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Bordering practices
Author(s) -
ACHTNICH MARTHE
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1111/amet.13030
Subject(s) - precarity , affect (linguistics) , context (archaeology) , corporate governance , state (computer science) , sociology , mobilities , political science , political economy , demographic economics , gender studies , business , geography , economics , social science , communication , archaeology , finance , algorithm , computer science
In Libya's context of fragmented state authority, what does it mean for sub‐Saharan migrants to be legible to state and criminal actors through their bodies rather than through the law? How do they experience and navigate precarity? Examining informal bordering practices in Libya reveals a mode of migration governance that is based less on legally restricting mobility and more on allowing uncertainty to proliferate and on exploiting migrants’ lives. In this system, certain bodies become targets for policing according to their skin color, documents, and blood tests, which can lead migrants to be extorted for money and detained. Migrants cope with such informal borderwork through affective labor. This plays a vital role in shaping their mobility decisions. By linking informal bordering practices with affect and mobilities, we can recast formal, state‐centered ideas about migration governance. [ mobility , migration , bordering practices , affect , Libya ]