the Beninese state
Over the last few years, Benin has fallen in democratic rankings, and international reports have increasingly highlighted the biased nature of its judicial institutions. This article examines lawyers’ changing relationship with the Beninese state – as a source of power and as a body of rules and institutions – through the lens of trust. Building on ethnographic fieldwork within law firms, it delves into the consequences of knowing that the state …
Trust in the state: Negotiating legal and bureaucratic encounters
Scholars have increasingly coined trust as one of the key aspects of human existence and contemporary social interactions: some see it as a form of affect, while others study the conditions under which it emerges or fades away (Weichselbraun et al. 2023). Until recently, the idea of (mis)trust had mainly been studied in connection to interpersonal relationships (Bell 2016; Carey 2017), economic transactions (Rubbers 2009) and religion (Ashforth 2…
Digital Practices of Negotiation: Social Workers at the Intersection of Migration and Social Policies in Switzerland and Belgium
Paperwork has always been a central part of bureaucratic work. Over the last few years, bureaucratic procedures have become increasingly standardised and digitalised. Based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork within welfare offices in Switzerland and Belgium, we reflect on the way evidence is constructed within social policy and cases built for or against noncitizen welfare recipients in order to show how paper truths are established and cha…
Politicised Bureaucrats: Conflicting Loyalties, Professionalism and the Law in the Making of Public Services
Over recent years, public servants from across the world, from French nurses and Belgian social workers to Beninese judges, have been protesting their governments. These protests, some even overt, have erupted in response to specific policies imposed on them or needing to be enforced by them. This Special Issue, however, delves into diverse processes, strategies, actions and practices adopted by civil servants in delivering or administering a pub…
Failing, writing, litigating: Daily practices of resistance in Belgian welfare bureaucracies
This paper builds on ethnographic fieldwork in Belgian welfare administrations to identify daily practices of resistance among Belgian ‘welfare bureaucrats’ who interrogate the new welfare and immigration law reforms that further restrict migrants’ access to social assistance. The contestation strategies are used to circumvent and sometimes break the formal and informal policy guidelines while still allowing them to perform and remain loyal to th…
Engaging with the State. Illegalized migrants, welfare institutions and the law in French-Speaking Belgium
By highlighting informal strategies and solidarities on the one hand, and protests on the other, current studies of citizenship and illegalized migration describe two main forms of political subjectivities among illegalized migrants: ‘without’ the state or ‘against’ it. In contrast, this article unpacks how migrants make use of state laws and institutions, voice expectations, and pursue their claims using official venues – in short, how they act …
The governance of vulnerable migrants: Procedure, Resources and Affect in Asylum Reception
This article explores how vulnerability is understood, appropriated and translated into procedural regulations and actual bureaucratic practices based on two case studies: 1) the reception of asylum seekers in Belgium; and 2) the reception of asylum seekers and provision of aid services in humanitarian operations in Uganda. These two cases demonstrate that ‘vulnerable groups’ and the corresponding procedural and substantial safeguards or protecti…
The making of procedural justice: Enacting the State and (Non)citizenship
Recent advances in citizenship and migration studies have demonstrated the need to explore noncitizens’ social, political and legal relationships to the state in their own right. Such a rethinking inevitably requires analysing how both ‘citizenship’ and ‘the state’ are enacted and performed in the negotiation of substantive rights. This special issue follows an unexplored path by scrutinizing these interactions between ‘citizenship’ and ‘statenes…
States of Feeling: Public Servants’ Affective and Emotional Entanglements in the Making of the State
With the affective turn, scholars pay increased attention to the emotional dimensions of everyday life. This special issue builds on this work through an explicit focus on bureaucracies to show what a more sustained attention to affects and emotions can bring to the study of the state, both as an apparatus and as an image. Contributions highlight the importance of ethnographically studying the affective relations and emotional engagements of publ…
Granting 'Human Dignity: How Emotions and Professional Ethos Make Public Services
Building on ethnographic fieldwork in Belgian welfare bureaucracies, this article explores the place of emotions in the administrative treatment of cases-particularly those involving migrants, whose welfare rights are increasingly limited. Welfare offices are responsible for granting social assistance-in the form of medical treatment, material help, or financial benefits-in order to guarantee that those residing in Belgium live in dignified condi…
