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<div id="content"><h1 id="performing-the-bureaucratic-borderlines">Performing the
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Bureaucratic Border(line)s</h1>
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<mark><h2 id="introduction">introduction</h2></mark>
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<p>This thesis is an assemblage<sup><span class="margin-note"> I live
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somewhere in the margins of scattered references, footnotes, citations,
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examinations embracing the inconvenience of talking back to myself, to
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the reader and to all those people whose ideas gave soul to the text. I
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shelter in the borderlands of the pages my fragmented thoughts, flying
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words, introspections, voices. Enlightenment and inspiration given by
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the text “Dear Science” written by Katherine McKittrick.</span></sup> of
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thoughts, experiences, interpretations, intuitive explorations of what
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borders are, attempting to unleash a conversation concerning the
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entangled relation between material injurious borders and bureaucracy. I
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unravel empirically the thread of how borders as entities are manifested
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and (de)established. How does the lived experience of crossing multiple
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borders change and under what conditions?</p>
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<p>The eastern Mediterranean borderland<sup><span class="margin-note"> I
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use the word borderland to refer to Greece as a (mostly) transit zone in
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the migrants’ and refugees’ route towards Europe.</span></sup>, I
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happened to come from, proves to be one of Europe’s deadly borders
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towards specific ethnic groups. The embodied experience of borders and
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practices of (im)mobility change radically depending on the various
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identities of the people crossing them. As I moved to the Netherlands I
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started more actively perceiving bureaucracy as another multi-layered
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border. I was wondering how this situation is shifted and transformed
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moving towards the European North. What is the role of bureaucracy and
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how it could be perceived as a mechanism of repulsion for some bodies -
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a camouflaged border?</p>
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<p>But what is my starting point and where does my precarious body fit
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within the borders that I am touching? The language of the
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administrative document is rigid and hurtful but myself lies between the
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margins of these lines.</p>
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<p>This thesis does not consist of an excessive inquiry about the
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profoundly complex concepts of borders and bureaucracy. On the contrary,
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it is initiated by personal concerns, awareness and my positioning. I
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choose to structure my argument and talk through a personal process that
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is being unfolded in parallel with the writing period. Accordingly,
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these words are dynamically being reshaped due to the material
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constraints of the bureaucratic timeline. A more distant approach became
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personal and tangible with auto-ethnographical<sup><span
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class="margin-note"> I perceive auto-ethnography as a way to place
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myself, my lived experiences, my identities, reflections in the
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(artistic) research and talk through them about structures and within
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the structures of social, cultural, political frameworks.</span></sup>
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elements as I was trying to squish myself and my urgencies under these
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thresholds and fit the A4 document lines.</p>
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<p>I would like at this point to acknowledge and state explicitly my
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privilege recognizing the different levels of otherness produced by the
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several bordering mechanisms. My European machine-readable passport as a
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designed artifact dictates and facilitates the easiness of my mobility.
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In other (many) cases the lack of it creates profoundly a severe
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barrier<sup><span class="margin-note"> “Passports still function as a
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technology to control movement. Technologies like RFID chips and face
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recognition are part of a control system for digital state surveillance.
