1. Ruins of Empire: Refugees, race and the postcolonial geographies of European migrant camps
- Author
-
Thom Davies and Arshad Isakjee
- Subjects
Sociology and Political Science ,Refugee ,media_common.quotation_subject ,05 social sciences ,0211 other engineering and technologies ,0507 social and economic geography ,Empire ,021107 urban & regional planning ,Gender studies ,02 engineering and technology ,Calais ,Racial politics ,Colonialism ,Racism ,Politics ,050703 geography ,Biopower ,media_common - Abstract
European refugee camps are postcolonial entities. By discussing the postcolonial nature of informal refugee camps in Europe, we highlight how race, othering, and empire continue to underpin the logics of contemporary border politics. Reflecting on research in the Calais migrant encampment, nicknamed the ‘jungle’, we suggest that the invocation of biopolitics, bare life, and citizenship - at the expense of postcolonial thinking - may inadvertently diminish the role that racism plays in constructing the camp. An excavation of the ideological and material linkages that tie colonial histories with contemporary border governance is key to understanding Europe’s shifting constellation of camps, and the racial politics that underpins them. Drawing on necropolitical theory and dovetailing with recent calls within geography to forward postcolonial approaches, we call on critical geographers and migration scholars to incorporate the legacies of imperialism in their analysis of the ongoing ‘refugee crisis’.
- Published
- 2019