Prendre le droit au sérieux. Pour un autre regard sur l’État, l’action publique (et le développement) en Afrique
Afin d’étudier la mise en œuvre des politiques publiques dans les pays « sous régime d’aide », les travaux apadiens analysent les pratiques des fonctionnaires et les multiples normes, officielles et officieuses, qui guident ces dernières. À la suite de ces travaux, cet article s’intéresse à la mise en œuvre des Codes de la famille à Cotonou (Bénin) et à Dakar (Sénégal). Il insiste sur la centralité du droit dans un contexte où les normes formelle…
Feminist Africa
Articulé autour d’une série d’études de cas, ce numéro spécial vise à fournir aux praticiens une série de pistes de réflexion pour défendre les droits des femmes, en documentant la manière dont, dans certaines réunions ou certaines affaires en particulier, les femmes se sont saisies du droit. Il propose également d’explorer le rapport des femmes à la loi et aux institutions judiciaires sur le continent africain ainsi que le processus de construct…
The Symbolic Power of the State: Inheritance Disputes and Litigants' Judicial Trajectories in Cotonou
Over the last 10 years, scholars have started to focus on African states' bureaucracies by investigating public servants' relationships with the state, their professional ethos, how they appropriate reforms, and the way they interact with citizens. With inheritance disputes as a focal point, this article highlights the users' perspective-which is often overlooked-and asks how litigants in Cotonou(Benin) see the state, appropriate legal reforms, a…
Le « Code des femmes » ? Conflits d’héritage, dynamiques de genre et usages du droit à Cotonou
En 2004, le Bénin adopte un Code des personnes et de la famille, destiné à mettre fin au dualisme juridique en droit privé et à l’application du droit « traditionnel », jugé discriminatoire. Avec pour élément phare la notion d’égalité, le nouveau Code est souvent décrit comme le « Code des femmes » par les citoyens ordinaires et par les professionnels du droit de Cotonou. D’où vient cette réputation ? En détaillant le contexte de son adoption ain…
Writing for difference audiences
In Belgium, depending on their immigration status, foreigners may be entitled to different forms of social assistance, ranging from emergency medical care to financial benefits. In a context where residence permits are constantly updated, re-examined or withdrawn by the administration, this article explores the ways in which welfare bureaucrats deal with irregular migrants. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at welfare offices in French-speaking Bel…
Affaires d'héritage à Cotonou: Comment La Loi a Changé Les Familles1
Début 1990, le Bénin adoptait une constitution démocratique. Le pays ratifia de nombreuses conventions internationales, garantissant le respect des principes des droits de l’Homme. Une série d’évaluations et de réformes des services publics furent planifiées, visant à garantir la « bonne gouvernance » et la mise en place d’un État de droit. La justice y occupait une place centrale. Parmi les premiers textes à être adoptés, figurait le Code des pe…
Money, morality and magistrates. Prosecuting and judging in the Republic of Benin
Since 2012, Beninese magistrates have gone on multiple strikes. Most of them complain about their substantial workload, low pay, and poor working conditions. They also highlight the discrepancies between magistrates’ social status and what their families expect from them. However, judges and prosecutors also insist on the importance of their work and on the ethics that goes together with it. This paper analyses the discourses and representations …
N'oubliez jamais que vous parlez à un avocat ». État, justice et économie de l'intermédiation judiciaire à Cotonou
La question des professionnels du droit sur le continent africain, et plus particulièrement des avocats, est rarement abordée par les chercheurs en sciences sociales. S'inspirant de l'ethnographie des administrations publiques en Afrique, de la sociologie des professions et de la socio-anthropologie du droit anglo-saxonne, cet article propose d'aborder le parcours professionnel et les pratiques des avocats de Cotonou. Sur la base d'entretiens bio…
Pourquoi aller au tribunal si l'on n'exécute pas la décision du juge ? Conflits d'héritage et usages du droit à Cotonou
Ces dernières années, le nombre de conflits d'héritage gérés par le tribunal de première instance de Cotonou a considérablement augmenté. Pourtant, même lorsqu'une décision est rendue, peu de familles exécutent le jugement. Partant de ce constat, cet article vise à comprendre la manière dont les héritiers comprennent et utilisent le droit dans la capitale béninoise. La justice y est mobilisée pour agir sur les hiérarchies familiales et l'accès au…
Writing for difference audiences
