Social harms in borderised spaces: the case of Lampedusa

Abstract

As migration control has risen to the top of the political agenda in the European Union, member states’ border control practices have been attracting increasing criminological scrutiny, as shown by the growing field of crimmigration studies. Crimmigration challenges our traditional understanding of crime and punishment; however, while crime and migration control may be intertwined, they exemplify very diverse forms of state power. Criminology is thus not the most effective lens through which to understand border control practices and their social impact. In this thesis I advocate adopting a zemiological (i.e., social harm-based) approach, which pays due attention to the structural factors that generate border harms without being constricted by juridical or jurisdictional boundaries.

Critics have argued that zemiology stands on shaky ontological and epistemological grounds. In this thesis I address these objections by proposing a zemiological theory and methodology designed for the empirical study of border-related social harms, based on a critical realist view of society and Fraser’s idea of social justice. I apply this framework empirically through an ethnographic study on the impact of borderisation on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, a key point of entry for irregular migrants crossing the southern external border of the European Union. After analysing the data collected through participant observations and unstructured interviews, I find that the borderisation of Lampedusa is socially harmful to its resident community and to the island’s environment.

For instance, while the large number of law enforcement and military agents far exceeds the needs of the 6,000-strong community, authorities rarely intervene in local matters. The law is thus largely unenforced in Lampedusa, creating a permanent state of normalised illegality with increases insecurity for residents more at risk of victimisation, such as women. Insecurity is also increased by border authorities’ failure to transfer migrants to the mainland in a timely manner. North African migrants are often held on the island for months at a time awaiting repatriation, creating unease and resentment in the local community. This manifests as open hostility towards North Africans, while sub-Saharan African migrants are universally considered in need of help and protection. This racialised hierarchy of victimhood may appear to overturn colourism by being more sympathetic to those with darker skins, but also exposes a persisting victim-saviour dynamic which reproduces colonial racial stratification, and rationalises the exclusionary logic of the border.

The island’s economy and its environment are also intertwined with border control. The salience of migration news attracts tourists by keeping Lampedusa’s name in the media, although bad publicity can lead to the loss of a whole season’s income. This is a constant source of economic anxiety for the community. Furthermore, the border is highly detrimental to Lampedusa’s fishing industry, hindering operations in port and endangering fishers’ lives at sea. Once seized by authorities, migrant boats are either left to sink out at sea, left to break in the harbour, or amassed in large dumps on the island. Each option is environmentally harmful, as pollutants leak into the sea and the soil. Periodically, environmental crisis triggers an emergency tendering process for the disposal of the boats, suspending for the sake of expediency the environmental protections normally required in public bidding. Lampedusa’s perpetual state of crisis affects not only its economy, security, and environment, but also residents’ wellbeing.

Living in a borderised space has a profound psychological impact on the community, whose traumatic experiences are routinely appropriated by journalists, politicians, and researchers, with little consideration of the cumulative impact of secondary trauma. The thesis concludes by showing that the persistent state of crisis and the routinized border harms suffered by Lampedusa’s residents ensure the community’s acquiescence by silencing opposition to the border’s presence. The thesis makes original contributions to theory, methodology, and research which are exceptional in both breadth and depth.