Abstract
Martín-Ruiz offers a critical analysis of two literary narratives about Direct Provision: ‘Shackles’ by Melatu Okorie, and ‘Grafton Street of Dublin’ by Ifedinma Dimbo. Both Okorie and Dimbo are former asylum seekers now living in Ireland. Through the literary analysis of these two short stories, the political agency of asylum seekers against the racial and racist immigration policies of the Irish Republic is examined. Martín-Ruiz focuses on certain themes which reflect crucial aspects of life in Direct Provision: the relationship of asylum seekers with their surroundings; the distorted perception of time; their enforced poverty; and a state of constant surveillance. Despite similarities between the realities represented in both stories, the outcome of each ranges from disobedience to non-compliant acceptance of sanctioned representations of ‘good’ refugees.
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Notes
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It is worth noting that the Working Group Report was commissioned as a consequence of asylum seekers’ protests against Direct Provision. This fact highlights the agency of asylum seekers, which I emphasise in this chapter. However, the participation of asylum seekers during the elaboration of the report was insufficient, highlighting the state’s view of asylum seekers as passive and voiceless. As a result, despite asylum seekers’ vocal requests to actively take part in the process, the Working Group Report proposed a series of recommendations to reform the system; yet it did not take into consideration the asylum seekers’ wish to put an end to Direct Provision. Out of the 170 recommendations in the Working Group Report, only one has been implemented in its entirety: the introduction of the single application procedure, which would shorten the period asylum seekers spend in Direct Provision while their cases are resolved. However, this measure has been heavily criticised by a number of anti-racist organisations. According to the views of these organisations, which I share, the single application procedure is nothing more than an instrument that will increase asylum seekers’ stress and the speed of their deportation orders. A second recommendation of the Working Group Report that has been partially implemented is the raising of the children’s allowance from €9.60 to €15.60, instead of the €29.80 suggested in the report.
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There is a difference between the terms ‘asylum seeker’ and ‘refugee’. Briefly, an asylum seeker is a person who, owed to a well-founded fear of persecution, has fled their country of origin and has applied for asylum in another country, but their application has not yet been concluded. A refugee is a person whose application has been successfully processed and has been granted asylum by the government.
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Ifedinma Dimbo’s first published short story, ‘Why the Chicken is Used in Sacrifice’, appears in Takinga the Wise Men and Other Stories from Around the World (2008), a collection published by SPIRASI, an association helping asylum seekers and refugees who have been victims of torture. The Irish Writers’ Exchange has published Ifedinma Dimbo’s latest writing, including her short story ‘Grafton Street of Dublin’ (2010), analysed in this chapter, and her novel She Was Foolish? (2012). Regarding Melatu Okorie, her first published short story, ‘Gathering Thoughts’, was published in the multicultural, migrant-led journal Metro Éireann in 2009. The story that I analyse in this chapter, ‘Shackles’, was published in 2010 by the Irish Writers’ Exchange. ‘If George Could Talk’, Okorie’s third published story, is included in Alms on the Highway (2011), a collection of writing by graduates from the Oscar Wilde Centre School of English in Trinity College Dublin. After an involuntary publishing hiatus, Okorie has recently seen two of her short stories published: ‘Under the Awning’ has been published in College Green (Trinity’s Postgraduate Arts and Humanities Magazine), in its winter 2016 issue. Her latest publication to date, ‘This Hostel Life’ (2017) has been published in LIT: Literary Interpretation Theory. Most of Melatu Okorie’s writing, though, remains unpublished.
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In an interview with Ifedinma Dimbo, I asked her about the depiction of one of the characters in her 2012 novel She Was Foolish? as a ‘bogus refugee’. In the novel, Osahon, the protagonist’s ex-husband, applies for asylum in Ireland with a fake story, and he exploits the Direct Provision system as much as he can while he also works illegally. Dimbo’s answer to this was categorical: ‘Asylum seekers being spongers is created by the asylum process/system itself … So what you see in Osahon was the outcome of the asylum policy and process: asylum seekers are exploiting the loopholes which they may not have had time and opportunity to explore if they come and go as quickly as is possible’ (Martín-Ruiz 2015, p. 113).
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Martín-Ruiz, S. (2018). Literature and Dissidence under Direct Provision: Melatu Okorie and Ifedinma Dimbo. In: Villar-Argáiz, P. (eds) Irishness on the Margins. New Directions in Irish and Irish American Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74567-1_13
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