Death as the border: Managing missing migrants and unidentified bodies at the EU's Mediterranean frontier

Kovras, Iosif; Robins, Simon

doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2016.05.003

Cited by 89 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…He was described as feeling 'compelled to give those who died on the journey a proper Muslim funeral', and the clip involves images of improvised graves while the interviewee describes the anonymity of those who are buried. 10 Indeed, in their authoritative study of burial and identification in Lesvos, Kovras and Robins (2016) show the failures of authorities to identify the bodies and the speed with which bodies are buried in terms that work against their future identification. The identification of the deceased varies across different sites, but usually includes broad reference to the age and the region that a person originates from, and does not involve DNA identification procedures (Zagaria, 2011;Kovras and Robins, 2016).…”

Section: Tolerating Biophysical Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, humanitarian groups highlight the need for proper identification procedures. This is seen as particularly important in order that the family members of those who have died can be informed of the plight of their missing (Robins et al, 2014(Robins et al, , 2015Kovras and Robins, 2016). There are also contestations over the ways in which migrants and citizens are differentiated in death through burial practices (see Bieberstein and Evren, 2016;Délano Alonso and Nienass, 2016;Zagaria, 2011).…”

Section: Dignity In Death?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Governing migration through death in Europe and the US: Identification, burial and the crisis of modern humanism

Squire

2016

European Journal of International Relations

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Border deaths have become an established feature of contemporary migratory politics in both Europe and the US. This article examines similarities and differences in practices of 'governing migration through death' across the US-Mexico (Sonoran) and in the EU-North African (Mediterranean) contexts. Instead of taking a conventional comparative analysis of two distinct sites, the article draws on critical scholarship in the field of border studies in order to examine biopolitical, thanatopolitical and necropolitical dynamics of bordering that cross contexts. It argues that these operations of power converge in both European and US bordering practices, specifically through a form of biophysical violence that operates directly on the biological functions of migrating bodies. The article suggests that the establishment of this violence represents a crisis of modern humanism, which becomes implicated in the toleration of such violence through processes of denial, displacement, rejection and compensation. By focusing in particular on the ways that the treatment of the dead functions as a means of compensating for (yet not redressing) biophysical violence, the article highlights the deficiencies of contemporary practices of identification and burial, and raises questions about the limitations of contestations that emphasise dignity only to perpetuate a hierarchy of 'worthy' and 'unworthy' lives. In so doing, the article concludes by suggesting that contemporary 'migration crises' are better understood in terms of the crisis of modern humanism, grounded in Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian traditions, which can no longer deny its implication in practices of governing migration through death.

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Section: Tolerating Biophysical Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dignity In Death?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Governing migration through death in Europe and the US: Identification, burial and the crisis of modern humanism

Squire

2016

European Journal of International Relations

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“…Missing persons' cases, unidentified human remains, and mass disasters are problems encountered worldwide [1][2][3]. An overwhelming number of migrants and refugees have died or gone missing due to their efforts to cross borders or seas [4][5][6] or through human trafficking [7][8][9]. Routinely when identifying human remains in missing persons' cases, skeletal remains (bone, teeth) are the only samples available for DNA analysis [10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Utility of the Ion S5™ and MiSeq FGx™ sequencing platforms to characterize challenging human remains

et al. 2019

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This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

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“…Families and friends are affected by the deaths and disappearances of their relatives (Kovras and Robins 2016) and can also play a role in making incidents of border deaths public (see Chapters 5 and 6). For example, shipwrecks without survivors might remain unreported if the relatives do not announce the disappearance of their loved ones.…”

Section: Migrants' Relatives and Friendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Border Deaths

Sinatti¹,

Vos²

2019

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This book is an outcome of the conference, Border deaths and migration policies: state and non-state approaches, that took place at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam on 14-15 June 2018 and involved over 100 participants, many of whom went on to (co-)author the chapters herein. The conference was organised by Thomas Spijkerboer and Paolo Cuttitta as part of the research project, Border Policies and Sovereignty. Human rights and the right to life of irregular migrants, hosted by the Amsterdam Centre

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Death as the border: Managing missing migrants and unidentified bodies at the EU's Mediterranean frontier

Cited by 89 publications

References 16 publications

Governing migration through death in Europe and the US: Identification, burial and the crisis of modern humanism

Governing migration through death in Europe and the US: Identification, burial and the crisis of modern humanism

Utility of the Ion S5™ and MiSeq FGx™ sequencing platforms to characterize challenging human remains

Border Deaths

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