This project examines representations of space and borders in Austrian public discourses on asylum and in narratives of displaced persons in Vienna. The interdisciplinary study combines theoretical approaches to space, borders and boundaries, and migration studies with a critical sociolinguistic and narrative stance. It integrates various perspectives and methods: (1) media discourse analysis, (2) ethnographic study of a shelter for asylum seekers, and (3) participatory photo interviews and semi-structured interviews with residents (asylum seekers) and social workers at the institution. Preliminary results reveal the asylum seekers’ heterogeneous experiences of borders and boundaries, including geopolitical borders, complex infrastructures of border regimes during their escapes, and symbolic boundary experiences during their asylum procedures and current living conditions in Austria. As enduring experiences, boundaries affect their current lives, agency, and spatial behavior in Vienna.

Sabine Lehner studied applied linguistics at the University of Vienna, where she also worked as a research assistant and is currently writing her dissertation. She held a fellowship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences for her Ph.D. project, Representations of Space and Borders in Austrian Public Discourses on Asylum and in Narratives of Refugees. She is a co-opted advisory board member of VERBAL (the Austrian Association of Applied Linguistics) and an associated member of the Viadrina Center B/ORDERS IN MOTION of the European University Viadrina (Frankfurt/Oder). Her research interests and areas include language ideologies, discourse studies, border and boundary studies, language and space, ethnography, and multilingualism and displacement.