Recontextualizing Refugee Narratives

A Necropolitical Study of Abawi’s A Land of Permanent Goodbyes

Abstract

This research examines the intersection of the refugee crisis and necropolitics as portrayed in Abawi’s A Land of Permanent Goodbyes, which recounts the devastating experiences of Syrian refugees escaping from the geopolitics of war through the lens of Achille Mbembe’s theory of necropolitics. It analyzes the ways sovereign powers are in charge of life and death through the mechanisms of warfare enforcement, exclusion of marginalized people, securitized border policies and the international indifference towards the sufferings of displaced migrants. The study delves into the qualitative approach by exploring how Abawi’s depiction of displacement and resilience resonates with Mbembe’s conception of ‘politics of death’, where characters are subjected to ‘bare life’, a state of survival that is govern by peripheral forces that dictate who will live and who will die. Additionally, it questions the moral repercussions of such power regulations for international migration policies that are often ignored due to extremely politicized media stream. Such kind of practices by the media perpetuates the status of necropolitics where refugees are overlooked as threats rather than as individuals worthy of empathy and protection. Thus, the study accentuates the significance of recontexualizing the refugee narratives as an intricate geopolitical matter that surpasses humanitarian concerns by urging a nuanced reflection of the ethical responsibilities of the global powers amidst adversity of displacement.