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Sanctuary and Asylum: A Social and Political History
The practice of sanctuary―giving refuge to the threatened, vulnerable stranger―may be universal among humans. From primate populations to ancient religious traditions to the modern legal institution of asylum, anthropologist Linda Rabben explores the long history of sanctuary and analyzes modern asylum policies in North America, Europe, and elsewhere, contrasting them with the role that courageous individuals and organizations have played in offering refuge to survivors of torture, persecution, and discrimination. Rabben gives close attention to the mid-2010s refugee crisis in Europe and to Central Americans seeking asylum in the United States.
This wide-ranging, timely, and carefully documented account draws on Rabben's experiences as a human rights advocate as well as her training as an anthropologist. Sanctuary and Asylum will help citizens, professionals, and policy makers take informed and compassionate action.
This wide-ranging, timely, and carefully documented account draws on Rabben's experiences as a human rights advocate as well as her training as an anthropologist. Sanctuary and Asylum will help citizens, professionals, and policy makers take informed and compassionate action.
- GenresImmigrationHistory
352 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 20, 2021
This book really packs a punch, wow.
I read this primarily as research for my Bachelor's thesis but, since this is a topic I am passionate about, it was also a very enjoyable read. I definitely learned a lot .
Rabben covers a topic, the history of asylum, in such a diverse and in-depth manner, it was honestly pretty mind boggling. She brought in aspects that I had never even considered before in my research on forced migration, such as the use of sanctuary and asylum during the Under Ground Rail Road. Although I had to skim or skip over some chapters just for times sake and just reading the main parts relevant to my research, there was so much information in these 300 pages, I came out thinking I need to add about 10 more chapters to my own thesis just to even come close to what Rabben wrote about. Unfortunately, that isn't an option - maybe for a future project.
Regardless, I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the topic of asylum, enjoys historical perspectives, and wants to learn about the subject in an comprehensive and diverse manner (really, she talked about cultures, countries, tribes, etc. that I have not come across in my research of the same topic in any manner). I'm definitely going to come back in the future and read those chapters I had to neglect. 10/10 read, truly.
I read this primarily as research for my Bachelor's thesis but, since this is a topic I am passionate about, it was also a very enjoyable read. I definitely learned a lot .
Rabben covers a topic, the history of asylum, in such a diverse and in-depth manner, it was honestly pretty mind boggling. She brought in aspects that I had never even considered before in my research on forced migration, such as the use of sanctuary and asylum during the Under Ground Rail Road. Although I had to skim or skip over some chapters just for times sake and just reading the main parts relevant to my research, there was so much information in these 300 pages, I came out thinking I need to add about 10 more chapters to my own thesis just to even come close to what Rabben wrote about. Unfortunately, that isn't an option - maybe for a future project.
Regardless, I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the topic of asylum, enjoys historical perspectives, and wants to learn about the subject in an comprehensive and diverse manner (really, she talked about cultures, countries, tribes, etc. that I have not come across in my research of the same topic in any manner). I'm definitely going to come back in the future and read those chapters I had to neglect. 10/10 read, truly.
February 13, 2026
“ The new Colossus
Not like the brazen and giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs as stride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, Sunset gates, shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Clows worldwide welcome; her mild eyes command
Th air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
‘Keep, ancient land, your storied pomp!’ cries she
With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
- Emma Lazarus, 1883
“I was a stranger and you took me in.”
- Matthew 25:35
Anthropologist and biologist acknowledge we have in common with other species, a tendency to act altruistically. The great primatologist Frans de Waal observes, ‘ eating others at a cost or risk to oneself is widespread in the Animal world.’ like other primates humans extent help not only to their biological kin, but also to unrelated individual show groups….de Waal links with reciprocal altruism among primates to the evolution of morality…
giving asylum or sanctuary may be seen as one of the basic manifestations of altruistic behavior and human morality.
The word asylum comes from the Ancient Greek asylos, ‘inviolable.’
Margaret Mead observed…’in a primitive community, sanctuary and hospitality were so intertwined that it was difficult to distinguish between them.’
In the late seventh century, the Council of Toledo declared excommunication as the penalty for violating sanctuary.
It should be kept in mind that modern asylum came into formal existence as a universal right of states to grant, not of individuals to receive. In contrast sanctuary, a religious institution in Europe, asylum was and is a secular and political institution, a part of the modern international system of sovereign states.
Cunningham….called his actions ‘civil initiative’ rather than ‘civil disobedience.’
As a result of the restrictive Schengen agreement of 1985 and the Dublin convention of 1990, asylum-seekers became ‘refugees it in orbit’. And the more asylum seekers were excluded. The more illegal immigration and human smuggling increased. (p176)
“ Ellis Island… opened an 1892, and it’s detention facilities when notoriously bad. Between 1892 and 1930 some 3000 detaining commit committed suicide there. (p 197)
‘
Nowhere it is written that the forces of humanity and tolerance will triumph; but that is scarcely a reason to cease the struggle.’