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Designing a passport is relative to design a surveillance tool. The
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analysis of passport designs rarely looks at the social consequences of
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identification, control, and restriction of movement, which can have
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violent consequences.” (Ruben Pater, 2021)</span></sup>. I do not intend
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in any respect to compare my case to the lived experiences and struggles
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of migrants and refugees. I utilize the paperwork interface of my
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smaller-scale story in order to unravel and foreground the
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aforementioned questions.</p>
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<p>This thesis is very much indebted to some text-vehicles that
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mobilized my reflections and nourished the writing process. “Illegal
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Traveller, an autoethnography of borders” and “Waiting, a Project in
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conversation” both written by Shahram Khosravi as well as “The Utopia of
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Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy” by
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the anarchist anthropologist David Graeber. Graeber initiated his
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research utilizing the horrendous prolonged bureaucratic processes he
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had to follow in order to place his sick mother in a nursing home. In
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parallel, Khosravi’s work is itself the outgrowth of his own ‘embodied
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experience of borders’, of ethnographic fieldwork among undocumented
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migrants. I found valuable and inspiring in both texts the personal
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filter through which they articulate their positioning and develop
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critique.</p>
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<p>I follow a zoom-in approach in mapping my thoughts beginning from the
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large-scale rigid border as entity and ending up at the document as the
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smallest designed artifact of the bureaucratic labyrinth.</p>
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<p>In the first chapter, I touch the concept of borders in relation to
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migration. I begin with a personal inspection and comprehension of
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material borders as entities. Alongside, I interweave in the text the
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concept of hospitality as a cultural attitude towards ‘strangers’ from
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the state’s perspective. Conditional and unconditional. How the document
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I hold in my hands reflects positions on the government’s conditional
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hospitality and what constraints it dictates.</p>
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<p>In the second chapter, I unpack bureaucracy and focus on its
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bordering function. From migration ghost bureaucracies to the
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educational bureaucracies of my surroundings to even smaller components
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of this apparatus. I end up analyzing the document as a unit within this
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complex network. Through the “interrogation” of the form as an artifact
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are emerging issues related to language, graphic design and
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transparency, universality, and underlying violence.</p>
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<p>In the third and last chapter, I bridge the written text with the
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ongoing project that runs simultaneously as part of my graduation work
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in Experimental Publishing, where I mainly speak through my prototypes.
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Talking documents(5) are performative bureaucratic text inspections,
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vocal and non-vocal, that intend to create temporal public interventions
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through performative readings. The intention is to underline how the
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vocalization of bureaucracies as a tool can potentially reveal their
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territorial exclusive function and provide space for the invisible
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vulnerability.</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>“on the other side is the river<br />
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and I cannot cross it<br />
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on the other side is the sea<br />
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I cannot bridge it”<br />
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(Anzaldua, 1987)</p>
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</blockquote>
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<h2 id="borders">borders</h2>
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<p>How a border is defined? How, as an entity, does it define? How is it
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performed? I used to think of borders in a material concrete way, coming
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from a country of the European South that constitutes a rigid, violent
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border that repulses and kills thousands of migrants and refugees. In
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the following chapter, I will attempt to explore the terrain of material
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borders in relation to bureaucracy as another multi-layered filter.</p>
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<p>What constitutes a border? Is it a wall, a line, a fence, a machine,
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a door, an armed body or a wound on the land? When somebody crosses a
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border are they consciously aware of the act of crossing? I am crossing
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the pedestrian street and walking on the white stripes to reach the
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pedestrian route right across. Are the white stripes a border or a
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territory to be crossed to reach another situation? Does the way I
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perform my walking when I step onto the white stripes change? Is there
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any embodied knowledge about what could be classified as border? Under
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which circumstances does this knowledge become canonical? I hop over a
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fence that separates one garden from another. What if instead of
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assuming that the fence is a device or a furniture or a material of
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enclosure, it is just part of the same land? The process or act of
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jumping a fence can be itself a moment of segregation and a moment of
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re-establishing or demonstrating the bordering function of it.</p>
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<p>Borders could be considered as devices of both exclusion and
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inclusion that filter people and define forms of circulation and
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movement in ways no less violent than those applied in repulsive
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measures. Closure and exclusion are only one function of the
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nation-state borders. Of course, borders are not always that visible or
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treated and perceived as borders, as Rumford argues they are “designed
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not to look like borders, located in one place but projected in another
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entirely” (Rumford, cited by Keshavarz, 2016, p.298)</p>
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<p>As institutions, they seem to be much more complex, flexible, or even
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penetrable in comparison with the traditional image of a wall as a
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bordering device that demonstrates in a way itself. Crossing and borders
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are inherently defined in relation to each other. “Where there is a
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border, there is also a border crossing, legal as well as illegal”
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(Khosravi, 2010).</p>
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<h3 id="conditional-hospitality">conditional hospitality</h3>
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<p>I started thinking about hospitality as a cultural behavior and as an
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inseparable term in the context of borders due to a recent personal
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bureaucratic experience. Hospitality can be instrumentalized to describe
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an individual’s as well as a nation’s response towards strangers within
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their enclosed territory - a property, a home, a land, a country. What
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does hospitality mean and how hospitality under specific circumstances
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can be a tool in the hands of a state?</p>
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<p>I will share a personal story related to hospitality and bureaucracy.