In Belgium, depending on their immigration status, foreigners may be entitled to different forms of social assistance, ranging from emergency medical care to financial benefits. In a context where residence permits are constantly updated, re-examined or withdrawn by the administration, this article explores the ways in which welfare bureaucrats deal with irregular migrants. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at welfare offices in French-speaking Bel…
The governance of vulnerable migrants: Procedure, Resources and Affect in Asylum Reception
This article explores how vulnerability is understood, appropriated and translated into procedural regulations and actual bureaucratic practices based on two case studies: 1) the reception of asylum seekers in Belgium; and 2) the reception of asylum seekers and provision of aid services in humanitarian operations in Uganda. These two cases demonstrate that ‘vulnerable groups’ and the corresponding procedural and substantial safeguards or protecti…
States of Feeling: Public Servants’ Affective and Emotional Entanglements in the Making of the State
With the affective turn, scholars pay increased attention to the emotional dimensions of everyday life. This special issue builds on this work through an explicit focus on bureaucracies to show what a more sustained attention to affects and emotions can bring to the study of the state, both as an apparatus and as an image. Contributions highlight the importance of ethnographically studying the affective relations and emotional engagements of publ…
The Symbolic Power of the State: Inheritance Disputes and Litigants' Judicial Trajectories in Cotonou
Over the last 10 years, scholars have started to focus on African states' bureaucracies by investigating public servants' relationships with the state, their professional ethos, how they appropriate reforms, and the way they interact with citizens. With inheritance disputes as a focal point, this article highlights the users' perspective-which is often overlooked-and asks how litigants in Cotonou(Benin) see the state, appropriate legal reforms, a…
Digital Practices of Negotiation: Social Workers at the Intersection of Migration and Social Policies in Switzerland and Belgium
Paperwork has always been a central part of bureaucratic work. Over the last few years, bureaucratic procedures have become increasingly standardised and digitalised. Based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork within welfare offices in Switzerland and Belgium, we reflect on the way evidence is constructed within social policy and cases built for or against noncitizen welfare recipients in order to show how paper truths are established and cha…
The making of procedural justice: Enacting the State and (Non)citizenship
Recent advances in citizenship and migration studies have demonstrated the need to explore noncitizens’ social, political and legal relationships to the state in their own right. Such a rethinking inevitably requires analysing how both ‘citizenship’ and ‘the state’ are enacted and performed in the negotiation of substantive rights. This special issue follows an unexplored path by scrutinizing these interactions between ‘citizenship’ and ‘statenes…
Le « Code des femmes » ? Conflits d’héritage, dynamiques de genre et usages du droit à Cotonou
En 2004, le Bénin adopte un Code des personnes et de la famille, destiné à mettre fin au dualisme juridique en droit privé et à l’application du droit « traditionnel », jugé discriminatoire. Avec pour élément phare la notion d’égalité, le nouveau Code est souvent décrit comme le « Code des femmes » par les citoyens ordinaires et par les professionnels du droit de Cotonou. D’où vient cette réputation ? En détaillant le contexte de son adoption ain…
Pourquoi aller au tribunal si l'on n'exécute pas la décision du juge ? Conflits d'héritage et usages du droit à Cotonou
Ces dernières années, le nombre de conflits d'héritage gérés par le tribunal de première instance de Cotonou a considérablement augmenté. Pourtant, même lorsqu'une décision est rendue, peu de familles exécutent le jugement. Partant de ce constat, cet article vise à comprendre la manière dont les héritiers comprennent et utilisent le droit dans la capitale béninoise. La justice y est mobilisée pour agir sur les hiérarchies familiales et l'accès au…
Failing, writing, litigating: Daily practices of resistance in Belgian welfare bureaucracies
This paper builds on ethnographic fieldwork in Belgian welfare administrations to identify daily practices of resistance among Belgian ‘welfare bureaucrats’ who interrogate the new welfare and immigration law reforms that further restrict migrants’ access to social assistance. The contestation strategies are used to circumvent and sometimes break the formal and informal policy guidelines while still allowing them to perform and remain loyal to th…
Engaging with the State. Illegalized migrants, welfare institutions and the law in French-Speaking Belgium
By highlighting informal strategies and solidarities on the one hand, and protests on the other, current studies of citizenship and illegalized migration describe two main forms of political subjectivities among illegalized migrants: ‘without’ the state or ‘against’ it. In contrast, this article unpacks how migrants make use of state laws and institutions, voice expectations, and pursue their claims using official venues – in short, how they act …
