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«Προσφυγικό: Μια γνωστική πρόκληση» [‘The refugee issue: A cognitive challenge’]. Σύγχρονα Θέματα [Synchrona Themata] 138-139: 17-21, 2017.

  • October 2017
Authors:
Evthymios Papataxiarchis at University of the Aegean
Evthymios Papataxiarchis
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 


 



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


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

 
ST_138.indd 4 01/02/2018 15:27
  


     
   
  

    
    



   
    
  



  
    
   

    
     
      

  
    

  
     
      
 
     
   
     



     
   


    
     
 


   

    

  
     
   

      

   



   
 

 
    

    
 
    
    


    
    
 
  
      
  


     
     
  
    
    
   
   
  

 


    

    
   


ευθυΜΙοΣ πάπάτάξΙάρΧηΣ

1

      

      
   
  

  
      
     
    
   





    


  
 

    

 
     
   




 

  
    

    
   
     
     
    
 
  
    

 

     
   
     
   






ST_138.indd 17 01/02/2018 15:27
  

   
 
    
    
     
     
    


 
    
    
2
    
     
     
    

    
    
     

     
    
  
     
    



   
   
     
    
  




  
  

    
     
   
     
     
   
    
    

 
      
     
 


 

  

    
 
     
    


    
    
 
 
     
    

 
    


    
    
    

 



    
  
 
  

     

   



   
    
   
    
    
  
     
   
    


   

     
     

    
   
    
    


      
  
    
      
  
     

     
      

       
 
    
   
     
   

   
      
   
     
   
   
   
 
   



    
   

   
     
    
     
 
  
 
   

    
     


   

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
   
      
  


     



 
     




   

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    
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  
 
ST_138.indd 18 01/02/2018 15:27
  
    
 

    
   
  

     
    

    
      


   
  
    
    
   
  
    
  



    
      
    
   

  

    
     
   
  
    
   
    
     
 

    
     

  
    


  
    
   
     
     
   

      
     
    
     
    

 
 


 
 

    
    


   
     
    
 
     
    
     
 
  

  
    
 

    
   
   

    
  
     
    
 
   
    
    
   



 
 

    
 

  
    
     
   
     
    

    

 




     

     

    
  
 
 
  

   
   

    
    
    
    
   

  
    
    
  
   

    
    
    
   


    
  
 
 
     


    
    
     
     
     
   
    


     
    
 
      
   
    
 
   

     
    
    
      
 


   
    
   
    
  



     
 
  
ST_138.indd 19 01/02/2018 15:27
  
    
     

    
 

 
      
     





   



     

       
     

 



    
      

 
 



   

    
 

 

    

     
   
    


    




    
    

   
 
 
 
 


    

    
 
 


     
    
 
 
     
    

      
     
 

     
   
     
  
     
   
     
    
   
    
 
    


   
     
     
   
     

      

    

    
   
  
  
   
 
    
  



    
     
   
      


   





   

 
     
   
  
   

 
 
 
 



      


     
    
     
   
    

    


   

   

    
   


    



   
    

    
    
    
     


  
 



    



     

 
        
   

  
     
 

ST_138.indd 20 01/02/2018 15:27
  


  

 
    
    

    
    
      
   

  
       
     
  
   


    
   
   
 

     
    
  
      




    
  


   



      
 
   
     
    
     
    
   
   





      
   


  


   
 
  
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

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    

  
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
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

   
   
   





   
    
 
  



     
   




   



     
 
   

  




    

     
    

    


      
     
     



    








   


 
     



   
    
 
 
 
    
    


   
  
  
 
 
    
    

   





    
  
  

    

    
    
    
    

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    
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       
    
      

