The making of racialized subjects: Practices, history, struggles

Abstract

However, the governing of migration is characterized by a multiplication of hierarchies and racialized differences among migrants themselves, and this requires bringing into the analysis the mundane administrative, legal and police practices enacted by states and non-state actors ([7]). 4 Throughout this intervention, I use "migrant" to broadly refer to individuals who have been racialized, labelled and governed in that way, and I speak about "migrants and refugees" when I am also including those subjects who are shaped and targeted by humanitarian technologies. Migrants are deemed to be nothing but (black) bodies to be saved, and the political debate on migrants' deaths has been characterized by a "race to the bottom" - that is, by disputes over whether there is a moral duty to rescue all migrants, whether it is feasible to attempt to do so, and whether or not they should be allowed to disembark in Europe ([14]). On this occasion, then, migrants were crafted neither as threats nor as subjects of pity and bodies to be rescued;instead, the Italian government shaped its narrative in medical terms: migrants' lives, the argument went, should not be put at risk and could not be protected at this time. [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Security Dialogue is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)