Granting 'Human Dignity: How Emotions and Professional Ethos Make Public Services
Building on ethnographic fieldwork in Belgian welfare bureaucracies, this article explores the place of emotions in the administrative treatment of cases-particularly those involving migrants, whose welfare rights are increasingly limited. Welfare offices are responsible for granting social assistance-in the form of medical treatment, material help, or financial benefits-in order to guarantee that those residing in Belgium live in dignified condi…
Litigation as a Governance Strategy: Courts, Bureaucracies and the Welfare Rights of Irregular Migrants
Over the last few years, the welfare rights of illegalized migrants living in Belgium have become increasingly restricted. Without a legal residence status, such rights are limited to (conditional) access to public healthcare. Welfare courts have, however, sometimes gone against the grain and granted social assistance benefits to irregularized applicants, based on fundamental rights principles. Conflicting jurisprudential trends have emerged and …
A broken trust: Defence lawyers and the Beninese state
Over the last few years, Benin has fallen in democratic rankings, and international reports have increasingly highlighted the biased nature of its judicial institutions. This article examines lawyers’ changing relationship with the Beninese state – as a source of power and as a body of rules and institutions – through the lens of trust. Building on ethnographic fieldwork within law firms, it delves into the consequences of knowing that the state …
Trust in the state: Negotiating legal and bureaucratic encounters
Scholars have increasingly coined trust as one of the key aspects of human existence and contemporary social interactions: some see it as a form of affect, while others study the conditions under which it emerges or fades away (Weichselbraun et al. 2023). Until recently, the idea of (mis)trust had mainly been studied in connection to interpersonal relationships (Bell 2016; Carey 2017), economic transactions (Rubbers 2009) and religion (Ashforth 2…
N'oubliez jamais que vous parlez à un avocat ». État, justice et économie de l'intermédiation judiciaire à Cotonou
La question des professionnels du droit sur le continent africain, et plus particulièrement des avocats, est rarement abordée par les chercheurs en sciences sociales. S'inspirant de l'ethnographie des administrations publiques en Afrique, de la sociologie des professions et de la socio-anthropologie du droit anglo-saxonne, cet article propose d'aborder le parcours professionnel et les pratiques des avocats de Cotonou. Sur la base d'entretiens bio…
Implementing Human Rights in Benin: The Case of Inheritance Disputes
peer reviewed
Hériter et transmettre », Idées économiques et sociales, n° 166, décembre 2011
Dirigé par A.-C. Broutelle et M. Grosgeorge, ce dossier « Hériter et transmettre » réunit quatre articles visant à souligner la dimension à la fois économique et symbolique des biens hérités. Dans le premier article, A. Jourdain et S. Naulin proposent un rappel de la théorie de Bourdieu et de la place, primordiale, qu’y occupe la notion d’héritage « au sens large » sous forme de transferts intergénérationnels. Elles reviennent sur les notions de …
Implementing Human Rights in Benin: The Case of Inheritance Disputes
peer reviewed
Pourquoi aller au tribunal si l'on n'exécute pas la décision du juge ? Conflits d'héritage et usages du droit à Cotonou
Ces dernières années, le nombre de conflits d'héritage gérés par le tribunal de première instance de Cotonou a considérablement augmenté. Pourtant, même lorsqu'une décision est rendue, peu de familles exécutent le jugement. Partant de ce constat, cet article vise à comprendre la manière dont les héritiers comprennent et utilisent le droit dans la capitale béninoise. La justice y est mobilisée pour agir sur les hiérarchies familiales et l'accès au…
Money, morality and magistrates. Prosecuting and judging in the Republic of Benin
Since 2012, Beninese magistrates have gone on multiple strikes. Most of them complain about their substantial workload, low pay, and poor working conditions. They also highlight the discrepancies between magistrates’ social status and what their families expect from them. However, judges and prosecutors also insist on the importance of their work and on the ethics that goes together with it. This paper analyses the discourses and representations …
N'oubliez jamais que vous parlez à un avocat ». État, justice et économie de l'intermédiation judiciaire à Cotonou
La question des professionnels du droit sur le continent africain, et plus particulièrement des avocats, est rarement abordée par les chercheurs en sciences sociales. S'inspirant de l'ethnographie des administrations publiques en Afrique, de la sociologie des professions et de la socio-anthropologie du droit anglo-saxonne, cet article propose d'aborder le parcours professionnel et les pratiques des avocats de Cotonou. Sur la base d'entretiens bio…
Le « Code des femmes » ? Conflits d’héritage, dynamiques de genre et usages du droit à Cotonou
