What’s the matter with M? : One young asylum seeker’s fall from grace, in Sweden between 2015 - 2022

Abstract: M arrived in Sweden as a hopeful and aspiring adolescent minor in 2015. By 2022, he instead finds himself living on the streets as a drug addict, homeless, with his residency permit rejected and his asylum application declined. This thesis analyzes his situation through a theory of Performativity and Affect, foremost leaning on Judith Butler, Lauren Berlant, and Sara Ahmed. It scrutinizes the role of the imagined Refugee Figure that M came to represent. It is produced through a set of interviews while following Lee Ann Fujii’s method of Relational Interviewing. While the role for M is being outlawed to the exterior of Global Politics, without the ability to appear, he is consequently never valued as a matter of consideration. May other routes have been possible? The Refugee Figure is here contrasted to alternative figurative identities, such as the builder or even the desperado, that more naturally are associated with an ability to act and to be seen. Ultimately, the thesis reads precarious mobility as an expression of political will, agency, and a voice with one’s feet.