Ágnostoi

Greece and the forensic bordering of Fortress Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID8044598
AuthorsLaakkonen (0000-0003-0295-4724, Tampere University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume47
Issue2
Pages7-28
Publication date2023-07-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSuomen Antropologi Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0355-3930 • E-ISSN: 1799-8972
PublisherSuomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.30676/jfas.122031
OpenAlexW4385448386
LanguagePT
Citations received1
References cited52

This article explores migrant disappearances and border deaths at the Greek borderlands through the notion of forensic bordering. Based on fieldwork in the Evros region, Athens and its surroundings, and on the island of Lesvos, I argue that disappearance and non-identification in the event of death are effectively border violence by other means. Three forms of symbolic and political post-mortem border violence are then explicated: the act of disappearance, the act of non-identification, and the act of denying proper mourning. Crucially, this article unpacks the underlining logic that, if migrants from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East are not supposed to cross the border in the first place, their existence and, ultimately, their equal humanity can be similarly denied in death. If the forensic sciences are generally perceived positively as means to provide answers, closure, accountability, and truth, forensic bordering seeks to do the exact opposite, rejecting accountability and employing silence as a deterrence

Arson · Closure (psychology · Crimes against humanity · Fortress (chess · Identification · Silence · Global Security and Public Health · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Migration, Refugees, and Integration

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access