Figures of the body in a situation of exile : the European case

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to establish dialogue between psychoanalysis, social sciences (philosophy, anthropology, sociology) and politics to analyse the way in which current migratory policies, impact on the bodies exiled peoples who seek to establish themselves in safe territories. This article will look at the ways in which the body of the exiled person is affected by the political, and how they embody the place of a subjective suffering. Different figures of the migrant subject’s body will be discussed. The data comes from varied ethnographic research conducted in France (‘Calais Jungle’, accommodation centres and administrative detention centers). Our interpretations will demonstrate how this body in the process of transit, which swings between extremes of mobility and immobility, appears damaged, wounded, or even at risk of becoming ‘human-refuse’. We will also see that it can be instrumentalised, measured, evaluated, by the institutions that receive it. This body in a state of exile wavers continuously between fragility, vulnerability and destructivity; but it can also, on occasion, show itself to be powerful and life-saving. Indeed, it harbours a surprising strength, and is capable of crossing borders and territories to which it has been forbidden entrance. Thus, it bears witness to the intensity of the human drive to live, even when put to the test of segregational migratory policies.