Exile: Chronicle of the Border

In recent decades, the forced displacement of populations has fueled nationalism and xenophobia across the world, arousing fear and hostility. Policies have been implemented to deter migrants, crack down on humanitarian workers and externalize border monitoring in remote territories. Men, women and children who flee political violence, religious persecution or poverty in their country and set off on journeys often lasting years may find themselves on dangerous routes where they face police brutality, gang rackets, confinement camps, barbed-wire fences, the rigors of the desert and the perils of the sea. Many lose their lives.

But what do we really know about the experience of these people, the hazards they encounter, repression they endure, and the assistance they receive? This is what Didier Fassin and Anne-Claire Defossez set out to uncover through the research they conducted at the border between Italy and France, in a region of the Alps that has become, since the mid-2010s, a privileged site of passage for people arriving in Europe from Afghanistan, Iran, the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. Over a period of five years, they collected their poignant stories, participated in the activities of a shelter, took part in mountain rescue operations, interviewed politicians, policy makers and law enforcement officers. Their investigation reveals the ineffectiveness of the militarization of the border and the dismay of the police who are aware of the futility of their mission; it attests to the solidarity and commitment of the volunteers; and it explores the form of life of exiles, which has become a defining feature of our time.

This timely and well-researched book will be of great value to students and scholars in sociology, anthropology, politics and geography, and to anyone interested in migration and refugees today.

Didier Fassin is a professor at the Collège de France and the James D. Wolfensohn Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
Anne-Claire Defossez is a sociologist and researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.