08 January 2020
A new book that is freely-available online claims to offer the "first interdisciplinary overview" of the causes, dynamics and consequences of migration-related deaths, with eight chapters examining issues such as the collection and use of data; the process of mourning missing migrants; and the causes of border deaths.
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See: Border Deaths: Causes, Dynamics and Consequences of Migration-related Mortality (pdf), also available here (OAPEN, link):
"Border deaths are a result of dynamics involving diverse actors, and can be interpreted and represented in various ways. Critical voices from civil society (including academia) hold states responsible for making safe journeys impossible for large parts of the world population. Meanwhile, policy-makers argue that border deaths demonstrate the need for restrictive border policies. Statistics are widely (mis)used to support different readings of border deaths. However, the way data is collected, analysed, and disseminated remains largely unquestioned. Similarly, little is known about how bodies are treated, and about the different ways in which the dead - also including the missing and the unidentified - are mourned by familiars and strangers. New concepts and perspectives contribute to highlighting the political nature of border deaths and finding ways to move forward. The chapters of this collection, co-authored by researchers and practitioners, provide the first interdisciplinary overview of this contested field."
Contents
Preface: The Increasing Focus on Border Deaths by Paolo Cuttitta
Introduction: A State-of-the-Art Exposition on Border Deaths by Tamara Last
1. Various Actors: The Border Death Regime by Paolo Cuttitta, Jana Häberlein and Polly Pallister-Wilkins
2. Mortality and Border Deaths Data: Key Challenges and Ways Forward by Kate Dearden, Tamara Last and Craig Spencer
3. Representations of Border Deaths and the Making and Unmaking of Borders by Giulia Sinatti and Renske Vos
4. Engaging Bodies as Matters of Care: Counting and Accounting for Death During Migration by Amade M’charek and Julia Black
5. Mourning Missing Migrants: Ambiguous Loss and the Grief of Strangers by Giorgia Mirto, Simon Robins, Karina Horsti, Pamela J. Prickett, Deborah Ruiz Verduzco and Victor Toom
6. Enforced Disappearances and Border Deaths Along the Migrant Trail by Emilio Distretti
7. Understanding the Causes of Border Deaths: A Mapping Exercise by Kristof Gombeer, Orçun Ulusoy and Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche
8. Moving forward: Between Utopian and Dystopian Visions of Migration Politics by Huub Dijstelbloem, Carolyn Horn and Catriona Jarvis
Afterword: From the Iron Curtain to Lampedusa by Thomas Spijkerboer
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