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

面对不断上升的全球移民，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社区，没有正式的“公民身份”，也没有正式的声音。随着这种情况的发展，我们需要重新思考我们对政治解放意味着什么以及如何实现政治解放的看法。正是在这种背景下，我的研究提出了这样一个问题：“非法”移民人口如何通过无声的政治参与形式获得解放？”传统上，我们将言论理解为政治的方式，但日益增加的全球移民促使人们问：没有言论的政治会是什么样子？我的项目旨在了解曾经或正在沉默的人群有什么解放的可能性。这一关注意味着该项目将研究对于沉默的人群来说，身体的动作、行动和表达是如何成为政治参与的关键工具的。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进行测试：1）2017年马努斯岛拘留中心内难民的无声抗议; 2）2015年希腊和马其顿边境过境点之间难民的无声抗议; 3）美国无证移民采取的无声行动。这样做是为了研究沉默的抗议是否是一种独特的方式，边缘化的人口可以采取政治行动，而被剥夺政治地位。

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.