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National Borders among Families: Removal and ‘Bare Life’ in India
by Salah Punathil
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Submission summary
| Authors (as registered SciPost users): | Salah Punathil |
| Submission information | |
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| Preprint Link: | scipost_202401_00012v1 (pdf) |
| Date submitted: | Jan. 13, 2024, 7:10 a.m. |
| Submitted by: | Punathil, Salah |
| Submitted to: | Migration Politics |
| Ontological classification | |
|---|---|
| Academic field: | Political Science |
| Specialties: |
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Abstract
This paper is about the state-driven process of ‘migrant ‘illegality’ (Genova 2002) and its impact on the life of migrants in the Assam state of India. While the movement of people across borders between India and present-day Bangladesh has been historical and complex, this ethnographic work explores how the state-driven process of migrant illegality and the production of ‘bare life’ have disrupted intimate relations and family life among the migrant population in Assam. While the recent NRC (National Register of Citizens) update in Assam identified 1.9 million people as illegal migrants, there has been bureaucratic enactment of ‘migrant illegality’ by Assam Border Police for the last several years. The institutional procedures, court documents and narratives of the select cases of ‘detected’ as well as ‘detained’ migrants from ethnographic fieldwork reveal how the absence of formal papers and errors in the family records, kinship relations and property inheritance among the poor migrant families transforms actual citizens to ‘illegal migrants’ in the bureaucratic manoeuvring and reduces them to their ‘bare life’. The paper also shows how prejudice, arbitrariness, and contradictions feed into the bureaucratic process and lead to intense crises among family units, as several migrant families have both Indians and alleged ‘Bangladeshis’ in their homes today. The paper argues that the major consequence of this state-driven ‘migrant illegality’ in the last two decades has been the creation of national borders among families, unsettling intimate relations and shared spaces.
Current status:
Reports on this Submission
Report #2 by Anonymous (Referee 2) on 2024-4-11 (Invited Report)
- Cite as: Anonymous, Report on arXiv:scipost_202401_00012v1, delivered 2024-04-11, doi: 10.21468/SciPost.Report.8611
Strengths
Weaknesses
Report
Requested changes
Perhaps the author can be encourage to go beyond Agamben
Report #1 by Meghna Kajla (Referee 1) on 2024-2-4 (Invited Report)
- Cite as: Meghna Kajla, Report on arXiv:scipost_202401_00012v1, delivered 2024-02-04, doi: 10.21468/SciPost.Report.8494
Strengths
Weaknesses
Report
Requested changes
The article needs to situate the Bengali speaking Muslim community in the context of illegal and legal migrants because the concept of 'migrants' in Assam has a layered history. In doing this, it can clarify the suspicion behind this community of the state and distinguish between illegal, legal migrants, and citizens. As of now, they are intermingled. Last, the changing landscape of Indian politics, i.e., the rise in Hindutva nationalism further disturbs the social fabric of Assam and creates a Hindu-Muslim rift that requires attention.