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Atelier 3 - P. CUTTITTA Why is Lampedusa more ‘border’ than other Italian and European border spots? I start from the assumption that Lampedusa’s high degree of ‘borderness’ results not only from its geographical location within the current historical context, but also from a specific ‘borderisation’ process. Specific policies and practices of immigration control have transformed the island in the Strait of Sicily not only into a hotspot of the Italian and EU border regime, but also into a stage on which the narratives of the ‘tough border’ and of the ‘humane border’ coexist in the performance of what I call the ‘border play’. After summarising Lampedusa’s ‘borderness’ from different points of view (the volume of immigration by sea, the deadly consequences of border controls, their compliance with human rights, the agency of migrants etc.), I will analyse the main measures and practices as well as the narratives prevailing, between 2004 and 2011, in five different acts of the ‘border play’.
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The Construction of a Border IslandThe Lampedusa Case
Paolo CuttittaUniversità di Palermo, Dipartimento Beni Culturali, Area Sociologica
Paper for the workshop
Materialization vs. Dematerialization
of BordersMarseille, 22-23 March 2012
Sections of the paperSections of the paperSections of the paperSections of the paper
• Lampedusa’s borderness (The border observed from the border)
• Borderizing Lampedusa (Manufacturing the border)
• Lampedusa on stage (Performing the border play)
Lampedusa’s borderness (The border observed from the border)
Lampedusa’s borderness (The border observed from the border)
• Number of irregular entries• Deadly consequences of border controls• Human rights violations as a critique to border controls• Human rights violations as a justification for border controls• Link between migration and terrorism and organised crime• Changing routes of undocumented travels • Transformations of territorial borders (shape, location, operational modalities)• Detention centres (nature and functions)• Multi-level governance of migration• Subjectivity/Agency of migrants• Externalisation and delocalisation of asylum
Borderizing Lampedusa Borderizing Lampedusa (Manufacturing the border) (Manufacturing the border)
Borderizing Lampedusa Borderizing Lampedusa (Manufacturing the border) (Manufacturing the border)
Steps of the Borderization Process
• Schengen agreeements (implemented by Italy in 1997)• Visa obligation (around 1990 for North African countries)• Carrier sanctions (Italian law n. 40 of 1998)
• 1998 Respingimento differito (“deferred denial of entry”) • 1998 Construction of detention centre• 2003/04 Tunisian restrictive turn
• Number of entries
Lampedusa on stage (Performing the border play)
Lampedusa on stage (Performing the border play)
Acts and prevailing narratives (Tough/Humane) of the border play
• 2004-2006: Deportations from Lampedusa to Libya (T)• 2006-2008: The ‘model’ (H)• 2008-2009: Manufacturing emergency (T)• 2010: The ‘Zero Immigration Show’ (T)• 2011: Manufacturing (humanitarian) emergency (T & H)• (to be continued…)
Table Lampedusa as entry point
Table Lampedusa as entry point
Irregular migrants apprehended at Italian sea borders Year Lampedusa Total Sicily % Lampedusa
on Total Sicily Total Italy % Lampedusa
on Total Italy 1999 356 1,973 18.04% 49,999 0.71% 2000 447 2,782 16.07% 26,817 1.67% 2001 923 5,504 16.77% 20,143 4.58% 2002 9,669 18,225 53.05% 23,719 40.76% 2003 8,819 14,017 62.92% 14,331 61.54% 2004 10,497 13,594 77.22% 13,635 76.99% 2005 14,855 22,824 65.08% 22,939 64.76% 2006 18,096 21,400 84.56% 22,016 82.19% 2007 11,749 16,875 69.62% 20,455 57.44% 2008 30,657 34,541 88.76% 36,952 82.96% 2009 2,947* 8,282 35.58% 9,573 30.78% 2010 459* 1,264 36.31% 4,406 10.42% 2011 44,639 n.a. n.a. 51,881 86.04%
* Also including the minor island of Linosa and the uninhabited isle of Lampione, which are, besides Lampedusa, the remaining part of the Pelagie Archipel.N.B.: 2011 data refer to the period 1 January – 3 August.
