The Anthropology of Security: Perspectives from the Frontline of Policing, Counter-Terrorism and Border Control

225 Pages·2014·3.56 MB·English

by  Mark Maguire

The Anthropology of Security
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Anthropology, Culture and Society
Series Editors:
Professor Vered Amit, Concordia University
and
Professor Christina Garsten, Stockholm University
Recent titles:
Claiming Individuality: What Is Anthropology? Cultivating Development:
The Cultural Politics of thomAs hyllAnd EriksEn An Ethnography of Aid Policy
Distinction and Practice
EditEd by VErEd Amit Discordant Development: dAVid mossE
And noEl dyck Global Capitalism and the
Struggle for Connection in The Gloss of Harmony:
Community, Cosmopolitanism Bangladesh The Politics of Policy Making in
and the Problem of Human kAty gArdnEr Multilateral Organisations
Commonality EditEd by birgit müllEr
VErEd Amit And Organisational Anthropology:
nigEl rApport Doing Ethnography in and Contesting Publics
Among Complex Organisations Feminism, Activism,
Home Spaces, Street Styles: EditEd by christinA gArstEn Ethnography
Contesting Power and Identity And AnEttE nyqVist lynnE phillips
in a South African City And sAlly colE
lEsliE J. bAnk Border Watch:
Cultures of Immigration, Food For Change
In Foreign Fields: Detention and Control The Politics and Values
The Politics and Experiences AlExAndrA hAll of Social Movements
of Transnational Sport JEFF prAtt And
Migration Corruption: pEtEr lUEtchFord
thomAs F. cArtEr Anthropological Perspectives
EditEd by diEtEr hAllEr Race and Ethnicity
Dream Zones: And cris shorE in Latin America
Anticipating Capitalism and Second Edition
Development in India Anthropology’s World: pEtEr wAdE
JAmiE cross Life in a Twenty-First
Century Discipline Race and Sex
A World of Insecurity: UlF hAnnErz in Latin America
Anthropological Perspectives pEtEr wAdE
on Human Security Humans and Other Animals
EditEd by thomAs EriksEn, Cross-cultural Perspectives on The Capability of Places:
EllEn bAl And Human–Animal Interactions Methods for Modelling
oscAr sAlEmink sAmAnthA hUrn Community Response to
Intrusion and Change
A History of Anthropology Flip-Flop: sAndrA wAllmAn
Second Edition A Journey Through
thomAs hyllAnd EriksEn Globalisation’s Backroads Anthropology at the Dawn
And Finn siVErt niElsEn cArolinE knowlEs of the Cold War:
The Influence of Foundations,
Ethnicity and Nationalism: Cultures of Fear: McCarthyism and the CIA
Anthropological Perspectives A Critical Reader EditEd by dUstin m. wAx
Third Edition EditEd by Uli linkE And
thomAs hyllAnd EriksEn dAniEllE tAAnA smith The Making of an African
Working Class:
Small Places, Large Issues: The Will of the Many: Politics, Law, and Cultural
An Introduction to Social and How the Alterglobalisation Protest in the Manual Workers’
Cultural Anthropology Movement is Changing the Union of Botswana
Third Edition Face of Democracy pninA wErbnEr
thomAs hyllAnd EriksEn mAriAnnE mAEckElbErgh
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The Anthropology
of Security
Perspectives from the Frontline of Policing,
Counter-terrorism and Border Control
Edited by Mark Maguire,
Catarina Frois and Nils Zurawski
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First published 2014 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Mark Maguire, Catarina Frois and Nils Zurawski 2014
The right of the contributors to be identified as the authors of this work
has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3458 5 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 3457 8 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 7837 1162 8 PDF eBook
ISBN 978 1 7837 1164 2 Kindle eBook
ISBN 978 1 7837 1163 5 EPUB eBook
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the
country of origin.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Text design by Melanie Patrick
Simultaneously printed digitally by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK
and Edwards Bros in the United States of America
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Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgements viii
Series Preface ix
Introduction
The Anthropology of Security: Prospects, Retrospects and Aims 1
Mark Maguire, Catarina Frois and Nils Zurawski
1 Sarkozy and Roma: Performing Securitisation 24
