This essay examines the liminal dimension experienced by migrants in the UK today. It is argued here that their liminality is not confined to specific sites, but is dispersed throughout the great variety of places where they are exploited and enslaved; that this variety includes institutional places, such as Detention Centres, and traditional tourist sites, such as bucolic landscapes and coastal resorts; that, given its pervasiveness and its importance for the national economy, the liminality of new slaveries paradoxically plays a central role, similarly to what Giorgio Agamben argues about the normative exceptionality of the concentration camp. All these points are demonstrated through an analysis of three genres and three corresponding case studies: humour (Lewycka’s novel Two Caravans), crime (Rankin’s novel Fleshmarket Close) and dystopia (Cuarón’s movie Children of Men). Finally, the Conclusion reflects on the relationship between new slaveries and certain canonical, anthropological ideas of liminality.

Shards in the landscape: The dispersed liminality of contemporary slaveries in the UK

DEANDREA, Pietro
2012-01-01

Abstract

This essay examines the liminal dimension experienced by migrants in the UK today. It is argued here that their liminality is not confined to specific sites, but is dispersed throughout the great variety of places where they are exploited and enslaved; that this variety includes institutional places, such as Detention Centres, and traditional tourist sites, such as bucolic landscapes and coastal resorts; that, given its pervasiveness and its importance for the national economy, the liminality of new slaveries paradoxically plays a central role, similarly to what Giorgio Agamben argues about the normative exceptionality of the concentration camp. All these points are demonstrated through an analysis of three genres and three corresponding case studies: humour (Lewycka’s novel Two Caravans), crime (Rankin’s novel Fleshmarket Close) and dystopia (Cuarón’s movie Children of Men). Finally, the Conclusion reflects on the relationship between new slaveries and certain canonical, anthropological ideas of liminality.
2012
Liminal Landscapes: Travel, experience and spaces in-between
Routledge
217
233
9780415668842
http://www.tandf.co.uk
slavery; UK; refugees; migrants; concentration camps; Lewycka; Rankin; Cuaron; P.D. James
P. Deandrea
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
DeandreaShards.pdf

Accesso riservato

Tipo di file: POSTPRINT (VERSIONE FINALE DELL’AUTORE)
Dimensione 261.95 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
261.95 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia
DeandreaShardsRoutledgeEditPDFC.pdf

Accesso riservato

Descrizione: PDF editoriale ad accesso riservato
Tipo di file: PDF EDITORIALE
Dimensione 943.55 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
943.55 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/103761
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact