Under pressure: moods, affects and the violence of everyday life in a Spanish migrant detention centre

Perl, Gerhild (2024): Under pressure: moods, affects and the violence of everyday life in a Spanish migrant detention centre. In: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 51, No. 4: pp. 1058-1074

Abstract

What does it mean when the future of one’s life is exposed to the inscrutable will of an intangible other? And what are the possibilities of still asserting oneself when pushed to the limit? Nuancing the feelings of different actors in a detention centre and analysing how everyday moods, affects and violence intertwine, I explore how the randomly cruel and often-inexplicable logic of the contemporary deportation regime pushes migrants to their limits. Taking as my starting point the argument that deportation practices are effective because they operate on an affective level, I show how affective experiences manifest themselves bodily and how violent practices and discourses reverberate in bodies. I argue that ‘bodies under pressure’ are testimonies of racialised histories of exclusion, and I show how they become calls for social recognition. Exploring small, often-unintended acts of rebellion against exhausting deportation practices, I stress the existential necessity and social importance of including oneself in the realm of meaning.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Cultural Studies > Department of Ancient and Modern Cultures > Ethnology
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology; 300 Social sciences > 320 Political science; 300 Social sciences > 360 Social problems and social services
• ISSN: 1469-9451
• Language: English