Paper: The Social Production of Truth of Border Crossers’ Death and Disappearance

Paper details

Paper authors Paola DIAZ-LIZE
In panel on Borders and Subjectivities: Imagination, bodies, and political experiences
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting In-Person / Online

Abstract

This paper examines practices of social production of truth in relation to extrajudicial killings, deaths, and disappearances of migrants through two different but interrelated dispositifs: forensic mechanisms (as a process of scientific investigation to make bodies speak) and registration mechanism to qualify (categorization, lists) and quantify (numbers, statistics) to account for the existence of these deaths and enforced disappearances. The paper aims to analyze how different actors have worked to "produce" the truth about migrant deaths and disappearances along international borders. The central questions posed are which techniques and methods of verification shape the production of truth, which evidence counts as a method of verification, and whether there are changes in the historical sequence of methods by which the claim to speak truth achieves success and is performative. The papers based on semi-structured interviews with actors working on these interrelated practices of verification along the border between Mexico and the United States (Tucson) and the border between Africa and Europe (Italy) including government actors, international organizations, experts, NGOs, and community activists.

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Presenters

Paola Diaz-lize
EHESS