The suffering of illegalized migrants and refugees travelling through irregular routes towards the European Union has amply circulated in media and humanitarian representations in the last years. What often has been lacking is a conceptualization of such suffering as the result of politically manufactured forms of border violence. In an attempt at exploring this apparent contradiction, this thesis investigates manifestations of border violence across different sites at the borders of the European Union. In order to do so, it draws on the testimonies of illegalized migrants who have travelled either through the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, the Central Mediterranean Sea via Libya, or the Balkan route. This work looks at the connections among different forms of border violence taking place in different border localities and explores the role and functions of such violence within the current European border regime. Building on the rich literature in critical migration and border studies and, to a lesser extent, on postcolonial theory, the thesis also looks at how processes of de-humanization of migrants racialized as ‘non-white’ play a role in violence at the border. Given that the brutality of borders has become a fundamental aspect of our times, this work takes up the task of investigating not only different manifestations of border violence but also the logics and rationales that underpin it. It argues that different combinations of border violence are found in different border localities, and this involves the mobilization not only of human agents, but also of uncertain and anxiety-ridden temporalities, extreme weather conditions and natural forces and daunting and undecipherable bureaucratic procedures for border control purposes. Migrants and refugees en route deploy an array of individual and collective counter-tactics to resist, circumvent and contest border violence. Drawing on field observations and in-depth interviews with research participants, I describe some of these forms of individual and collective border struggles that are employed both in transit and beyond the geopolitical line. I also argue that border violence has both a symbolic function, and operational purposes, and contributes to the reproduction of the structural violence of the contemporary European border regime. The thesis also underscores that the contemporary de-humanization of migrant bodies racialized as ‘non-white’ is part of longer historical trajectories that have their roots in the European colonial past.

Borders, violence and migrant subjectivities: a multi-sited study across the European Union.

Marconi, Valentina
2022

Abstract

The suffering of illegalized migrants and refugees travelling through irregular routes towards the European Union has amply circulated in media and humanitarian representations in the last years. What often has been lacking is a conceptualization of such suffering as the result of politically manufactured forms of border violence. In an attempt at exploring this apparent contradiction, this thesis investigates manifestations of border violence across different sites at the borders of the European Union. In order to do so, it draws on the testimonies of illegalized migrants who have travelled either through the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, the Central Mediterranean Sea via Libya, or the Balkan route. This work looks at the connections among different forms of border violence taking place in different border localities and explores the role and functions of such violence within the current European border regime. Building on the rich literature in critical migration and border studies and, to a lesser extent, on postcolonial theory, the thesis also looks at how processes of de-humanization of migrants racialized as ‘non-white’ play a role in violence at the border. Given that the brutality of borders has become a fundamental aspect of our times, this work takes up the task of investigating not only different manifestations of border violence but also the logics and rationales that underpin it. It argues that different combinations of border violence are found in different border localities, and this involves the mobilization not only of human agents, but also of uncertain and anxiety-ridden temporalities, extreme weather conditions and natural forces and daunting and undecipherable bureaucratic procedures for border control purposes. Migrants and refugees en route deploy an array of individual and collective counter-tactics to resist, circumvent and contest border violence. Drawing on field observations and in-depth interviews with research participants, I describe some of these forms of individual and collective border struggles that are employed both in transit and beyond the geopolitical line. I also argue that border violence has both a symbolic function, and operational purposes, and contributes to the reproduction of the structural violence of the contemporary European border regime. The thesis also underscores that the contemporary de-humanization of migrant bodies racialized as ‘non-white’ is part of longer historical trajectories that have their roots in the European colonial past.
2022
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11576/2701890
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