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I was recently evicted from my previous house [31/01/2024] due to a
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trapping contract situation. My former roommates and I were forced to
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terminate our previous contract and sign a new one that further limited
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our rights. The bureaucratic free market language of the contract, the
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foreign law language barrier, the threats of the agent and the precarity
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of being homeless in a foreign country forced us to sign the new rental
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agreement which was the main reason for our eviction. Currently, I am
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hosted temporarily by friends until I find a more permanent
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accommodation. Meanwhile, the government requires me to declare the new
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address which I do not have within five days of my moving. Consequently,
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I have to follow another bureaucratic path. This involves requesting
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permission for a short-term postal address while declaring the addresses
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of my current hosts [4/02/2024]. I gathered the required documents, I
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processed a 9-page-text and another one with the personal data of my
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hosts and myself and answered questions about:</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>why don’t I have a house,<br />
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who are the people who host me,<br />
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what is my relationship with them,<br />
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where do I sleep,<br />
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where do I store my belongings,<br />
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how many people are hosting me and accordingly their personal
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data,<br />
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for how long,<br />
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why I cannot register there,<br />
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what days of the week do I stay in the one house and<br />
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what days do I stay in the other house,<br />
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whether and how am I searching for a permanent place and<br />
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what is the tangible proof of my search?</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>All these questions provoked thinking around the concept of
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conditional hospitality as a behavior of the state towards strangers. I
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can see that on a smaller scale it is being applied to the hospitality I
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receive from my friends in the middle of an emergency. I am wondering,
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though, whether is it that important for the government to know on whose
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couch I sleep or where I store my belongings. The omnipresent gaze of a
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state who has the right to know every small detail about myself while at
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the same time questioning people’s hospitality in case of emergency. It
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seems that forms of knowledge are inseparably related to forms of power.
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It will take 8 weeks for my request to be processed and for the
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government to approve or reject if I deserve my friends’
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hospitality.</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>“Today as yesterday, her land and her time are stolen, only because
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she is told that she has arrived too late. Much too late”<br />
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(Khosravi, 2021)</p>
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</blockquote>
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<h3 id="waiting">waiting</h3>
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<p>Waiting can be considered as a dramaturgical means embedded in
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bureaucratic procedures that camouflage power relations through the
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manipulation of people’s time. When people are in the middle of a
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bureaucratic process and waiting for the government’s decision on their
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case or just waiting for their turn. “The neoliberal technologies of
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citizenship enacted through keeping people waiting for jobs, education,
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housing, health care, social welfare or pensions turn citizens into
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patients of the state” (Khosravi, 2021). I waited two weeks for a
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response from the municipality only to discover that my request was
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rejected [16/02/2024].</p>
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<p>Contemporary border practices mirror past colonial practices, as they
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exploit migrants’ time by keeping them in prolonged waiting, “like the
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way colonial capitalism transformed lands to wastelands to plunder the
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wealth underneath” (Khosravi, 2021). The current border regime, known by
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extended waiting periods and constant delays, is part of a larger
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project aimed at taking away wealth, labor, and time through colonial
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accumulation and immediate expulsion.</p>
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<p>When someone opens their house to a guest, a stranger, someone in
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need, means that they open their property to someone. Hospitality is
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interweaved with a sense of ownership over something. Expanding the
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concept of hospitality to a nation-scale, we could say that the
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nation-building process involves people asserting artificial ownership
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over a territory even if they do not own any property within this
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land.</p>
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<p>Conditional hospitality is tied to a sense of offering back to the
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home-land-nation-state-country as a way to win or trade your permission
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to enter and enjoy the hospitality of a place. Coming from specific
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places in comparison to others, having to offer some special skills or
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your labor - if it is asked for - can be possible conditions that may
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allow somebody to receive hospitality. I would say that an efficient
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check of these conditions is regularly facilitated through bureaucratic
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channels. The concept of unconditional-conditional hospitality is
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closely related to exchange. When you do not have something to offer
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according to the needs or expectations of a “household”, you may not
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receive the gift of hospitality.</p>
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<p>The notion of hospitality is excessively instrumentalized within the
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Greek context portrayed as an “ideal” intertwined with the
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nation-building narrative and as a foundational quality - product by the
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Greek tourist industry. However, the Greek sea has been an endless
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refugee graveyard and the eastern Aegean islands a “warehouse of
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souls”<sup><span class="margin-note">For further reading:
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https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/</span></sup>
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for the last many years. In this case, conditional hospitality applies
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primarily to those who invest in and consume.</p>
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<p>Hospitality can function as a filtration mechanism that permits
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access – lets in – the ones who deserve it, those who have “passports,
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valid visas, adequate bank statements, or invitations” (Khosravi, 2010).
