Tracing Asylum Hope: An Ethnographic Account of the Social Dimensions of Hope Across Migration Trajectories

Building on an ethnographic approach, this article aims to explore how the social dimensions of hope shape and relate to the migration trajectories of people seeking asylum in Sweden. Departing from the concept of asylum hope, a fragile form of hope that persists under conditions of oppression and uncertainty, the study examines how everyday interactions shape and transform it. Using Randall Collins’ theory of interaction rituals, the analysis shows how emotional energy generated in encounters influences hope. Based on interviews and observations with 43 participants, the study further demonstrates that hope is not an individual psychological state of mind but a socially negotiated and embodied process formed in relation to migration authorities, bureaucratic routines, and informal networks. Asylum hope emerges as fluid and dynamic, influencing the trajectory of migration journeys while being continuously reshaped by administrative and emotional experiences. The article also highlights how administrative violence is enacted through mundane practices that intertwine bureaucratic power with everyday social life. These encounters reveal that migration governance is socially embedded, operating through rituals that can suppress or enable agency, recognition, and solidarity. By foregrounding the emotional and relational dimensions of bureaucratic processes, the study challenges the idea that state power functions solely through law and policy. Understanding asylum hope as socially and emotionally situated allows for a deeper grasp of how migrants navigate precarious futures within the entangled structures of governance, affect, and everyday life.