En 2004, le Bénin adopte un Code des personnes et de la famille, destiné à mettre fin au dualisme juridique en droit privé et à l’application du droit « traditionnel », jugé discriminatoire. Avec pour élément phare la notion d’égalité, le nouveau Code est souvent décrit comme le « Code des femmes » par les citoyens ordinaires et par les professionnels du droit de Cotonou. D’où vient cette réputation ? En détaillant le contexte de son adoption ain…
Writing for difference audiences
In Belgium, depending on their immigration status, foreigners may be entitled to different forms of social assistance, ranging from emergency medical care to financial benefits. In a context where residence permits are constantly updated, re-examined or withdrawn by the administration, this article explores the ways in which welfare bureaucrats deal with irregular migrants. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at welfare offices in French-speaking Bel…
Affaires d'héritage à Cotonou: Comment La Loi a Changé Les Familles1
Début 1990, le Bénin adoptait une constitution démocratique. Le pays ratifia de nombreuses conventions internationales, garantissant le respect des principes des droits de l’Homme. Une série d’évaluations et de réformes des services publics furent planifiées, visant à garantir la « bonne gouvernance » et la mise en place d’un État de droit. La justice y occupait une place centrale. Parmi les premiers textes à être adoptés, figurait le Code des pe…
The Symbolic Power of the State: Inheritance Disputes and Litigants' Judicial Trajectories in Cotonou
Over the last 10 years, scholars have started to focus on African states' bureaucracies by investigating public servants' relationships with the state, their professional ethos, how they appropriate reforms, and the way they interact with citizens. With inheritance disputes as a focal point, this article highlights the users' perspective-which is often overlooked-and asks how litigants in Cotonou(Benin) see the state, appropriate legal reforms, a…
Prendre le droit au sérieux. Pour un autre regard sur l’État, l’action publique (et le développement) en Afrique
Afin d’étudier la mise en œuvre des politiques publiques dans les pays « sous régime d’aide », les travaux apadiens analysent les pratiques des fonctionnaires et les multiples normes, officielles et officieuses, qui guident ces dernières. À la suite de ces travaux, cet article s’intéresse à la mise en œuvre des Codes de la famille à Cotonou (Bénin) et à Dakar (Sénégal). Il insiste sur la centralité du droit dans un contexte où les normes formelle…
Feminist Africa
Articulé autour d’une série d’études de cas, ce numéro spécial vise à fournir aux praticiens une série de pistes de réflexion pour défendre les droits des femmes, en documentant la manière dont, dans certaines réunions ou certaines affaires en particulier, les femmes se sont saisies du droit. Il propose également d’explorer le rapport des femmes à la loi et aux institutions judiciaires sur le continent africain ainsi que le processus de construct…
Politicised Bureaucrats: Conflicting Loyalties, Professionalism and the Law in the Making of Public Services
Over recent years, public servants from across the world, from French nurses and Belgian social workers to Beninese judges, have been protesting their governments. These protests, some even overt, have erupted in response to specific policies imposed on them or needing to be enforced by them. This Special Issue, however, delves into diverse processes, strategies, actions and practices adopted by civil servants in delivering or administering a pub…
Failing, writing, litigating: Daily practices of resistance in Belgian welfare bureaucracies
This paper builds on ethnographic fieldwork in Belgian welfare administrations to identify daily practices of resistance among Belgian ‘welfare bureaucrats’ who interrogate the new welfare and immigration law reforms that further restrict migrants’ access to social assistance. The contestation strategies are used to circumvent and sometimes break the formal and informal policy guidelines while still allowing them to perform and remain loyal to th…
Engaging with the State. Illegalized migrants, welfare institutions and the law in French-Speaking Belgium
By highlighting informal strategies and solidarities on the one hand, and protests on the other, current studies of citizenship and illegalized migration describe two main forms of political subjectivities among illegalized migrants: ‘without’ the state or ‘against’ it. In contrast, this article unpacks how migrants make use of state laws and institutions, voice expectations, and pursue their claims using official venues – in short, how they act …
The governance of vulnerable migrants: Procedure, Resources and Affect in Asylum Reception
This article explores how vulnerability is understood, appropriated and translated into procedural regulations and actual bureaucratic practices based on two case studies: 1) the reception of asylum seekers in Belgium; and 2) the reception of asylum seekers and provision of aid services in humanitarian operations in Uganda. These two cases demonstrate that ‘vulnerable groups’ and the corresponding procedural and substantial safeguards or protecti…
The making of procedural justice: Enacting the State and (Non)citizenship
