Governing through deportation
Gouverner par l’expulsion
Historical and anthropological perspectives on expulsion and migration policies
Perspectives historiques et anthropologiques sur les politiques de renvoi des étrangers
Published on Thursday, March 24, 2016
Abstract
This workshop will concentrate on the role of return policies for undocumented foreigners in the development of migration policies at the national, European and international levels. The contemporary uses of expulsion should be apprehended as part of a wide spectrum of policies and practices of return and/or forced displacement of individuals or groups. These policies have contributed to the definition of citizenship and the demarcation of prerogatives associated with the exercise of political sovereignty.
Announcement
Argument
This workshop will concentrate on the role of return policies for undocumented foreigners in the development of migration policies at the national, European and international levels. Sweden, Finland, Netherlands and other European countries have recently announced the organization of mass deportation campaigns of failed asylum seekers, thus illustrating the central role of returning irregular migrants in the process of building a European migration policy. In this workshop, we will discuss the historical construction of these policies within a global framework focused on the regularity of stay and on the promotion of return for undocumented foreigners (Koch, 2014). The contemporary uses of expulsion should be apprehended as part of a wide spectrum of policies and practices of return and/or forced displacement of individuals or groups (Keddar, 1996). These policies have contributed to the definition of citizenship and the demarcation of prerogatives associated with the exercise of political sovereignty (Kanstroom, 2007). A historical perspective on the issue of expulsion will be useful to shed light on the current norms, discourses and practices of deportation that are contributing to make it one of the most critical political issue today.
Main themes
We welcome proposals within one the three following themes:
1. Deportation, asylum and migration policy : historical perspectives
How can we analyze the emergence of a progressive connection between expulsion, asylum and migration policies? Expulsion was in fact part of the process of managing foreign populations, in relation to the nationalization of borders and the policing of foreigners that began in the 19th century (Noiriel, 1991). The progressive institutionalization of an asylum regime after the Geneva Convention (1951) following the waves of expulsion in the interwar period, the crimes of the 2nd World War and the moral outcry they provoked (Davies, McCauley, Martin, 2001), the issue of displaced people in Europe after 1945 and the beginning of the Cold War did not prevent the subsequent emergence of policies aimed at expelling any person considered to have no right to asylum. Thus the "international police of aliens" (Walters, 2002) and the "deportation turn" (Gibney, 2008) appear to go hand in hand with the decline in the admission of foreigners under asylum law and the growing importance of a distinction between refugees and so-called ‘economic migrants’, from the 1970s onwards. Return policies indiscriminately target potential asylum seekers directly at the border, rejected asylum seekers, or undocumented migrants, which are all categories of people emanating from asylum and migration laws. We will examine how the expulsion of those with no right to asylum and/or without papers has been the object of a process of increasing legislation and normalization.
2. Contemporary expulsion regimes
The ‘Directive on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third country nationals’, adopted in 2008 by the European Parliament, gave a central place to ‘return’. In this context, ‘return’ has to be understood as a category produced by public policies, in the definition of a European migration policy based on reinforced controls of external borders and on the detention of ‘illegal’ aliens and/or their expulsion. Practices of expulsion need to be examined in more detail: funding, the use of coercion, the organization of individual and collective expulsions. Relatively new international issues are also at stake. ‘Third countries’ have been enrolled in the policing of migration through the conditionality of development aid on bilateral and community agreements for the readmission of undocumented foreigners and on police cooperation (Mezzadra, Neilson, 2003): how is this creating new forms of political hegemony? The constitution of a "deportation regime" (De Genova, Peutz, 2010) means that expulsion may appear as a technique of government, at the European and international level, and as such has to be studied in its plurality. The connection between the transfer of asylum seekers within the framework of the Dublin regulation, the relocation of refugees according to the possibility of their reception in European countries and frequent eviction of migrants’ camps such as the Calais ‘Jungle’, Vintimille, Idomeni, should be reflected upon. The purpose of expulsion and dispersion of migrants is not necessarily their direct return to their countries of origin, but to disorganize them and prevent their arrival. The creation of hotspots in Italy and Greece for the screening of asylum seekers directly upon their arrival in Europe, coupled with the Council of the European Union’s announcement of wider expulsion campaigns for sending back rejected asylum seekers, illustrate the priority given to these selection and expulsion processes.