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By doing this, unproductive hospitality is being avoided due to
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sovereign state’s border regulations and checks. Conditional
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hospitality, is about worthiness, is directed towards migrants deemed
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good and productive – skilled and capable for assimilation- or a tiny
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minority of vulnerable and marginalized asylum seekers who lack
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representation. Only in a world where the nation-state’s boundaries have
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been dismantled and where the undocumented, stateless, non-citizens are
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unconditionally accepted, only at this moment, we are able to imagine
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the “political and ethical survival of humankind” (Agamben, 2000).
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Hospitality does not seem a matter of choice but a profound urgency, if
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humanity desires to foster a future together.</p>
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<h4 id="the-right-to-have-rights">“the right to have rights”</h4>
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<p>(Arendt, as cited by Khosravi, 2010, p.121) What about the crossers
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who managed to travel and reach the desirable “there”, the ones who
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transcended the borders and the control checks of the ministries of
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defense(7), the ones who enter but do not own papers, the paperless?
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What does it mean to be documented and what is inefficiently documented
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within a territory? They are threatened if they get caught by
|
|
|
authorities and also according to the official narrative, they threaten.
|
|
|
Since the physical mechanisms of bordering did not succeed in repulsing
|
|
|
them, the bureaucratic border appears as an additional layer of
|
|
|
filtration. The undocumented are non-citizens, they might be crossers or
|
|
|
burners(8), both, or even none. “Undocumented migrants and unauthorized
|
|
|
border crossers are polluted and polluting because of their very
|
|
|
unclassifiability” (Borelli, Poy, Rué, 2023). The loss of citizenship,
|
|
|
denaturalisation, makes somebody denaturalised, they are rendered
|
|
|
unnatural. “Citizenship has become the nature of being human” (Koshravi,
|
|
|
2010).</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>According to Hannah Arendt, the right to have rights and claim
|
|
|
somebody else’s rights is the only human right (Arendt, as cited by
|
|
|
Khosravi, 2010, p. 121). The foundational issue with the Universal
|
|
|
Declaration of Human Rights is its dependence on the nation-state
|
|
|
system. Since human rights are grounded on civil rights, which are
|
|
|
essentially citizens’ rights, human rights are tied to the nation-state
|
|
|
system. Consequently, human rights can be materialized only in a
|
|
|
political community. “Loss of citizenship also means loss of human
|
|
|
rights” (Khosravi, 2010)</p>
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>“…<sup><span class="margin-note">This is a transcribed recording of
|
|
|
my phone during a protest on migration at Dam Square in Amsterdam. I
|
|
|
insert part of the speech of a Palestinian woman addressing the matter
|
|
|
of undocumentedness. Date and time of the recording 18th of June 2023,
|
|
|
15:05.</span></sup> I am here for the rights of the children which
|
|
|
haven’t be in the taking part in the education since they have
|
|
|
undocumented mothers and they are more than
|
|
|
<em><sup><span class="margin-note">“</em>” means
|
|
|
undecipherable</span></sup> years. I am here to represent mothers who
|
|
|
are looking for a place to have a sense of belonging or how long are you
|
|
|
trying to continue humiliating them and the female gender. I am here to
|
|
|
express my frustration with IND<sup><span
