Orange Life Jackets
Materiality and Narration in Lesvos, One Year after the Eruption of the “Refugee Crisis”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.32068Keywords:
Refugee Crisis, Lesvos, Narration, MaterialityAbstract
During summer 2015 more than 500.000 refugees reached the shore of the island of Lesvos, Greece, seeking a safe passage to Europe. Refugees were travelling packed into plastic dinghies by smugglers. They all wore life-jackets that were discarded upon arrival. This article discusses the way these life-jackets were used both by locals and widely in Europe, through their materiality, as symbolic material of two distinct and conflicting representations of the refugees and the refugee issue.
References
Al-Jazeera and Associated Press. 2016. “Ai Weiwei Covers Berlin Venue with 14,000 Life Jackets.” Al-Jazeera, 13 February. Available online: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/ai-weiwei-covers-berlin-venue-14000-life-jackets-160213190435403.html
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Papachristophorou, M. 2013. Myth, Representation, and Identity: An Ethnography of Memory in Lipsi, Greece. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137362759
Scott, J. 1990. Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Sideridis, D. 2016. “Making a Giant Chessboard from Refugee Life Jackets.” Al-Jazeera, 7 June. Available online: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/06/making-giant-chessboard-refugee-life-jackets-160605103440023.html
Tuastad, D. H. 2003. “Neo-Orientalism and the New Barbarism Thesis: Aspects of Symbolic Violence in the Middle East Conflict(s).” Third World Quarterly 24 (4): 591–599. https://doi.org/10.1080/0143659032000105768
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 2016. “Operations Portal: Refugee Situation.” Available online: http://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/country.php?id=83
Wilding, M. 2016. “The Volunteers Turning Refugee Lifejackets into Symbols of Hope.” The Guardian, 6 May. Available online: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/may/06/the-volunteers-turning-refugee-lifejackets-into-symbols-of-hope
Barad, K. 2003. “Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter.” Signs 28 (3): 801–831. https://doi.org/10.1086/345321
Brunvard, J. H. 1993. The Baby Train & Other Lusty Urban Legends. New York: W. W. Norton.
Dégh, L. 2001. Legend and Belief: Dialectics of a Folklore Genre. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Digby, S. 2015. “The Casket of Magic: Home and Identity from Salvaged Objects.” Home Cultures 3 (2): 169–190. https://doi.org/10.2752/174063106778053219
Gray-Block, A. 2016. “Peace and #safepassage for Refugees in 2016.” Greenpeace blogpost, 1 January. Available online: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/refugee-lifejacket-peace-sign/blog/55221/
Jones, J. 2015. “Flight by Arabella Dorman Review: Relic of a Rough Crossing Illustrates Refugee Crisis.” The Guardian, 20 December. Available online: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/dec/20/flight-by-arabella-dorman-review-relic-of-a-rough-crossing-illustrates-refugee-crisis
Papachristophorou, M. 2013. Myth, Representation, and Identity: An Ethnography of Memory in Lipsi, Greece. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137362759
Scott, J. 1990. Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Sideridis, D. 2016. “Making a Giant Chessboard from Refugee Life Jackets.” Al-Jazeera, 7 June. Available online: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/06/making-giant-chessboard-refugee-life-jackets-160605103440023.html
Tuastad, D. H. 2003. “Neo-Orientalism and the New Barbarism Thesis: Aspects of Symbolic Violence in the Middle East Conflict(s).” Third World Quarterly 24 (4): 591–599. https://doi.org/10.1080/0143659032000105768
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 2016. “Operations Portal: Refugee Situation.” Available online: http://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/country.php?id=83
Wilding, M. 2016. “The Volunteers Turning Refugee Lifejackets into Symbols of Hope.” The Guardian, 6 May. Available online: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/may/06/the-volunteers-turning-refugee-lifejackets-into-symbols-of-hope
Published
2017-07-12
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Forum
How to Cite
Tyrikos-Ergas, G. (2017). Orange Life Jackets: Materiality and Narration in Lesvos, One Year after the Eruption of the “Refugee Crisis”. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 3(2), 227-232. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.32068