- Jeremy Seabrook, “The Refuge and the Fortress”
Attended a short course led by the author; she acknowledges that the data in the current edition as it is needs updating though there is some questions regarding the validity of any data coming out of the current administration-if they even allow data; they wouldn’t approve a representative of the department to come and provide a presentation to us…
I knew more than the average person on the street about the US immigration and visa system, but this book provides an unflinching look at the asylum and refugee situation in the US, and, importantly, global. For me, having thought England more progressive in such matters compared to the US, probably owing to William Wilberforce, was rudely awakened as to how racist England can be - though I should have been more aware, knowing that I’d read racist and xenophobic rants from a well known rock god-guitarist
PS the photo on the front cover isn’t from some recent/current event-the guess in class was that it was taken recently in the Mediterranean-but revealed by the author to be from the boat people from the mid-1970
. . . . .
From class notes:
Migration Glossary
Asylum: From the Greek asylos, “inviolable.” A secular legal institution created in the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648. Asylum traditionally was the right of a sovereign state to admit people fleeing to another country from persecution in their own country. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), asylum became the right of everyone “to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution” (Article 14). However, the UDHR and other international agreements do not establish a right to gain asylum or a government’s obligation to provide it.
Asylum Seeker: A person who seeks refuge or protection in another country on his or her own initiative. Under US and international law, an asylum seeker is considered a legal entrant, even if he or she does not have a passport, visa or prior permission to enter. An asylee has gained legal refugee status in the receiving country.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): A program granting temporary legal status and relief from deportation to persons brought as children to the United States without authorization. The status must be applied for, is valid for two years and is renewable for individuals without a felony or serious misdemeanor record. It does not lead to citizenship. Pres. Obama instituted the program in 2012.
Immigrant: An individual who arrives in a foreign country, usually with authorization, and seeks to settle permanently there. An emigrant is a person who leaves the home country.
Migrant: An individual who moves from one place to another, with or without authorization, usually but not always temporarily or seasonally.
“The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants” (BBC 2016).
This definition is meant to be a neutral umbrella term—unlike “illegal immigrant” or “economic immigrant,” which opponents of migration use to characterize migrants who are thought to be misrepresenting themselves as refugees or trying to enter a country without authorization. In US law there is no such thing as an “illegal immigrant.”
Non-refoulement: prohibition of return of an asylum seeker or other migrant to a country where he or she may be persecuted.
Overstayer: A person who, having entered the United States with a valid visa, does not leave or change status when the visa expires.
Refugee: A person or group that cannot remain safely in the home country and flees to another country, “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” (Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 1). The host country admits refugees as legal residents on a temporary or permanent basis. (See the Refugee Convention, 1951, and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1966, for a detailed description of the legal category of refugee under international law.) A person or group applies for refugee status from outside the host country
Sanctuary: From the Latin word sanctuarium, a sacred or consecrated place. A predominantly religious institution in many cultures, in which an individual or group offers hospitality, refuge, protection or other assistance to a member or members of another society, with or without conditions or limitations. Sanctuary has no validity under US law.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS): Legal status given to eligible nationals of designated countries who are present in the United States. Nationals from some countries affected by armed conflict or natural disaster are allowed to live and work in the United States for limited times. TPS is renewable or rescindable by order of the president and does not lead to citizenship.
Linda Rabben
From David French: A Very Dangerous Ruling in New Orleans (NY Times Feb. 12, 2026)
“On Friday, however, the stakes were clear. Two judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a ruling that, if allowed to stand, could result in the indefinite detention of millions of immigrants in inhumane, overcrowded facilities scattered across the United States
“Even worse, these indefinite detentions are in civil proceedings, not criminal, meaning that the people under lock and key are not serving prison sentences for criminal offenses. It’s as if we’re throwing people into overcrowded jails for the legal equivalent of failing to pay a credit-card bill or losing a lawsuit — immigration detention as the new debtors’ prison
Not like the brazen and giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs as stride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, Sunset gates, shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Clows worldwide welcome; her mild eyes command
Th air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
‘Keep, ancient land, your storied pomp!’ cries she
With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
- Emma Lazarus, 1883
“I was a stranger and you took me in.”
- Matthew 25:35
Anthropologist and biologist acknowledge we have in common with other species, a tendency to act altruistically. The great primatologist Frans de Waal observes, ‘ eating others at a cost or risk to oneself is widespread in the Animal world.’ like other primates humans extent help not only to their biological kin, but also to unrelated individual show groups….de Waal links with reciprocal altruism among primates to the evolution of morality…
giving asylum or sanctuary may be seen as one of the basic manifestations of altruistic behavior and human morality.
The word asylum comes from the Ancient Greek asylos, ‘inviolable.’
Margaret Mead observed…’in a primitive community, sanctuary and hospitality were so intertwined that it was difficult to distinguish between them.’
