The politics of killing slowly: A conversation on knowledge production on deportation and border violence in Northern Europe

The book Deportation limbo: State violence and contestations in the Nordics traces the violent state practices deployed by Nordic welfare states to contain, pressure, and deport people who have been illegalised. These practices can be understood as politics of killing slowly; a form of politics that masks itself as bureaucratically rational, and even ‘humane’, but which relies on the relentless dehumanisation of the people it targets. In this talk, we discuss different efforts to make visible and challenge this political regime, reflect on the role and the shortcomings of academic knowledge production, and present other initiatives that foreground the dissenting voices of people targeted by deportation. 

Speakers:

Steve Naogu Stawnley is a migrant activist, writer, co-founder of Castaway Souls of Denmark/Europe, and member of the Silent University in Hamburg and the Bridge Radio.

Annika Lindberg is a researcher at the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, writing on state violence, bureaucratic power, and European deportation regimes. She is the author of the book Deportation Limbo: State Violence and Contestations in The Nordics  (Manchester University Press, 2022).