ABSTRACT
Sanctuary Practices in Perspective examines the diverse, complex, and mutating practice of providing sanctuary to asylum-seekers. The ancient tradition of church sanctuary underwent a revival in the late 1970s. Christian churches began providing physical protection to migrants living without legal status and who were facing imminent deportation in church buildings and communities: first in the United Kingdom and then in the United States, Canada, and several other European countries. These practices arose amidst a dramatic increase in the number of asylum-seekers arriving in the West, and a corresponding escalation in national and international efforts to discourage and control their arrival through myriad threats of deportation and other means. This collection of papers by prominent US, European, and Canadian scholars is the first to place contemporary sanctuary practices in international, theoretical, and historical perspective. Moving beyond isolated case studies of sanctuary activities and movements, it reveals sanctuary as a far more complex, regional, theoretically-rich, and institutionally adaptable set of practices.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |58 pages
Sanctuary perspectives
chapter |14 pages
Sanctuary sans frontières
part |48 pages
Sanctuary movements and practices in the United States
chapter |14 pages
The voice of the voiceless
chapter |13 pages
‘I didn't know if this was sanctuary'
part |70 pages
Sanctuary movements and practices in Europe and Canada
chapter |14 pages
Holy territories and hospitality
chapter |13 pages
The rise and features of church asylum in Germany
chapter |13 pages
The emergence of the Ontario Sanctuary Coalition
part |69 pages
Emergent realms