In the late seventh century, the Council of Toledo declared excommunication as the penalty for violating sanctuary.
It should be kept in mind that modern asylum came into formal existence as a universal right of states to grant, not of individuals to receive. In contrast sanctuary, a religious institution in Europe, asylum was and is a secular and political institution, a part of the modern international system of sovereign states.
Cunningham….called his actions ‘civil initiative’ rather than ‘civil disobedience.’
As a result of the restrictive Schengen agreement of 1985 and the Dublin convention of 1990, asylum-seekers became ‘refugees it in orbit’. And the more asylum seekers were excluded. The more illegal immigration and human smuggling increased. (p176)
“ Ellis Island… opened an 1892, and it’s detention facilities when notoriously bad. Between 1892 and 1930 some 3000 detaining commit committed suicide there. (p 197)
‘
Nowhere it is written that the forces of humanity and tolerance will triumph; but that is scarcely a reason to cease the struggle.’
- Jeremy Seabrook, “The Refuge and the Fortress”
Attended a short course led by the author; she acknowledges that the data in the current edition as it is needs updating though there is some questions regarding the validity of any data coming out of the current administration-if they even allow data; they wouldn’t approve a representative of the department to come and provide a presentation to us…
I knew more than the average person on the street about the US immigration and visa system, but this book provides an unflinching look at the asylum and refugee situation in the US, and, importantly, global. For me, having thought England more progressive in such matters compared to the US, probably owing to William Wilberforce, was rudely awakened as to how racist England can be - though I should have been more aware, knowing that I’d read racist and xenophobic rants from a well known rock god-guitarist
PS the photo on the front cover isn’t from some recent/current event-the guess in class was that it was taken recently in the Mediterranean-but revealed by the author to be from the boat people from the mid-1970
. . . . .
From class notes:
Migration Glossary
Asylum: From the Greek asylos, “inviolable.” A secular legal institution created in the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648. Asylum traditionally was the right of a sovereign state to admit people fleeing to another country from persecution in their own country. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), asylum became the right of everyone “to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution” (Article 14). However, the UDHR and other international agreements do not establish a right to gain asylum or a government’s obligation to provide it.
Asylum Seeker: A person who seeks refuge or protection in another country on his or her own initiative. Under US and international law, an asylum seeker is considered a legal entrant, even if he or she does not have a passport, visa or prior permission to enter. An asylee has gained legal refugee status in the receiving country.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): A program granting temporary legal status and relief from deportation to persons brought as children to the United States without authorization. The status must be applied for, is valid for two years and is renewable for individuals without a felony or serious misdemeanor record. It does not lead to citizenship. Pres. Obama instituted the program in 2012.
Immigrant: An individual who arrives in a foreign country, usually with authorization, and seeks to settle permanently there. An emigrant is a person who leaves the home country.
Migrant: An individual who moves from one place to another, with or without authorization, usually but not always temporarily or seasonally.
“The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants” (BBC 2016).
This definition is meant to be a neutral umbrella term—unlike “illegal immigrant” or “economic immigrant,” which opponents of migration use to characterize migrants who are thought to be misrepresenting themselves as refugees or trying to enter a country without authorization. In US law there is no such thing as an “illegal immigrant.”
Non-refoulement: prohibition of return of an asylum seeker or other migrant to a country where he or she may be persecuted.
Overstayer: A person who, having entered the United States with a valid visa, does not leave or change status when the visa expires.
Refugee: A person or group that cannot remain safely in the home country and flees to another country, “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” (Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 1). The host country admits refugees as legal residents on a temporary or permanent basis. (See the Refugee Convention, 1951, and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1966, for a detailed description of the legal category of refugee under international law.) A person or group applies for refugee status from outside the host country
Sanctuary: From the Latin word sanctuarium, a sacred or consecrated place. A predominantly religious institution in many cultures, in which an individual or group offers hospitality, refuge, protection or other assistance to a member or members of another society, with or without conditions or limitations. Sanctuary has no validity under US law.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS): Legal status given to eligible nationals of designated countries who are present in the United States. Nationals from some countries affected by armed conflict or natural disaster are allowed to live and work in the United States for limited times. TPS is renewable or rescindable by order of the president and does not lead to citizenship.
Linda Rabben
From David French: A Very Dangerous Ruling in New Orleans (NY Times Feb. 12, 2026)
“On Friday, however, the stakes were clear. Two judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a ruling that, if allowed to stand, could result in the indefinite detention of millions of immigrants in inhumane, overcrowded facilities scattered across the United States
“Even worse, these indefinite detentions are in civil proceedings, not criminal, meaning that the people under lock and key are not serving prison sentences for criminal offenses. It’s as if we’re throwing people into overcrowded jails for the legal equivalent of failing to pay a credit-card bill or losing a lawsuit — immigration detention as the new debtors’ prison
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May 1, 2017342.083 R113 2016
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