I-Site ULNE - Appel à projets "Co-tutelles de thèse 2021 - Université du Kent"

Acronyme : MIGWORK

Directeur de thèse (Université de Lille) : Judith Hayem (MCF HDR, Clersé UMR 8019)

Directeur de thèse (Université du Kent) : Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels (Faculty of Social Sciences School of Politics and International Relations/ Brussels School of International Studies)

Doctorante : Jemima Parker

Durée : 01/11/2021 à 31/10/2024

Résumé :

The research considers the relationship between two subjective political ‘figures’ – the figure of the ‘migrant’ and the figure of the ‘worker’ – through an analysis of political subjectivities concerning irregular migration across the English Channel.

The research asks whether an approach through labour and the ‘figure of the worker’ can open any possibilities for thinking beyond the so-called ‘migration dilemma’, after what has been described by Sylvain Lazarus (2015; 2019) as the lapse of a class-based conception of politics. As the relevance of the ‘figure of the worker’ has diminished in public discourse, other identities including the ‘figure of the migrant’ have increased in prominence, as traced by both Badiou (2015; 2020) and Lazarus in their discussions of post-classist politics. How might these dynamics interact on the ‘migration frontline’ of the English Channel, in the depressed border-town regions of Calais and Dover which share a similar history of industry collapse following mining pit closures in the 1980s and 1990s – and which are now characterised by high levels of unemployment and deprivation?

Following Lazarus’ approach to an anthropology of workers’ subjectivities in a post-classist sequence, the research will make an inquiry into the subjectivities of people at different locations on this frontier; of people in transit, as well as nationals who may be sympathetic or hostile to their presence.

Contact : Jemima Parker