Producing memory. Narratives of suffering in the asylum experience.

When someone applies for asylum in Italy, he or she is supposed to compose a personal story – referred to literally as his or her ‘memory’ [memoria] – and to present it in front of a commission. There is a coral work on the assembly of someone’s memory: memories are recounted orally, translated, reported, reconstructed and evaluated. This article focuses on the duality of memory production within the asylum procedure, analyzing the work of legal operators in relation to the act of remembering traumatic events. The former is based on the legal procedures for the recognition of international protection, while the latter is deeply related to the asylum seeker who is required to remember, demonstrate and perform memories, especially traumatic ones. On the one hand, memory represents the key to accessing social rights and thereby promotes the practice of citizenship. On the other hand, memory can be part of a victimisation process that reinforces the refugee label.