Refugees in the 'sick role': stereotyping refugees and eroding refugee rights

In this paper, the author explores how refugees are being constructed as depoliticised subjects within a health paradigm and how the medicalised representation of refugees’ interests is ultimately detrimental for defending refugee rights both within Britain and internationally. The paper is informed by the powerful insights of the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who has written some of the most compelling passages on the refugee predicament, and the sociologist Talcott Parsons’ concept of the sick role.