BETWEEN EXCLUSION AND FAMILIARITY: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN MISSING PROJECT1
Abstract For decades, migrants have continued to die or go missing in the Mediterranean, while the European Union and Italy continue to exhibit a policy vacuum around the issue of the missing, despite the duties on states imposed by human rights law. The investigation of deaths is inadequate, the Italian judicial authorities demonstrate disinterest to proceed with investigations in the identification of deceased migrants, and the inefficient post-mortem data collection seriously compromise every effort to restore names and dignity to the dead. This attitude seems to confirm the theory of “necropolitics,” which views the state as a racist and excluding sovereign entity. But ethnographic analysis of the work of some of the involved actors reveals recognition of the deceased and missing migrants based on a sense of familiarity and closeness. Here, the experience of the Mediterranean Missing Project is discussed, with an emphasis on future work prospects for both academia and practitioners.