|
|
|
class="margin-note">Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst - Dutch
|
|
|
Immigration and Naturalisation Service</span></sup>. So frustrated. And
|
|
|
I will not stop talking about democracy. Democracy is the rule of law
|
|
|
where everybody feels included. Democracy is a rule of law where
|
|
|
everybody feels * We, undocumented people, we don’t feel a sense of
|
|
|
belonging from the system.”</p>
|
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="bureaucracy-as-immaterial-border">bureaucracy as immaterial
|
|
|
border</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Apart from the rigid visible borders, bureaucracy related to
|
|
|
migrants, refugees and asylum seekers can also constitute an in-between
|
|
|
less visible borderland. I used to perceive bureaucracy as an immaterial
|
|
|
and intangible entity. However, now I can claim that this assumption is
|
|
|
not true. Bureaucracy is material and spatial and can be seen as an
|
|
|
apparatus, a machine, a circuitry, an institution, a territory, a
|
|
|
borderland, a body, a zone – a “dead zone of imagination” as Graeber
|
|
|
claims. It can be inscribed on piles of papers, folders, drawers,
|
|
|
booklets, passports, IDs, documents, screens, tapes, bodies, hospital
|
|
|
corridors, offices, permissions to enter, stay, work, travel, exist,
|
|
|
come and go, leave, visit family, bury a friend.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Bureaucratic documents especially those related to migration, can
|
|
|
become territories or should be interpreted “as sites where social
|
|
|
interactions happen, where power relations unfold and are contested”
|
|
|
(Cretton, Geoffrion, 2021). When these bureaucratic objects are used and
|
|
|
manipulated, they can constitute sites of “confrontation, reproduction,
|
|
|
negotiation and performance” (Cretton, Geoffrion, 2021) shaping social
|
|
|
relations and producing meaning.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Bureaucracy related to asylum seekers reveals the profound bordering
|
|
|
nature of these practices, as a continuous process of producing
|
|
|
otherness. Accordingly, I see bureaucracy as a practice that raises
|
|
|
material and symbolic walls for specific groups of people who are
|
|
|
rendered unwanted and unwelcome because they dared to cross the borders
|
|
|
of the Global North. It is as if they could never manage to eventually
|
|
|
arrive and shelter their lives within the desirable “there”<sup><span
|
|
|
class="margin-note">I am referring to the desirable potential
|
|
|
destinations of migrants and refugees corresponding mainly to Global
|
|
|
North countries.</span></sup>. “In these bordering processes, we can
|
|
|
detect the “coloniality of asylum”<sup><span class="margin-note">In this
|
|
|
text they insert the concept of the “coloniality of asylum” introduced
|
|
|
by Picozza, which talks about how asylum systems are intertwined with
|
|
|
colonial legacies and power dynamics. These systems are often colonial
|
|
|
structures reinforcing hierarchies between nations and reproducing
|
|
|
patterns of domination and oppression. In this framework, asylum is not
|
|
|
just about offering protection but also about regulating and managing
|
|
|
populations in a way that reflects colonial relationships.</span></sup>
|
|
|
(Borelli, Poy, Rué, 2023). Bureaucracies in practice act as filters,
|
|
|
determining who, from an institutional standpoint, deserves to receive
|
|
|
protection and who does not. They operate as systems that classify
|
|
|
non-citizens and place them in a social hierarchy of disproportionate
|
|
|
unequal obligations, lack of rights and access to institutional
|
|
|
support.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3 id="higher-educations-expanding-bureaucracy">higher education’s
|
|
|
expanding bureaucracy</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>While I had this inherent concern about borders and bureaucratic
|
|
|
structures in relation to migration, I decided to start zooming in and
|
|
|
explore my own bureaucratic surroundings through my personal lens. As a
|
|
|
student, I was eager to understand and dig into the educational
|
|
|
institutions’ bureaucratic mechanisms being driven by smaller-scale
|
|
|
bureaucratic struggles and peers’ narratives, stories and experiences.
