African Migrants, European Borders, and the Problem with Humanitarianism

The decadence of contemporary critical thought is clear in the use of the dead drowning abject black body as material for imaginaries of an antiracist, humanitarian and abolitionist Europe. Saucier and Woods analyze how radical thought is so often sucked into a liberal antiracism that reinforces colonial hierarchies rather than questions them. Written with passion and acuity, this important book opens up a new avenue for thought in migration and border studies and beyond. Required reading. -- David Chandler, Professor of International Relations, University of Westminster This outstanding book gave me the possibility of glimpsing the ethical, psychoanalytic and political implications of global migration. -- Franco Berardi, Accademia di Brera, Milan Saucier and Woods’ present the reader with a thoroughly rendered, but radically simple argument, which is that the foundations of our present-day reality are still that of a slaveholding culture; and that the antiblack racism that anchors this culture has only become more deeply engrained by humanitarian ideologies that cannot face up to the antiblack violence that has made the modern world what it is. African Migrants, European Borders is an uncompromising intervention. No matter what you make of it, you will not come away unaffected. -- Philip Kretsedemas, Acacia Center for Justice This is an important contribution to Black Studies and contemporary thinking on migration. The authors develop an incisive account of an antiblack world, weaving together a vital and compelling critique of antiracist humanitarianism. In rejecting new formulations of Black space like the Black Mediterranean, they forge a more radical approach to migration, illuminating the central role of race in the creation of the modern world. -- Farai Chipato, University of Glasgow