Small states as unusual places of refuge: Luxembourg’s laboratory of reception practices

Abstract By focusing on the small state of Luxembourg, this article contributes to the production of knowledge on non-iconic places of refuge. It aims to advance the conceptualization of unusualness in refugee reception. Our research is based on interviews and observations in eleven reception facilities. The conceptual framework combines small state studies with the literature on the reception crisis in Europe. We show that Luxembourg is not in itself an unexpected place of refuge. However, we explore the process by which Luxembourg is ‘constructed’ as unusual. We argue that, in this process, three types of actors have played a key role: refugees, practitioners, and researchers. First, in absolute terms, few refugees are reaching Luxembourg, making it an unexpected destination of refuge. Moreover, most of the refugees we interviewed did not in the first instance intend to settle there. Secondly, many practitioners working in Luxembourg’s reception system consider that the reception of refugees is characterized by its newness. This narrative of newness in part underpins the idea that Luxembourg is an unusual place of refuge. Thirdly, Luxembourg is also an unusual place of refuge from the perspective of researchers. Scholarship on refugee reception in Luxembourg is almost non-existent. Finally, our study of the reception of refugees in Luxembourg reveals an unexpected and rather unique process: the search for the ‘good’ reception facility that would produce the ‘good’ citizen. As such, Luxembourg, as a small state, can be conceptualized as a laboratory of refugee reception practices which emphasizes the productive power of small states.