Marion Demossier
2 Video-surveillance and the Political Use of Discretionary
Power in the Name of Security and Defence 45
Catarina Frois
3 Location, Isolation and Disempowerment: The Swift
Proliferation of Security Discourse among Policy Professionals 62
Greg Feldman
4 Compensating (In)Security: Anthropological Perspectives on
Internal Security 83
Alexandra Schwell
5 Petty States of Exception: The Contemporary Policing of the
Urban Poor 104
Didier Fassin
6 Counter-terrorism in European Airports 118
Mark Maguire
7 Whose Security? The Deportation of Foreign-national
Offenders from the UK 139
Ines Hasselberg
8 Grey Zones of Illegality: Inhuman Conditions in Receiving
Irregular Migrants in Greece 158
Jutta Lauth Bacas
Conclusions 183
Mark Maguire, Catarina Frois and Nils Zurawski
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vi The Anthropology of Security
Afterword
Security: Encounters, Misunderstanding and Possible Collaborations 189
Didier Bigo
Contributors 206
Index 207
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Figures
8.1 Mytilini Port Camp, Greece, 2013 165
8.2 A FRONTEX patrol boat and Afghan refugees, Greece, 2013 167
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Acknowledgements
This volume emerged from various encounters and conversations between
the editors at conferences and meetings held by other disciplines. As
anthropologists, we recognised that we had much in common and much
to say, but we also recognised that anthropology was not at that stage
speaking to the theme of security with enough depth or in sufficiently
coherent ways. In 2012, with the generous support of the Irish Research
Council (IRC) we held a one-day workshop in Ireland, ‘Securing Europe’.
Thereafter, we convened a panel at the 2012 meetings of the European
Association for Social Anthropologists (EASA) in Nanterre, Paris. Many
people encouraged the development of this volume – too many to mention
– all of whom remain connected to the emerging Anthropology of Security
Network. We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of our funders, the
support and advice of our colleagues, and the forgiveness of our families.
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Series Preface
Anthropology is a discipline based upon in-depth ethnographic works
that deal with wider theoretical issues in the context of particular, local
conditions – to paraphrase an important volume from the series: large issues
explored in small places. This series has a particular mission: to publish
work that moves away from an old-style descriptive ethnography that is
strongly area-studies oriented, and offer genuine theoretical arguments
that are of interest to a much wider readership, but which are nevertheless
located and grounded in solid ethnographic research. If anthropology is to
argue itself a place in the contemporary intellectual world, then it must
surely be through such research.
We start from the question: ‘What can this ethnographic material tell us
about the bigger theoretical issues that concern the social sciences?’ rather
than ‘What can these theoretical ideas tell us about the ethnographic
context?’ Put this way round, such work becomes about large issues, set in
a (relatively) small place, rather than detailed description of a small place
for its own sake. As Clifford Geertz once said, ‘Anthropologists don’t study
villages; they study in villages.’
By place, we mean not only geographical locale, but also other types
of ‘place’ – within political, economic, religious or other social systems.
We therefore publish work based on ethnography within political and
religious movements, occupational or class groups, among youth,
development agencies, and nationalist movements; but also work
that is more thematically based – on kinship, landscape, the state,
violence, corruption, the self. The series publishes four kinds of volume:
ethnographic monographs; comparative texts; edited collections; and
shorter, polemical essays.
We publish work from all traditions of anthropology, and all parts of
the world, which combines theoretical debate with empirical evidence to
demonstrate anthropology’s unique position in contemporary scholarship
and the contemporary world.
Professor Vered Amit
Professor Christina Garsten
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