Conference by Carolina Kobelinsky
Violence partout, justice nulle part! Premier numéro de Monde commun, une revue d'anthropologie p... more Violence partout, justice nulle part! Premier numéro de Monde commun, une revue d'anthropologie publique.
Rencontre et débat autour de ce premier numéro avec les anthropologues Chowra Makaremi et Michel Agier, l’historien Patrick Boucheron et le rédacteur en chef de la revue Regards Pierre Jacquemain, animée par Jean-Marie Durand, rédacteur adjoint aux Inrocks.
Jeudi 13 septembre à 19h au Hasard ludique (128 av de Saint-Ouen, 75020 Paris)
Papers by Carolina Kobelinsky
RAC- Rivista di antropologia contemporanea, 2020
At the border between Melilla and Morocco, death is ubiquitous, even though, unlike at sea border... more At the border between Melilla and Morocco, death is ubiquitous, even though, unlike at sea borders, few attempts have been made to count the number of deaths and few bodies have been found near the fences separating the EU from Africa. Many stories are told about near death experiences while border-crossing, as well as about abandoned bodies. Other common narratives focus on the living dead, on the missing presumed dead, on unidentified bodies, and on the living who continue to be haunted by the dead or the disappeared. These entities, or border beings, constantly negotiate the relationship between presence and absence, visibility and invisibility. In this paper I will examine the modes of existence the living attribute to two of these entities: the disappeared and the ghosts, in order to explore the impact that border deaths have on life.
https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.48272/100392
(2020): Border beings. Present absences among migrants in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, Death S... more (2020): Border beings. Present absences among migrants in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, Death Studies 44(11): 709-717. To link to this article: https://doi. Abstract: Death is a constant feature of lives lived at the borders for migrants trying to reach Europe without the necessary authorizations from nation-states. At the border between Melilla and Morocco, many stories are told about near death experiences during attempts to cross both land and maritime borders, as well as about abandoned bodies. Other common narratives focus on the living dead, on the missing presumed dead, on unidentified bodies, and on the living who continue to be haunted by the disappeared. Drawing on ethnographic material, this paper examines the ways in which migrants' journeys and subjectivities are shaped by death on the migrant trail to Europe.
For almost 30 years, migrants have been dying at the European borders but the issue has only beco... more For almost 30 years, migrants have been dying at the European borders but the issue has only become widely publicised since the shipwrecks on the Lampedusa Coast in October 2013. 1 Numerous studies have shown that these deaths are a direct effect of hardline securitisation policies and techniques of migration control. 2 We will not dwell here on this form of European sovereignty, expressed in the power to expose people to the risk of death and, incidentally, to allow people to continue living despite being unwanted. We will not talk either about the impact that these deaths have on border-crossers life. We will rather focus on a grassroots initiative intended to contribute to the identification of dead bodies.
On a sunny Tuesday afternoon in May 2015, two young women walking by a lighthouse
in Melilla, a S... more On a sunny Tuesday afternoon in May 2015, two young women walking by a lighthouse
in Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the northern shores of Morocco’s Mediterranean
coast, found the lifeless body of a young man. As the police quickly soon confirmed,
the boy had died while trying to jump on a ferry that would take him “to the real
Europe” (i.e., the Iberian Peninsula). Using ethnography, this article aims at mapping
the afterlives of this dead young man, in their multiple dimensions. It traces the body’s
trajectory through the judicial system and bureaucratic registration; it investigates
attempts made by various agencies at identifying the corpse and carrying it to its
final destination; finally, it analyzes the efforts made to pay him tribute. By tracing the
dead boy’s itinerary, this article sheds light on the conflictual interactions between
different actors (state and municipal institutions, civil society groups, and migrants
themselves) involved in the treatment of deaths at the borders.
Several ways of seeing and dealing with the bodies of migrants who die at the borders of Europe a... more Several ways of seeing and dealing with the bodies of migrants who die at the borders of Europe are in tension. The discovery of a body immediately gives rise to a search for the deceased’s identity. To that end, activists, migrants and the inhabitants of border areas join forces to gather information permitting the body to be given a name and help the deceased find a place among his loved ones (family and peers). For there is no specific official protocol for restoring names and identities to those who die at the EU borders. The present article examines the ways in which travelling companions take care of the dead and the missing at the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Using ethnography, I consider the death of a young Malian man and the way in which it was handled. Throughout, I draw upon the notion of the trace as a tool to help one grasp the various aspects of this undertaking.
In Melilla, Spanish enclave in the Mediterranean, on the African continent, migrants tell numerou... more In Melilla, Spanish enclave in the Mediterranean, on the African continent, migrants tell numerous stories about death during border crossing. The discovery of men, women and children drowned, dehydrated, asphyxiated at the border has become a daily reality. Unlike maritime borders, few dead are counted and few bodies are found around Melilla. However, death is a specter that accompanies the experience of all the people I met in the enclave and its surroundings. This spectral omnipresence is a form of violence that appears in stories about lived experiences, and in the rumors that circulate on both sides of the border. I will examine here the form and the content of these narratives.
