Paper short abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with Iranian refugees in Germany, as well as following the changes in the discourse of deportation law in Germany, this paper aims to show how these legal practices are inscribed on the (undesired) bodies of migrants, both literally and figuratively.

Paper long abstract:

“Deportation” with its extensive legal and technical basis not only fills lives of refugees and asylum seekers with fear and precariousness but also (re)produces the “body of the refugee” as an unwanted and frightening body that is simultaneously excluded from the “nation” and presented as a threat to the “nation” and its borders. This is primarily used and disseminated as an argument to justify a “politics of removal.” In this context, psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are of particular significance in the formulations of regulations defining the “legitimate suffering body” that is to be protected under the rubric of human rights. Although these regulations offer a small number of “rejected” asylum seekers the possibility of stopping deportation and obtaining the right to stay, they have become increasingly stringent over time, focusing more and more on “marks on the body,” even as a sign of psychological disorders. This paper addresses precisely this “obsession with the body” in the current deportation regime when it comes to human rights, illness and protection, and how lives of people are being shaped by it. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with Iranian refugees in Germany, as well as following the changes in regulations regarding deportation and PTSD in Germany, this paper aims to show how these legal practices inscribe themselves on the (undesired) bodies of refugees and asylum seekers, both literally and figuratively, to make these bodies speak.