3. Looking at post-expulsion
We welcome proposals on the management of expulsion in the countries of origin of migrants, or those through which they ‘transit’. With the implementation of the ‘Global approach to migration and mobility’ promoted by the EU and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), these countries have an increased importance in policies of migration control. Proposals might cover the positions taken by the various agencies (intergovernmental, European, national, NGOs, migrants' associations) involved in aid measures for migrants: ‘migrant housing’, ‘homes for returning migrants’, the financing of projects to generate funds, transit centers run by the IOM. They might also examine other policies resulting from this: attempts to settle migrants through ‘reinsertion programmes’, awareness-raising programmes to discourage people from setting out etc. Finally, we will also look at more recent issues related to deportation policies, such as claims for the rights of expelled migrants (Kanstroom, 2012), strategies for re-emigration and the emergence of post-expulsion mobilization. We particularly welcome proposals on the different forms of agency and of resistance developed by self-organized expelled migrants in an often-dramatic context of civic and social destitution (Fekete, 2006).
Scientific coordination
- Karen Akoka (Université Paris-Ouest Nanterre, ISP),
- Nora El Qadim (Paris 8),
- Clara Lecadet (IIAC-LAUM, CNRS-EHESS),
- Giulia Scaletarris (University of Lille II-CERAPS), Louise Tassin (URMIS, Paris 7), Jill Alpes (VU Amsterdam), Hélène Thiollet (CNRS, CERI)
Submission guidelines
Send proposals to: conference.expulsions.2016@gmail.com and clara.lecadet@wanadoo.fr
Calendar
- Deadline for proposals (one page maximum): April 25th, 2016
- Response: May 2nd, 2016
- Final papers: June 15th, 2016
- The Workshop will take place on the 27-28 June 2016 at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Unfortunately, we will not be able to fund travel costs for participants.
References
- DAVIES N., McCAULEY M., MARTIN M. (2001) Deportations. In I. Dear & M. R. D. Foot (eds.), The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- DE GENOVA, N. and PEUTZ, N. (eds) (2010), The deportation regime. Sovereignty, space, and the freedom of movement, Durham & London, Duke University Press.
- FEKETE L. (2006), The deportation machine: Europe, asylum and human rights, European Race Bulletin, n°51.
- GIBNEY, M. J. (2008) Asylum and the expansion of deportation in the United Kingdom. Government and Opposition 43(2), 146–167
- KANSTROOM D. (2007), Deportation Nation, Outsiders in American History. Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press
- KEDAR M. (1996), “Expulsion as an issue of world history”, Journal of World History 7(2), 165–180
- MEZZADRA, S., NEILSON, B (2003), ‘Né qui, né altrove: migration, detention, desertion. A dialogue’, Borderlands e-journal, 2 (1)
- NOIRIEL, G. (1991), Réfugiés et sans-papiers. La République face au droit d’asile XIXe-XXe, Paris, Calmann-Lévy
- WALTERS W. (2002), “Deportation, expulsion, and the international police of aliens”, Citizenship Studies, 6(3), 256–292.
Subjects
- Europe (Main category)
- Society > Geography > Migration, immigration, minorities
- Society > Ethnology, anthropology
- Society > History
- Society > Political studies
Places
- Amphithéâtre F. Furet - 105 boulevard Raspail
Paris, France (75006)
Date(s)
- Monday, April 25, 2016
Attached files
Keywords
- migration, expulsion, retour, asile, migrants, réfugié, sans-papier
Contact(s)
- Clara Lecadet
courriel : clara [dot] lecadet [at] wanadoo [dot] fr
Information source
- Clara Lecadet
courriel : clara [dot] lecadet [at] wanadoo [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Governing through deportation », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Thursday, March 24, 2016, https://doi.org/10.58079/uo6
