An ethnography of practices, power, ideas and contestations in the Schengen Area
By Tobias Eule, Lisa Marie Borrelli and Annika Lindberg
When: Thursday 9 May, 15h to 17h
Where: Roeterseilandcampus, room B1.03
This talk is based on the collaborative ethnography Migrants Before the Law (Palgrave 2019), which examines the contested implementation of law on migrants with a precarious legal status in the Schengen Area. By examining three key themes - practices, ideas and contestations - we will show how order is produced and sustained not in spite of but through the disorderly, informal character of migration control practices, which enhances rather than diminishes the power of an evasive yet omnipresent ‘state’. Based on our ethnographic material and with reference to the incomplete harmonisation of migration policy in Europe, we will discuss the usefulness of the concept ‘migration regime’ for migration research and theory. Furthermore, we will argue for the analytical benefits of bringing approaches from sociolegal studies and political anthropology into the study of migration. After having discussed the implications of our findings for our understanding of power, politics, and for the possibilities of resistance, we conclude with suggestions for future research that can help demystify and challenge the power of a Kafkaesque state, within and beyond the field of migration control. The meeting will be chaired by Barak Kalir.
Contact person: Dr. Silvia Aru, s.aru@uva.nl
Further information on the speakers: https://aissr.uva.nl/content/events/events/2019/05/beyond-the-border-before-the-law.html