(2016) Plein droit 109: 6-9
El número XVII de Anales está dedicado a la antropología de las migraciones. Las migraciones han ... more El número XVII de Anales está dedicado a la antropología de las migraciones. Las migraciones han formado parte de la historia de la humanidad desde sus orígenes. Migramos por motivos económicos-laborales, por necesidades familiares, por ser objeto de persecuciones por cuestiones religiosas, políticas o de género…, pero siempre está presente en todos nosotros el deseo de lograr una vida mejor. La revista reúne varios artículos de gran diversidad temática, comenzando por un repaso a los estudios antropológicos sobre migración en México, siguiendo con el transnacionalismo aplicado a una comunidad kichwa cercana a Quito, la religión de los migrantes ecuatorianos, la perspectiva de género en el caso de las mujeres marroquíes, el análisis de las opiniones sobre la población china en España, el proceso de la espera de los solicitantes de asilo político en Francia, y acabando con una reflexión sobre el papel que puede jugar un museo en la recopilación de documentación ligada a la emigración de su Comunidad Autónoma.
Publié dans : La Vie des idées, le 17 décembre 2015.
Some legal scholars have asserted that rigid notions of homosexual identity shape adjudicators’ a... more Some legal scholars have asserted that rigid notions of homosexual identity shape adjudicators’ approach when evaluating asylum claims based on sexual orientation.
Recent ethnographic research at the French Court of Asylum, in charge of reviewing appeals on decisions from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, shows indeed that adjudication is based on particular gender
stereotypes. However, my analysis centers on an unexplored but related issue: the relationship between the problems raised by adjudicators when facing what they call “intimacy cases”: the administration of proof and stereotyped performances. Through ethnographic data drawn from encounters with adjudicators and asylum seekers at the French Court of Asylum; through interviews with judges, rapporteurs (reporters), interpreters, and lawyers; and by examining 60 court rulings, I argue that sexual orientation-based cases crystallize the importance of intimacy in the politics of asylum, helping to seize the new shapes of the refugee as well as the growing difficulties for judges in relying on material evidence.
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Conference by Carolina Kobelinsky
Rencontre et débat autour de ce premier numéro avec les anthropologues Chowra Makaremi et Michel Agier, l’historien Patrick Boucheron et le rédacteur en chef de la revue Regards Pierre Jacquemain, animée par Jean-Marie Durand, rédacteur adjoint aux Inrocks.
Jeudi 13 septembre à 19h au Hasard ludique (128 av de Saint-Ouen, 75020 Paris)
Papers by Carolina Kobelinsky
https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.48272/100392
in Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the northern shores of Morocco’s Mediterranean
coast, found the lifeless body of a young man. As the police quickly soon confirmed,
the boy had died while trying to jump on a ferry that would take him “to the real
Europe” (i.e., the Iberian Peninsula). Using ethnography, this article aims at mapping
the afterlives of this dead young man, in their multiple dimensions. It traces the body’s
trajectory through the judicial system and bureaucratic registration; it investigates
attempts made by various agencies at identifying the corpse and carrying it to its
final destination; finally, it analyzes the efforts made to pay him tribute. By tracing the
dead boy’s itinerary, this article sheds light on the conflictual interactions between
different actors (state and municipal institutions, civil society groups, and migrants
themselves) involved in the treatment of deaths at the borders.
Recent ethnographic research at the French Court of Asylum, in charge of reviewing appeals on decisions from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, shows indeed that adjudication is based on particular gender
stereotypes. However, my analysis centers on an unexplored but related issue: the relationship between the problems raised by adjudicators when facing what they call “intimacy cases”: the administration of proof and stereotyped performances. Through ethnographic data drawn from encounters with adjudicators and asylum seekers at the French Court of Asylum; through interviews with judges, rapporteurs (reporters), interpreters, and lawyers; and by examining 60 court rulings, I argue that sexual orientation-based cases crystallize the importance of intimacy in the politics of asylum, helping to seize the new shapes of the refugee as well as the growing difficulties for judges in relying on material evidence.
Rencontre et débat autour de ce premier numéro avec les anthropologues Chowra Makaremi et Michel Agier, l’historien Patrick Boucheron et le rédacteur en chef de la revue Regards Pierre Jacquemain, animée par Jean-Marie Durand, rédacteur adjoint aux Inrocks.
Jeudi 13 septembre à 19h au Hasard ludique (128 av de Saint-Ouen, 75020 Paris)
https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.48272/100392
in Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the northern shores of Morocco’s Mediterranean
coast, found the lifeless body of a young man. As the police quickly soon confirmed,
the boy had died while trying to jump on a ferry that would take him “to the real
Europe” (i.e., the Iberian Peninsula). Using ethnography, this article aims at mapping
the afterlives of this dead young man, in their multiple dimensions. It traces the body’s
trajectory through the judicial system and bureaucratic registration; it investigates
attempts made by various agencies at identifying the corpse and carrying it to its
final destination; finally, it analyzes the efforts made to pay him tribute. By tracing the
dead boy’s itinerary, this article sheds light on the conflictual interactions between
different actors (state and municipal institutions, civil society groups, and migrants
themselves) involved in the treatment of deaths at the borders.