|
|
|
How can higher education in a European country reflect policies around
|
|
|
migration and border control less profoundly. How can education filter
|
|
|
and distinguish, how it can reproduce efficiently itself?</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>I gradually started perceiving the bureaucratic apparatus as an
|
|
|
omnipresent immaterial border - a ghost infrastructure - that one always
|
|
|
encounters but does not really see, a borderland that lies in the gray
|
|
|
zone between visibility and invisibility. Bureaucracy renders us
|
|
|
“stupid” and vulnerable in front of it. It is rarely questioned but it
|
|
|
should be performed efficiently for people to exist properly.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The contradiction embedded in many cultural and educational
|
|
|
institutions lies in the level of unawareness regarding surveillance via
|
|
|
multiple bureaucratic rituals that (re)produce docile behaviors. How
|
|
|
these mechanisms are masked and standing in the margins of the visible
|
|
|
nonvisible sphere.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>“This is what makes it possible, for example, for graduate students
|
|
|
to be able to spend days in the stacks of university libraries poring
|
|
|
over Foucault-inspired theoretical tracts about the declining importance
|
|
|
of coercion as a factor in modern life without ever reflecting on that
|
|
|
fact that, had they insisted their right to enter the stacks without
|
|
|
showing a properly stamped and validated ID, armed men would have been
|
|
|
summoned to physically remove them, using whatever force might be
|
|
|
required.”<br />
|
|
|
(Graeber, 2015)</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
<p>The genuine essence of education is not bureaucratic at all, neither
|
|
|
does it have to fit and ground its foundations under a bureaucratic
|
|
|
roof. “The pedagogical process runs counter to the hierarchical,
|
|
|
impersonal qualities of bureaucracy” (Cunningham, 2017). However, people
|
|
|
working in educational institutions acknowledge the fact that entrenched
|
|
|
bureaucratic systems impose their material constraints on teaching
|
|
|
structures and on how these actors in this process interact with each
|
|
|
other.“Students and staff are treated as human capital” (Cunningham,
|
|
|
2017). This determination can dehumanize people involved, like when
|
|
|
“faculty-as-labor” and “students-as-consumers” are marginalized and
|
|
|
treated as just variables.</p>
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>“there is no document of civilisation which is not at the same time a
|
|
|
document of barbarism”<br />
|
|
|
Walter Benjamin</p>
|
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3 id="the-document">the document</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>From fences and armed police to nation-state mechanism of
|
|
|
less-material bordering to bureaucracy to the elements of bureaucracy to
|
|
|
the document itself as the minimum unit of an apparatus. Understanding
|
|
|
and unhiding the violence of a form -violence materialized and at the
|
|
|
same time camouflaged by the language structure, the vocabulary, the
|
|
|
graphic design, their ability to render subjectivities that fit and
|
|
|
don’t fit within the controlled territory of the lines of the form. A
|
|
|
language that fragments, classifies, places and un-places. Thus
|
|
|
bureaucratic apparatus is something more than a metaphor it is also a
|
|
|
symbol. It is hard to see that there are many more layers beneath the
|
|
|
purpose it propagates. A metaphor that is so perfectly materialized as
|
|
|
well as naturalized that you cannot even see it.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="bureaucracy-as-textual-institution">bureaucracy as textual
|
|
|
institution</h4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The bureaucratic apparatus can be considered as something more than
|
|
|
an infrastructure that organizes institutions, markets, states, etc. It
|
|
|
can constitute itself an institution, a textual institution. As the
|
|
|
factory generates commodities and sets them within a circuit of motion,
|
|
|
bureaucracy generates documents and sets them throughout a communicative
|
|
|
circuitry (Cunningham, 2017). An institution that organizes and
|
|
|
(infra)structures other institutions and similarly reproduces itself
|
|
|
through text. The materiality of a text document reflects the ideology
|
|
|
of the interconnected institutions and their underlying bureaucratic
|
|
|
systems. Language occupies a dual contradictory role as the foundational
|
|
|
element of bureaucracy. Language can become a shroud to conceal the
|
|
|
violence and reinforce hierarchical structures and simultaneously can be
|
|
|
transformed into the rigid rational cell itself. They shape their own
|
|
|
narratives, they reflect the institutional narratives.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="the-myth-of-universality">the myth of universality</h4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>One of the great powers of bureaucracies is their ability to render
|
|
|
themselves transparent. It seems that bureaucracy does not have to say
|
|
|
anything more beyond itself, is self-referential and self-contained. It
|
|
|
is boring or most likely is supposed to be boring. “One can describe the
|
|
|
ritual surrounding it. One can observe how people talk about or react to
|
|
|
it” (Graeber, 2015). The supposed universality of the form which is
|
|
|
carefully constructed can be partly attributed to the individuality and
|
|
|
impersonality of many bureaucratic processes. “Bureaucracies operate
|
|
|
through an assemblage of hierarchy, impersonality, and procedure in
|
|
|
order to complete organizational tasks with maximum efficiency” (Weber,
|
|
|
as cited by Cunningham, 2017, p. 307).</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>I had to open a discussion with students from non-EEA (non European
|
|
|
Economic Area) countries in order to understand that they have to
|
|
|
conduct tuberculosis x-rays<sup><span class="margin-note">“To keep the
|
|
|
Residence Permit, some non-European students need to visit the Dutch
|
|
|
Public Health Authority (GGD) after they arrived in the Netherlands.
