Short Abstract:

This workshop employs ‘dark anthropology’ to scrutinize the intersections of migration, crime, and radicalization in Western contexts. It addresses the ethical, methodological, and theoretical challenges of researching these issues.

Long Abstract:

This workshop delves into the entangled domains of migration, crime, and radicalization through the lens of dark anthropology, offering a critical examination of how these phenomena are constructed and contested in Western societies. Central to our inquiry are the ethical and methodological challenges that arise when engaging with communities that are simultaneously marginalized and securitized.

Drawing on ongoing ethnographic research, we will interrogate how narratives of crime and radicalization contribute to processes of ‘uncommoning,’ wherein migrant communities are systematically excluded from the social commons. The workshop will critically explore how anthropological praxis can navigate these contested spaces, questioning how researchers can ethically access and represent these communities without reinforcing hegemonic discourses.

Participants will be encouraged to engage with the theoretical implications of studying migration within the broader framework of power, exclusion, and resistance. By foregrounding a nuanced analysis that avoids essentialism and stigmatization, the workshop aims to foster new methodological approaches that are both ethically sound and theoretically robust.

Through this workshop, we seek to contribute to anthropological debates on the role of the discipline in addressing contemporary global challenges. By examining the intersection of migration, crime, and radicalization, we aim to elucidate how anthropology can critically engage with—and potentially transform—the dominant narratives that shape public and political discourses.

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