Where ethics and politics meet

Bibliographic Data

ID2469044
AuthorsM Ticktin (0000-0002-0783-7706, University of Michigan, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume33
Issue1
Pages33-49
Publication date2006-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Ethnologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-0496 • E-ISSN: 1548-1425
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/ae.2006.33.1.33
OpenAlexW2132962863
LanguageEN
Citations received331
References cited27

I examine the role of humanitarianism and compassion in an emergent ethical configuration that makes illness a primary means by which undocumented immigrants obtain legal residency ("papers") in France. I argue that the sacred place of biological integrity in this ethical discourse leads immigrants to trade in biological integrity for political recognition. I demonstrate first how humanitarianism has been transformed into a form of politics, functioning as a transnational system of governance tied to capital and labor even while purporting to be apolitical. I focus in the second half of the article on the consequences of humanitarianism as politics, which include new biopolitical practices, unexpected diseased and disabled citizens, and a limited version of what it means to be human

Capital (architecture · Compassion · Corporate governance · Economics · Environmental ethics · Immigration · Management · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Migration, Health and Trauma · Migration, Identity, and Health · Philosophy