|
|
|
They will undergo a medical test for tuberculosis (TB). This is a
|
|
|
requirement from the IND (Dutch Immigration Office)”. (Introduction
|
|
|
days, 2021)</span></sup> when they arrive in the Netherlands. It seems
|
|
|
that for the Dutch state, their bodies might be more threatening than
|
|
|
bodies coming from a European country. The relativization in the quality
|
|
|
and the quantity of paperwork requested from different “groups” of
|
|
|
applicants in a specific context deconstructs the myth of the
|
|
|
universality of the bureaucratic form.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Undoubtedly the success of bureaucracy is drawn from its efficiency
|
|
|
in relation to schematization as an efficient material quality. “Whether
|
|
|
it’s a matter of forms, rules, statistics, or questionnaires, it is
|
|
|
always a matter of simplification (Cunningham, 2017)”. Bureaucracies
|
|
|
ignore the social existence of a person and fragment, classify and
|
|
|
define them under specific perspectives. Why do they ask for this
|
|
|
information instead of others? “Why place of birth and not, say, place
|
|
|
where you went to grade school? What’s so important about the
|
|
|
signature?” (Graeber, 2015)</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="materiality-underlying-violence">materiality-underlying
|
|
|
violence</h4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>There is a great materiality in bureaucracies. Bureaucratic
|
|
|
procedures are often compared to a labyrinth which appears as a
|
|
|
similarly complex structure constituted by simple geometrical shapes
|
|
|
(Weber, as cited by Cunningham, 2017, p.310). Bureaucratic documents can
|
|
|
be complicated and multiple due to this infinite accumulation of really
|
|
|
simple but at the same time contradictory elements. A constant
|
|
|
juxtaposition of letters, symbols, stamps, signatures, paper, ink,
|
|
|
barcodes, QR codes within a circuit of workers, interweaved and
|
|
|
interconnected offices, repetitive performative tasks and rituals.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Underneath every bureaucratic document, there is a good amount of
|
|
|
graphic design labor. What kind of visual strategy is embedded in
|
|
|
administrative objects that the design aspect of these artifacts appears
|
|
|
to be invisible? The material decisions applied as well as the material
|
|
|
constraints attributed to the document can transform or produce
|
|
|
different textual meanings and consequently understandings.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
|
<p>“This does not mean that constraints limit meaning, but on the
|
|
|
contrary, constitute it; meaning cannot appear where freedom is absolute
|
|
|
or nonexistent: the stem of meaning is that of a supervised
|
|
|
freedom”<br />
|
|
|
(Roland Barthes, 1983)</p>
|
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>When I encountered the green logo of the municipality of Rotterdam I
|
|
|
did not cultivate any feelings of enthusiasm or even boredom. A big
|
|
|
calligraphic “R” with the flawless green ribbons that penetrate it on
|
|
|
the left corner of a 229x162 mm standardized dimension folder with a
|
|
|
transparent rectangle that reveals my inscribed name and surname from
|
|
|
the inside part. I did not put any aesthetic critique over this but I
|
|
|
rather felt this rush of stress for the expected response to my
|
|
|
objection letter or a fine or a tax to be paid within a specific
|
|
|
timeline cause another fine would come if I did not comply with
|
|
|
this.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>One month ago (from the writing present), my friend Chae made for my
|
|
|
birthday this amazing Dutch-government-like biscuit forms, recreating
|
|
|
the entire layout of the document using the interface of a crunchy
|
|
|
biscuit. She used the same color blue scheme and she placed the biscuit
|
|
|
form inside the same standardized dimension folder 229x162 mm with the
|
|
|
same transparent layer that reveals my name and surname. According to
|
|
|
literary critic and theorist Katherine Hayles:</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
|
<p>“to alter the physical form of the artifacts is to change the act of
|
|
|
reading and understanding but mostly you transform the metaphoric and
|
|
|
symbolic network that structures the relation of world to world. To
|
|
|
change the material artifacts is to transform the context and
|
|
|
circumstances for interacting with the words, which inevitably change
|
|
|
the meaning of the word itself. This transformation of meaning is
|
|
|
especially possible when the words interact with the inscription
|
|
|
technologies that produce them”<br />
|
|
|
(Hayles, 2002)</p>
|
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>In the latter case, the inscription technology used is the sugar blue