Recent ethnographic research at the French Court of Asylum, in charge of reviewing appeals on decisions from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, shows indeed that adjudication is based on particular gender
stereotypes. However, my analysis centers on an unexplored but related issue: the relationship between the problems raised by adjudicators when facing what they call “intimacy cases”: the administration of proof and stereotyped performances. Through ethnographic data drawn from encounters with adjudicators and asylum seekers at the French Court of Asylum; through interviews with judges, rapporteurs (reporters), interpreters, and lawyers; and by examining 60 court rulings, I argue that sexual orientation-based cases crystallize the importance of intimacy in the politics of asylum, helping to seize the new shapes of the refugee as well as the growing difficulties for judges in relying on material evidence.
dans les pratiques de justice locale, fondées sur des principes d’indépendance et d’équité. Nous appuyant sur une enquête par observation et entretien conduite pendant dix-huit mois,
nous analysons les recommandations des rapporteurs et les décisions des formations de jugement. Nous montrons qu’au-delà de la diversité de leur profil sociologique les rapporteurs se
distinguent peu dans leurs avis, tandis que, sous l’effet des logiques institutionnelles, les différences entre les formations de jugement se corrigent. La tension qui s’instaure ainsi entre les idéaux et les normes de la protection asilaire, d’une part, l’injonction des politiques et la routine des pratiques, d’autre part, se résout dans le sentiment que le principe de l’asile est d’autant mieux défendu que l’accès en est restreint.
Les auteurs de cet ouvrage – anthropologues, sociologues, historiens, politistes – proposent une série d’études empiriques qui apportent de nouvelles données sur une réalité difficile d’accès. Leurs enquêtes s’interrogent sur les enjeux politiques du confinement, mais aussi sur son traitement institutionnel et ses modalités concrètes dans les pays européens. Elles proposent une réflexion sur la réalité de nos pratiques migratoires en partant des nouveaux espaces qu’elle crée et de la situation vécue par ceux qui y transitent.
Cette constellation de zones, de centres, de structures d’hébergement sont des nœuds dans des trajets d’exil de plus en plus compliqués et ambigus. Le quotidien de l’attente, de la détention et de l’expulsion des étrangers doit en effet être resitué plus largement dans des itinéraires et les expériences de vie qui sont le plus souvent méconnus, parce que ceux qui les font restent tenus à distance. Au-delà de l’enfermement, les dispositifs de gestion orchestrent une expérience de relégation – hors d’une communauté – et d’emprise intime de l’État – sur des non-citoyens – en engageant de nouveaux modes d’être. Quelles conditions d’existence ces nouvelles façons de gouverner produisent-elles dans le contexte global dans lequel nous vivons ? Comment se repose la question de l’identité, de l’identification et des valeurs ? Quelles sont les marges de manœuvre, les stratégies de contournement et les possibilités de résistance ?
Il s’agit d’investir le lieu où se formule le débat et où se construisent les consensus sur le « contrôle migratoire » en cherchant à y imposer les données du problème telles que nous les observons en situation."
A partir d’une démarche ethnographique, j’aborde ici la gestion des corps de migrants retrouvés dans les îles Canaries, sur les côtes andalouses et à Melilla. Il s’agit d’examiner les pratiques des institutions et des agents qui se mobilisent – officiellement ou de façon informelle – afin d’identifier les corps, les rapatrier et/ou leur rendre hommage.
Application deadline: 9 April 2016
The Forum Transregionale Studien, the Max Weber Stiftung, the Centre Marc Bloch and the Institute for Mediterranean Studies (Greece) invite postdoctoral researchers to participate in our transregional academy in Rethymno (Crete) on the theme “De-Framing the Mediterranean from the 21st Century: Places, Routes, Actors”.
Recent developments ― revolutions and crises, new social movements, migrants and refugees, interventions and border regimes, civil wars and authoritarian restorations― have transformed the Mediterranean into a zone of fragmentation and disaster. Perceptions of the Mediterranean have long been shaped by European perspectives. The Mediterranean has been seen as an idyllic space of civilization, of exchange and mobility, a view related to re-translations of the Roman mare nostrum; to those nostalgic visions of nineteenth and early twentieth-century colonial cosmopolitanism; and to modern practices of tourism and food consumption. Other discourses, also mainly shaped in Europe, consider the Mediterranean to be a zone of long-lasting conflicts extending from the Phoenicians to Arab expansion in the seventh century and from the Crusades to contemporary demographic and social disparities. In view of newly emergent political and strategic challenges, current European approaches to the Mediterranean have increasingly focused on issues of (dis)order and security. However, Europe itself has become part of a more global Mediterranean space that extends far beyond its shores.
Deadline: 18 juin 2017