From January 2018 until late July of the same year, I had an opportunity to participate in the Human Rights and Migration Law Clinic (hereafter HRMLC or ’the Clinic’) in Torino, where I got a chance to experience working with the asylum seekers, interviewing them, writing their Legal Memo as well as preparing them for the hearing in front of the Territorial Commission (Italian First Board Commissions). An important aspect of the Clinic in question is the fact that it is conducted in cooperation with the Department of Anthropology and it involves anthropology students in the work with the asylum seekers. From the very beginning, it was apparent to me why they have opted for the involvement of anthropologists. I was surprised to see how much anthropological training in recognizing and being aware of Eurocentric (or any other kind of) presuppositions can be useful in recognizing and understanding cultural misunderstandings that happen on a daily basis in the asylum claiming process, as it is now in Italy. Even so, the idea for this paper became clear to me only when I attended the first meeting anthropology students had with their supervisor, Professor Beneduce. The feedback students gave to their professor and in turn, his observations made me inspired to write the paper that is before you.
