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Paper short abstract

This paper explores the necropolitical question of who gets to mourn in militarised borderlands. Drawing on funerals in Pergamos, Cyprus, I argue that burials are states of exception that legitimise sovereignty, and that border control is co-constitutive between the dead, the bereaved, and states.

Paper long abstract

Necropolitics has brought to light that borders are spaces where who gets to live and die is determined through the question of who gets to cross (Mbembe 2003, 11). The question of who gets to cross to mourn in borderlands can be equally political. My year-long ethnographic field site, Pergamos, is a village inhabited by Turkish-Cypriots that is administratively and spatially divided between the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and the British Sovereign Base Areas administration. The village graveyard sits on the British-controlled side, meaning villagers have to cross militarised checkpoints between the two territories to visit their deceased ancestors. While stricter regulations are usually enforced in everyday crossings, people invoke their right to visit their deceased to negotiate crossing discretions with Turkish-Cypriot border officers, using moral obligations towards the dead - a value shared between the village community and the officers - against the border.

Uniquely, during funerals, British and TRNC border enforcement recedes and the checkpoint boom barrier is lifted. Funerals become an informal state of exception where attendees cross without checks. I argue that the suspensions, discretions, and exceptions these states make in relation to the dead and the bereaved community normalise and soften their coercive presence and ensure the sustainability of the status quo. As such, I propose that border control becomes collectively co-constitutive between the dead, the bereaved, and the states through their shared values.