Book Launch: Queering UK Refugee Law: Sexual Diversity and Asylum Administration

Abstract:

This event will be a book launch for Powell's monograph, Queering UK Refugee Law: Sexual Diversity and Asylum Administration. The book, written in the context of a global backlash against the rights of both migrants and LGBTIQA+ people, critically examines the experiences of LGBTIQA+ people and the legal and third sector professionals who support them within the UK asylum system.

The book is based on interviews with refugees, legal practitioners and charity workers. These interviews enable an analysis of the systemic challenges faced by LGBTIQA+ people within the asylum system. By blending empirical data and critical theory, the text highlights the contradictions between the UK's purportedly LGBTIQA+ inclusive narratives and its treatment of sexually diverse refugees, offering insights for researchers, practitioners and policy makers on the pressures facing LGBTIQA+ people within the asylum system.

In this presentation, Alex will outline the key themes and findings of the book before engaging in a discussion with Dr Raawiyah Rifath (University of Exeter).

Dr Alex Powell is Associate Professor in Law at the University of Warwick. His primary research focuses on asylum claims made on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity within the UK asylum system. More broadly, he is interested in the interactions of law with contemporary moral panics relating to topics broadly conceived as part of the "culture wars". His first monograph entitled, Queering UK Refugee Law: Sexual Diversity and Asylum administration will be published by Bristol University Press on November 25th 2025.

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Meeting ID: 387 671 154 404 12

Passcode: Ed6W32t5