Crisis & Critique

What Does the So-Called Migrant Crisis Tell Us About Crisis?  A Critical Approach to an Ubiquitous and Elusive Notion

Lecture by Didier Fassin (IAS and EHESS).

In recent years, a migrant crisis has been declared in Europe. Much has been said about what it tells us about migrants and the way we (mis)treat them. But little has been discussed about what the use of the word crisis tell us about the way in which we inhabit our world. Its ubiquity as well as its elusiveness deserve our attention. They tell us something about the imaginary of contemporary societies. One can regard it literally as a sign of our times: it signals something important about the present. Yet, we cannot take it for granted. Critique is necessary to question how certain crises come into being while other do not and what does the acknowledgment of crises authorize and legitimize.

The lecture is open to the public and organized by Interventions (Research Network on Humanitarian Politics and Culture) and CAMP (The Carceral Mobilities Project).