Images of Illegalized Immigration: Towards a Critical Iconology of Politics (Image) - Softcover

Christine Bischoff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3837615375 ISBN 13: 9783837615371

Publisher: Transcript Verlag, 2010

Synopsis

Illegalised immigration is a highly iconic topic. The public perception of the current regime for mobility is profoundly shaped by visual and verbal images. As the issue of illegalised immigration is gaining increasing political momentum, the authors feel it is a well-warranted undertaking to analyse the role of images in the creation of illegalisation. Their aim is to trace the visual processes that produce these very categories. The authors aim to map out an iconography of illegalised immigration in relation to political, ethical, and aesthetic discourses. They discuss the need to project new images as well as the dangers of giving persons without legal papers an individual face. Illegalisation is produced by law, but naturalised through the everyday use of images. The production of law, on the other hand, is also driven by both mental and materialised images. A critical iconology may help us to see these mechanisms.

About this title

Review:

While a great deal of work has been produced on illegal immigration, this publication focuses on two important and original dimensions. Imagery of immigrants structures public perceptions and political debates through its symbolic and material dimensions. Secondly, it is important to deconstruct the illegalising visual process generated by sterotypes. --Saffia Elisa Shaukat, Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies, 1-2 (2012)

About the Author:

Christine Bischoff (M.A.) teaches cultural studies at the University of Basel. Her research focus is on visual anthropology, migration, transnationalism and sociocultural mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. Francesca Falk (PhD) teaches at the University of Basel and is a Research Associate at the Institute for Critical Theory at the Zurich University of the Arts. Her areas of special interest are illegalized immigration, postcolonialism, image and history, political theory and border studies. Sylvia Kafehsy (M.A.) is an art historian and a curator of contemporary art. Her fields of specialization include the visual culture of illegalization, international urban development, pornography/prostitution and censorship.

About this edition

• Publisher: Transcript Verlag
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 3837615375
• ISBN 13: 9783837615371
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 178
• Editor: Christine Bischoff, Francesca Falk, Sylvia Kafehsy