‘I want to own myself:’ digital bordering, migrant masculinities, and the politics of refusal

Abstract

ABSTRACT Over a period of eight years, in order to apply for asylum on mainland Greece most applicants had to first pre-register by calling the Greek Asylum Service on Skype. Due to issues of capacity and political will, the Skype calls were most frequently ignored, and applicants often continued calling without response every week for months to years in the hopes of receiving international protection, documentation, and social benefits. This paper explores the experiences of a handful of men who called on Skype with no response and decided to exit the system. In particular, it theorizes these exits as political acts of refusal that generate new possibilities of masculine self. Building upon doctoral fieldwork conducted in Athens, Greece, the paper discusses the challenges posed to masculinity by a technologized border regime that forced individuals to face digitalized alienation and erasure, considering the strategies that men employed to contest the system and safeguard their masculinities. The article contributes to refugee studies, critical studies of men and masculinities, and studies of digital bordering.