'But that’s what I’m saying' : experiential versus institutional truth in guardian-minor interactions
- Author
- Lotte Remue (UGent) , Floor Verhaeghe (UGent) , Ilse Derluyn (UGent) and Katrijn Maryns (UGent)
- Organization
- Project
- Abstract
- Asylum interviews have come to resemble credibility inquiries into applicants’ stories. Their narratives are scrutinised and held against bureaucratic standards of ‘truth’. To meet these standards, applicants for international protection require support in uncovering and reorienting their lived stories into factual accounts. Although this support is typically provided by legal professionals, unaccompanied refugee minors may receive additional guidance from their guardians, who receive no specific training to this end and instead rely on personal experience to prepare the asylum interview. To gain a better understanding of how such an ‘intuitive’ approach to uncovering the asylum narrative may impact disclosure and trust, this paper examines the case of an unaccompanied minor preparing the asylum interview with his guardian. Through interactional analysis of transcribed, audio-recorded data, the article explores the dynamics of truth negotiation, and discusses how mutual understanding is hampered at (1) a semantic, (2) a chronotope (time/space), and (3) a normative level. These three levels of non-understanding affect both the minor’s narrative rights and the relationship of trust with his guardian. Finally, this paper argues that multiple truths (experiential & factual) can co-exist, and discusses the merits of chronotopes as a narrative strategy to reconcile such different perspectives of reality.
- Steeds meer lijkt het asielverhoor op een geloofwaardigheidsonderzoek. Verhalen worden kritisch onder de loep genomen en getoetst aan bureaucratische ‘waarheidscriteria’. Om aan deze normen te voldoen, hebben verzoekers om internationale bescherming ondersteuning nodig bij het heroriënteren van hun doorleefde verhalen naar feitelijke uiteenzettingen. Hoewel dit soort hulp normaal verzorgd wordt door advocaten, kunnen niet-begeleide minderjarigen vaak rekenen op extra ondersteuning van hun voogd, die hier echter geen specifieke opleiding over genoot en zich baseert op eerdere ervaringen met het asielinterview. Om beter te begrijpen hoe zo’n ‘intuïtieve’ voorbereiding een invloed kan hebben op de narratieve expressie en de vertrouwensrelatie met de voogd, onderzoekt deze paper de case van een niet-begeleide minderjarige die het asielinterview voorbereidt met zijn voogd. Aan de hand van interactionele analyse van getranscribeerde audiodata, bestudeert dit artikel dynamieken van ‘waarheidsonderhandeling’ en bespreekt het hoe wederzijds begrip bemoeilijkt wordt op een (1) semantisch, (2), chronotopisch (tijd/plaats), en (3) normatief niveau. Die drie niveaus van non-begrip beïnvloeden zowel de narratieve rechten van de minderjarige als de vertrouwensrelatie met zijn voogd. Ten slotte stelt deze paper dat verschillende versies van de waarheid naast elkaar kunnen bestaan, en dat chronotopen als narratieve strategie kunnen bijdragen aan het verzoenen van zulke tegenstrijdige perspectieven.
- Keywords
- asylum interview, guardianship, meaning negotiation, narrative, truth-finding, unaccompanied refugee minors, ASYLUM, MEMORY, STORY
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01JVY162S9PENPVFRHCB76S226
- MLA
- Remue, Lotte, et al. “’But That’s What I’m Saying’ : Experiential versus Institutional Truth in Guardian-Minor Interactions.” MULTILINGUA-JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL AND INTERLANGUAGE COMMUNICATION, vol. 44, no. 5, 2025, pp. 569–94, doi:10.1515/multi-2024-0242.
- APA
- Remue, L., Verhaeghe, F., Derluyn, I., & Maryns, K. (2025). ’But that’s what I’m saying’ : experiential versus institutional truth in guardian-minor interactions. MULTILINGUA-JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL AND INTERLANGUAGE COMMUNICATION, 44(5), 569–594. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2024-0242
- Chicago author-date
- Remue, Lotte, Floor Verhaeghe, Ilse Derluyn, and Katrijn Maryns. 2025. “’But That’s What I’m Saying’ : Experiential versus Institutional Truth in Guardian-Minor Interactions.” MULTILINGUA-JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL AND INTERLANGUAGE COMMUNICATION 44 (5): 569–94. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2024-0242.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Remue, Lotte, Floor Verhaeghe, Ilse Derluyn, and Katrijn Maryns. 2025. “’But That’s What I’m Saying’ : Experiential versus Institutional Truth in Guardian-Minor Interactions.” MULTILINGUA-JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL AND INTERLANGUAGE COMMUNICATION 44 (5): 569–594. doi:10.1515/multi-2024-0242.
- Vancouver
- 1.Remue L, Verhaeghe F, Derluyn I, Maryns K. ’But that’s what I’m saying’ : experiential versus institutional truth in guardian-minor interactions. MULTILINGUA-JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL AND INTERLANGUAGE COMMUNICATION. 2025;44(5):569–94.
- IEEE
- [1]L. Remue, F. Verhaeghe, I. Derluyn, and K. Maryns, “’But that’s what I’m saying’ : experiential versus institutional truth in guardian-minor interactions,” MULTILINGUA-JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL AND INTERLANGUAGE COMMUNICATION, vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 569–594, 2025.
@article{01JVY162S9PENPVFRHCB76S226,
abstract = {{Asylum interviews have come to resemble credibility inquiries into applicants’ stories. Their narratives are scrutinised and held against bureaucratic standards of ‘truth’. To meet these standards, applicants for international protection require support in uncovering and reorienting their lived stories into factual accounts. Although this support is typically provided by legal professionals, unaccompanied refugee minors may receive additional guidance from their guardians, who receive no specific training to this end and instead rely on personal experience to prepare the asylum interview. To gain a better understanding of how such an ‘intuitive’ approach to uncovering the asylum narrative may impact disclosure and trust, this paper examines the case of an unaccompanied minor preparing the asylum interview with his guardian. Through interactional analysis of transcribed, audio-recorded data, the article explores the dynamics of truth negotiation, and discusses how mutual understanding is hampered at (1) a semantic, (2) a chronotope (time/space), and (3) a normative level. These three levels of non-understanding affect both the minor’s narrative rights and the relationship of trust with his guardian. Finally, this paper argues that multiple truths (experiential & factual) can co-exist, and discusses the merits of chronotopes as a narrative strategy to reconcile such different perspectives of reality.}},
author = {{Remue, Lotte and Verhaeghe, Floor and Derluyn, Ilse and Maryns, Katrijn}},
issn = {{0167-8507}},
journal = {{MULTILINGUA-JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL AND INTERLANGUAGE COMMUNICATION}},
keywords = {{asylum interview,guardianship,meaning negotiation,narrative,truth-finding,unaccompanied refugee minors,ASYLUM,MEMORY,STORY}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{5}},
pages = {{569--594}},
title = {{'But that’s what I’m saying' : experiential versus institutional truth in guardian-minor interactions}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2024-0242}},
volume = {{44}},
year = {{2025}},
}
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