The Voice of Silence: Exploring how 'Illegal' ImmigrantPopulations Become Emancipated Through Silent Forms ofPolitical Participation

面对不断增长的全球移民，我们正在目睹移民，特别是难民，如何形成一个越来越大的政治群体，他们没有正式的“公民身份”，也没有正式的声音。随着事态的发展，我们需要重新思考我们对什么是政治解放的理解，以及一个人如何才能在政治上获得解放。正是在这种背景下，我的研究提出了这样的问题：“非法移民人口如何通过沉默的政治参与形式获得解放？”虽然，传统上，我们把言论理解为政治的方式，但越来越多的全球移民推动了这样一个问题：没有言论的政治是什么样子？我的项目旨在了解，对于那些曾经或正在被沉默的人群来说，解放的可能性有多大。这一重点意味着该项目将研究沉默人群的身体——其运动、行动和表达——如何成为政治参与的关键载体。这一理论论点将通过美国、欧洲和澳大利亚的三个案例研究得到检验；1) 2017年难民在马努斯岛拘留中心内进行的无声抗议；2) 2015年被困在希腊和马其顿边境之间的难民的无声抗议；3)美国无证移民采取的无声行动。这样做是为了检验无声抗议是否是边缘化人群在被剥夺政治地位的情况下采取政治行动的一种独特方式。

In the face of rising global migration, we are witnessing how migrants, in particular refugees, are forming an increasingly large political community that has no formal 'citizenship' and no formal voice. As this unfolds, we need to rethink our perception of what it means to be, and how one can be, emancipated politically. It is in this context that my research asks, how can 'illegal' immigrant populations become emancipated through silent forms of political participation"? While, conventionally, we understand speech as the way to be political, increasing global migration pushes to ask: what does politics look like without speech? My project seeks to understand what possibilities for emancipation there are for populations who have been, or are, silenced. This focus means the project will research how, for silenced populations, the body-its movements, actions, and expressions-is a key vehicle for political participation. This theoretical argument will be tested through three case studies within the US, Europe and Australia; 1) the silent protests undertaken by refugees within the detention centre on Manus Island in 2017; 2) the silent protests of refugees caught between the Greek and Macedonian border crossing in 2015; and 3) the silent actions undertaken by undocumented migrants in the US. This will be done to examine whether silent protests are a distinct way that marginalised populations can act politically while being denied political standing.