Ethnographic regime analysis in times of desintegration

Abstract

Ethnographic border regime analysis began at the time when European migration and border policy was emerging in the early 2000s. It thus follows a development in the cultural and social anthropological disciplines since the 1990s to focus on processes such as globalization and Europeanization.

One question addressed by ethnographic border regime analysis concerned the creation of coherence and stabilized zones of control. This made it possible to identify new arts, modes, and practices of governing in and by Europe. Currently, however, the influence of right-wing and far-right parties in Europe is growing. This is most evident in the area of migration and asylum policies.

The goal of this right-wing formation is a fundamental reconfiguration of the European project in the sense of a European confederation. This means that we must currently assume a disintegrative dynamic, with attempts to establish coherence dwindling.

In light of this finding, this article asks what this means for the method of ethnographic border regime analysis. It proposes following three processes that are currently observable and that potentially point to new, emerging patterns of coherence: the negotiation of the relationship between politics and law, the emergence of a different European project, and the formation of a European racism.