04/06/2024 – Book Launch: Border Harms and Everyday Violence

Book Launch: Border Harms and Everyday Violence
June 4th 2024, 3-4.30pm online

Evgenia Iliadou in discussion with Steve Tombs, Francesca Soliman, Imeni Al Amouri (chair) and Victoria Canning

Focused on the Greek island of Lesvos as the epicentre of the refugee crisis, the book Border Harms and Everyday Violence. A Prison island in Europe, examines the issue of border harms, everyday violence, abandonment, and human degradation faced by border crossers on Lesvos island. The book exposes how contemporary border-related harms, border policies and practices are linked to much longer genealogies of border violence towards people seeking sanctuary to the region. Contrary to viewing border crossings and related suffering and deaths as isolated incidents or crises, the book argues that they are outcomes of political decisions, actions, and inactions across time and space. Thus, the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ is portrayed as part of a continuum of border harms across time and space.

During the book launch, we will explore the themes illuminated in the book and discuss the broader implications of the EU border regime and deterrence policies, addressing crucial questions about the normalisation of social harm experienced by border crossers. Furthermore, we aim to foster a dialogue on the collective, global responsibility for safeguarding border crossers’ human rights and understanding the refugee crisis as part of a continuum of border harms across time and space. Drawing from zemiology, critical migration and border studies, and social anthropology, our discussion will critically examine the cumulative dimension of border harms, emphasising the coercive and damaging nature of incidents that often fall outside the conventional definitions of violence and crime.

For more information and registration, click here.