• L’objet de la migration, le sujet en exil

    Cet ouvrage collectif de la collection « Chemins Croisés » propose de partir des objets de la migration pour appréhender la condition des sujets en exil. Tour à tour vestiges, déchets ou reliques, rares ou courants, les objets rapportent la pluralité des lieux, des frontières aux campements, des espaces de soin psychique aux scènes littéraires et visuelles, de la maison au musée. À l’inverse, l’expérience de la migration transforme les objets, leurs fonctions et usages techniques et sociaux. Selon les situations, un rasoir ne sert plus à raser, un saz est bien plus qu’un instrument de musique, une peluche est autre chose qu’un jouet. Les objets mettent ainsi au jour les #savoir-faire et #savoir-être des exilés tout autant qu’ils rapportent les #violences politiques et servent d’#ancrages mémoriels. Hors de l’expérience des sujets, certains deviennent emblématiques des représentations des phénomènes migratoires, à l’instar du gilet de sauvetage, plus #symbole de mort que de vie. C’est précisément l’objet de ces contributions multidisciplinaires que d’interroger l’existence d’une #culture_matérielle de la migration et dans la durée d’une #langue_matérielle de l’exil, de montrer en quoi l’objet fait trace et comment il fait place au sujet.

    https://presses.parisnanterre.fr/?p=5003
    #livre #migrations #asile #objets #mémoire

  • Aftermath of Moria refugee camp fire – photo essay

    The September blaze that ravaged the Moria refugee camp in Greece left thousands of people homeless overnight. Photographers #Vincent_Haiges and #Julian_Busch picked through the wreckage.
    During the night of 8 September, the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos burst into flames. According to a Red Cross report the camp, the biggest of its kind in Europe, was at more than four times capacity. Nearly 11,000 people had to flee. Many left in panic, grabbing their children and leaving behind their few possessions. The Greek prime minister announced a four-month state of emergency on the island.


    Many settled on a one-and-a-half kilometre stretch of coastal road, close to Mytilene, the small capital of Lesbos. People slept on the pavement and used trees and foliage to erect makeshift shelters to protect themselves from the sun. It seemed unthinkable, but life had just become even worse than in Moria.

    Photographer Vincent Haiges recalls the scene: “Walking through the remains of Europe’s biggest refugee camp, home for around 13.000 people in its last days, felt unreal. Though this feeling of estrangement was not caused by the overwhelming presence of destruction but rather the absence of sound. The chattering of voices, the clattering of dishes. All gone. Now you could only hear the birds and the rustling of cats strolling through the remains of the camp.”

    “Between the rubbles we found different objects, still witnesses of a former life. Toys, clothes or dishes. It felt as if those objects wanted to say: yes once there were people living here too. Some objects are witnesses of violence. Diazepam and Ibuprofen, means to bear what is unbearable. A lock used to protect someone’s home and family from mugging. Others are witnesses of resilience. A French copy of the New Testament. Maybe belonging to the Congolese community, who so vividly hold their services between the olive trees? The charred kitchen grater used for cooking. For many cooking was a way of keeping the memories of the place they left behind alive.”

    “The owners of those objects are now inside the new camp. Not much is coming out of there, since access for press is prohibited. It is yet another attempt of the European Union to render the situation on the Aegean islands invisible.”

    “This is why it is so important to keep the situation of the people seeking asylum alive, even though we only see the object they left behind.”

    According to the UNHCR UN high commissioner for refugees, there are approximately 121,100 asylum seekers and migrants in Greece, including 4,200 children who arrived unaccompanied, or were separated from their families on the way.

    Overcrowding is widespread on the Aegean islands and by the end of September about 21,400 people were crammed into spaces with an estimated combined capacity of 6,200.

    The UNHCR has warned for some time of the urgent need to address the situation and conditions for asylum seekers on the Aegean islands, where many must cope with dire living conditions and are exposed to security risks including sexual and gender-based violence.

    Since the fire, large-scale transfers out of Lesbos to the mainland have helped reduce the number of people whose lives have been blighted. By the beginning of November, about 2,800 people had left the island.

    More than 7,000 people remain in the emergency site at Mavrovouni, established to accommodate those rendered homeless by the fire.

    https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/dec/02/aftermath-moria-refugee-camp-fire-photo-essay

    #objets #migrations #réfugiés #Moria #ce_qui_reste #feu #incendie #Grèce #camps_de_réfugiés #photographie