ABSTRACT
This chapter moves away from criminal courts and examines the emotions at stake in the French National Asylum Court (CNDA). This administrative jurisdiction was set up to review appeals against decisions of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA), whose responsibilities included granting, refusing and withdrawing refugee status and subsidiary protection. The chapter explores the role of emotions in French proceedings and argue that 'benign' emotions felt by adjudicators help explain the success of some applicants in obtaining refugee status. It shows how judge's reliance on their own emotions serves as a technique for dispelling doubt. It bases on ethnographic research conducted at the CNDA in 2009 and 2010. The chapter deals with the political discourse and bureaucratic organization of asylum in France. The increase in the number of applications over the last few decades is often interpreted as evidence that applicants are using indirect means to obtain residence permits.
