The foreclosure of asylum in the European Union and the militarization of the EU borders have resulted in EU pushbacks of refugees and migrants from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia to European countries that do not belong to the EU, such as Bosnia. This panel critically examines the foreclosure of asylum at the EU/Bosnia border as a case study of the global apartheid regime that produces humanitarian crises while denying refugees mobility and safety. What might accountability for the damages wrought by global apartheid look like? And what kinds of futures can we imagine and fight for?

Panelists:

Nidžara Ahmetašević is an independent scholar, journalist, and activist and the author of many articles, essays, and reports, including The Dark Side of Europeanisation: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Border Regime and People on the Move in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018: Stuck in the corridors to the EU.

Catherine L. Besteman is the Francis F. Bartlett and Ruth K. Bartlett Professor of Anthropology at Colby College and the author of four books, including Militarized Global Apartheid.

Azra Hromadžić is an O’Hanley Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor of Anthropology at Syracuse University and the author of Citizens of an Empty Nation: Youth and State-making in Postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Moderated by Saida Hodžić, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University. 

This panel is organized as part of the Institute for European Studies’ Migration Series for its AY 2020-21 theme Repair and Reparations and sponsored by the Migrations Forum. It is co-sponsored by the American Studies Program, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Near Eastern Studies, the Society for the Humanities, and the South Asia Program. You may find information about past events and video recordings at https://einaudi.cornell.edu/programs/institute-european-studies/events/ies-migrations-series.