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ST_138.indd 21 01/02/2018 15:27
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Refugees, migrants, neither, both: categorical fetishism and the politics of bounding in Europe’s ‘migration crisis’
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2017
The use of the categories ‘refugee’ and ‘migrant’ to differentiate between those on the move and the legitimacy, or otherwise, of their claims to international protection has featured strongly during Europe’s ‘migration crisis’ and has been used to justify policies of exclusion and containment. Drawing on interviews with 215 people who crossed the Mediterranean to Greece in 2015, our paper challenges this ‘categorical fetishism’, arguing that the dominant categories fail to capture adequately the complex relationship between political, social and economic drivers of migration or their shifting significance for individuals over time and space. As such it builds upon a substantial body of academic literature demonstrating a disjuncture between conceptual and policy categories and the lived experiences of those on the move. However, the paper is also critical of efforts to foreground or privilege ‘refugees’ over ‘migrants’ arguing that this reinforces rather than challenges the dichotomy’s faulty foundations. Rather those concerned about the use of categories to marginalise and exclude should explicitly engage with the politics of bounding, that is to say, the process by which categories are constructed, the purpose they serve and their consequences, in order to denaturalise their use as a mechanism to distinguish, divide and discriminate.
"Refugee Voices": Tragedy, Ghosts, and the Anthropology of Not Knowing
Article
Full-text available
This article considers the parallels between ethnographic work and refugee advocacy to show how these knowledge forms seek and yet fail to represent “refugee voices.” The predicaments of refugees in Greece have recently captured the attention of the world owing to Greece’s crucial position in the 2015 “European refugee crisis,” but Greece has long been on the frontlines of refugee reception in the EU. Based on ethnographic research conducted between 2005 and 2013, I analyze the ethnographic logics attached to European advocacy projects surrounding refugees in Greece. I explore their use of tragic tropes, and I argue that ethnographers employ similar tactics to carve out space for marginalized voices. I argue that the representational practices of ethnography and advocacy alike are haunted by various “ghosts”: traces of silenced subjects who index both the limits and possibilities of representation. I argue, ultimately, for a humbling of the ethnographer: for a careful consideration of the power of not knowing in our work, and for recognition of the overlaps between ethnographic knowledge and dominant formations of power.
Humanitarian Rescue/Sovereign Capture and the Policing of Possible Responses to Violent Borders
Article
  • Feb 2017
Practices of rescue and assistance based on humanitarian concerns for life have increasingly come to shape both state and non-state action that responds to the mobility of people on the move at the borders of Europe. These processes of rescue are presented as counter to processes of border control concerned with preventing and policing migratory flows. Presented and articulated as an alternative response to the increasingly restrictive and militarised practices that make-up ‘Fortress Europe’, this humanitarian intervention concerned with saving lives both masks the violence of the border that renders people vulnerable in the first instance and masks the intimate relationship practices of rescue have with processes of capture more traditionally associated with border policing. The ascendancy of rescue as the primary response to irregular mobility also works to police the boundaries of what is considered ethical politics and the possible responses that result. Rescue does this through framing such events as unforeseen tragedies, erasing the structures of the violent border in the process and rendering counter-narratives mute.
Clandestine migration and the business of bordering Europe
Thesis
  • Oct 2012
Irregular, clandestine or so-called “illegal” migration by land and sea is rarely out of the political and media agenda in Europe despite its statistically limited significance. Taking this mismatch as its starting point, this thesis explores the industry that has emerged around clandestine migration in recent years – the transnational policing networks, aid organisations and media outlets that all make the “illegal immigrant” their target, beneficiary and source. It focuses on the migration circuit between West Africa and Spain, where a joint European response to irregular flows was first tried and tested under the umbrella of the border agency Frontex. It is also here that success in “fighting illegal migration” has been most readily announced following the brief, spectacular migration “crises” in Spain’s North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in 2005 and in the Canary Islands in 2006. The thesis explores ethnographically how clandestine migration has been constituted as a field of intervention and knowledge-gathering since this time. In this field, it is argued, the roles of policing, caring for and informing on migrants intermingle while producing shared models, materialities and classifications that impinge upon the travellers labelled “illegal”. Drawing on the dynamic nominalism of Ian Hacking, the actor-network theory of Bruno Latour and a growing body of critical migration and border studies, the thesis explores the interfaces where specific modalities of migrant illegality are produced. The exploration of these interfaces – in deportation, surveillance, patrolling, rescues, reception and activism – relies on an extended field site, with research carried out in Senegal, Mali, Morocco, southern Spain and European policing headquarters. Throughout, the thesis highlights not just the workings of the migration industry but this industry’s excesses and absurdities, which make the business of bordering Europe a fraught and contradictory enterprise.
Being ‘there’: At the front line of the ‘European refugee crisis’ - part 2
Article
In the course of 2015, Skala Sykamnias, a fishing village and tourist idyll on the northern coast of Lesbos, by accident of its geographical location, became the informal gate into Europe for more than 200.000 refugees. In this article the author analyzes the massive flows of people and things that transverse his fieldwork site from different directions: the great diversity of actors enacting what are often dissonant ideals and strategies; the various theatres of operation and reception 'structures'; both frontline and back stage; and the debates that revolve around humanitarian action in the region. The local community is falling apart whilst to those incoming it represents a gateway to freedom. It is becoming a mini theatre of conflicts that echo wider debates on the political future of Europe.
ανθρωπιστική πόλη": Άτυπες εκπαιδευτικές πρακτικές και διακυβέρνηση του "προσφυγικού" μετά το
  • Jan 2016
  • 74-89
  • Έυθύμιος Παπαταξιάρχης
  • Στην
έυθύμιος Παπαταξιάρχης, «ασκήσεις συμβίωσης στην "ανθρωπιστική πόλη": Άτυπες εκπαιδευτικές πρακτικές και διακυβέρνηση του "προσφυγικού" μετά το 2016», Σύγχρονα Θέματα 137 (2017), σ. 74-89.
  • Jan 2016
  • 336-341
  • Rogier Van Reekum
Rogier van Reekum, «The Mediterranean: Migration Corridor, Border Spectacle, Ethical Landscape», Mediterranean Politics 21/2 (2016), σ. 336-341.
The Smuggler: Hero or Felon? Migration Policy Centre, EUI, Φλωρεντία
  • Jan 2015
  • Luigi Achilli
Luigi Achilli, The Smuggler: Hero or Felon? Migration Policy Centre, EUI, Φλωρεντία 2015.