Recent advances in citizenship and migration studies have demonstrated the need to explore noncitizens’ social, political and legal relationships to the state in their own right. Such a rethinking inevitably requires analysing how both ‘citizenship’ and ‘the state’ are enacted and performed in the negotiation of substantive rights. This special issue follows an unexplored path by scrutinizing these interactions between ‘citizenship’ and ‘statenes…
States of Feeling: Public Servants’ Affective and Emotional Entanglements in the Making of the State
With the affective turn, scholars pay increased attention to the emotional dimensions of everyday life. This special issue builds on this work through an explicit focus on bureaucracies to show what a more sustained attention to affects and emotions can bring to the study of the state, both as an apparatus and as an image. Contributions highlight the importance of ethnographically studying the affective relations and emotional engagements of publ…
Granting 'Human Dignity: How Emotions and Professional Ethos Make Public Services
Building on ethnographic fieldwork in Belgian welfare bureaucracies, this article explores the place of emotions in the administrative treatment of cases-particularly those involving migrants, whose welfare rights are increasingly limited. Welfare offices are responsible for granting social assistance-in the form of medical treatment, material help, or financial benefits-in order to guarantee that those residing in Belgium live in dignified condi…
Governing Migration Through Paperwork: Legitimation Practices, Exclusive Inclusion and Differentiation
To better understand migration governance and the concrete, daily practices of civil servants tasked with enforcing state laws and policies, it is important to focus on documents, which are core artefacts of bureaucratic work. These can include certificates, letters, reports, case files, decisions, internal guidelines and judgements in both digital and paper form. Based on ethnographic studies in various geographical and bureaucratic contexts, th…
Governing Migration Through Paperwork: Legitimation Practices, Exclusive Inclusion and Differentiation
Legal pluralism and the production of (un)certainty in lived migration orders
This article builds on three of Keebet von Benda-Beckmann's core concepts, namely, legal pluralism, social security and relational social theory, to reflect on the place of law in lived migration orders, both in the global north and in the global south. To do this, we build on three empirical case studies from our respective fieldsites in Germany, Belgium and the DRC. These cases illustrate how 'thinking with Keebet's work' not only offers useful…
Litigation as a Governance Strategy: Courts, Bureaucracies and the Welfare Rights of Irregular Migrants
Over the last few years, the welfare rights of illegalized migrants living in Belgium have become increasingly restricted. Without a legal residence status, such rights are limited to (conditional) access to public healthcare. Welfare courts have, however, sometimes gone against the grain and granted social assistance benefits to irregularized applicants, based on fundamental rights principles. Conflicting jurisprudential trends have emerged and …
A broken trust: Defence lawyers and the Beninese state
Over the last few years, Benin has fallen in democratic rankings, and international reports have increasingly highlighted the biased nature of its judicial institutions. This article examines lawyers’ changing relationship with the Beninese state – as a source of power and as a body of rules and institutions – through the lens of trust. Building on ethnographic fieldwork within law firms, it delves into the consequences of knowing that the state …
Trust in the state: Negotiating legal and bureaucratic encounters
Scholars have increasingly coined trust as one of the key aspects of human existence and contemporary social interactions: some see it as a form of affect, while others study the conditions under which it emerges or fades away (Weichselbraun et al. 2023). Until recently, the idea of (mis)trust had mainly been studied in connection to interpersonal relationships (Bell 2016; Carey 2017), economic transactions (Rubbers 2009) and religion (Ashforth 2…
Digital Practices of Negotiation: Social Workers at the Intersection of Migration and Social Policies in Switzerland and Belgium
Paperwork has always been a central part of bureaucratic work. Over the last few years, bureaucratic procedures have become increasingly standardised and digitalised. Based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork within welfare offices in Switzerland and Belgium, we reflect on the way evidence is constructed within social policy and cases built for or against noncitizen welfare recipients in order to show how paper truths are established and cha…
Political science (22 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Law (14 works) · Politics (11 works) · Bureaucracy (10 works) · Migration, Identity, and Health (10 works) · Migration, Refugees, and Integration (8 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Ethnography (7 works) · Law (7 works)