|
|
|
paste and the handwriting of Chae. The text in the white-blue government
|
|
|
document forces a different reading from the white-blue biscuit
|
|
|
document, even if they carry the same bits of information. If I do not
|
|
|
read carefully the text in the folder and if I do not act according to
|
|
|
the suggested actions there is a threat. The level of threat varies in
|
|
|
relation to the case, the identities of the holder, the state, the
|
|
|
context, etc. There is no room for negotiation in bureaucracy and this
|
|
|
is the omnipresent underlying violence. The threat of violence shrouded
|
|
|
within its structures and foundations does not permit any questioning
|
|
|
but on the contrary creates “willful blindness” towards them<sup><span
|
|
|
class="margin-note">I am referring to those people subjecting others to
|
|
|
bureaucratic circles shaped by structurally violent situations as well
|
|
|
as people in positions of privilege who deliberately ignore these
|
|
|
facts.</span></sup>. Bureaucracies are not stupid inherently rather they
|
|
|
manage and coerce processes that reproduce docile and stupid
|
|
|
behaviors.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<figure>
|
|
|
<div class="item"><img src="chae_form.jpg"/>
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
<figcaption aria-hidden="true">The birthday biscuit that Chae made,
|
|
|
re-creating the Dutch government form</figcaption>
|
|
|
</figure>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="vocal-archives-talking-documents">vocal archives-talking
|
|
|
documents</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>This chapter is mainly a constellation of some prototypes I created
|
|
|
while writing and coping with personal bureaucratic challenges. I
|
|
|
provided some further space for my anxiety by unpacking and exploring
|
|
|
the material conditions that nourished it within this timeline.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>An administrative decision on a case may not seem necessarily hurtful
|
|
|
in linguistic terms. However, it can be injurious and severely
|
|
|
threatening. By performing the bureaucratic archival material of my
|
|
|
interactions with the government, I aim to draw a parallel narrative
|
|
|
highlighting the bordering role of bureaucracy and the concealed
|
|
|
underlying violence it perpetuates.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>A bureaucratic text does not just describe a reality, a decision, a
|
|
|
case or an action, but on the contrary, it is capable of changing the
|
|
|
reality or the order of things that is described via these words.
|
|
|
Bureaucratic official documents are inherently performative. These texts
|
|
|
regulate and bring situations into being.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>My intention in transforming bureaucratic texts into “playable”
|
|
|
scenarios is to explore how embodying these texts in public through
|
|
|
collective speech<sup><span class="margin-note">I imagine the theatrical
|
|
|
play as a “human microphone”, a low-tech amplification device. A group
|
|
|
of people performs the bureaucratic scenario in chorus, out loud, in the
|
|
|
corridor of the school’s building, in the main hall, at the square right
|
|
|
across, outside of the municipality building. The term is borrowed from
|
|
|
the protests of the Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011. People were
|
|
|
gathered around the speaker repeating what the speaker was saying in
|
|
|
order to ensure that everyone could hear the announcements during large
|
|
|
assemblies. Human bodies became a hack in order to replace the forbidden
|
|
|
technology. In New York it is required to ask for permission from
|
|
|
authorities to use “amplified sound” in public space.</span></sup> can
|
|
|
provoke different forms of interpretations and open tiny conceptual
|
|
|
holes. “The meaning of a performative act is to be found in this
|
|
|
apparent coincidence of signifying and enacting” (Butler, 1997). The
|
|
|
performative bureaucratic utterances - the vocal documents - attempt to
|
|
|
bring into existence -by overidentifying, exaggerating, acting- the
|
|
|
discomfort, the threat, the violence which is mainly condemned into
|
|
|
private individual spheres.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>How performing a collection of small bureaucratic stories can
|
|
|
function as an instant micro intervention and potentially produce a
|
|
|
public discourse. Where do we perform this speech, where and when does
|
|
|
the “theater” take place? Who is the audience? I am particularly
|
|
|
interested in the site-specificity of these “acts”. How can these
|
|
|
re-enactments be situated in an educational context and examine its
|
|
|
structures? Is it possible for this small-scale publics to provoke the
|
|
|
emergence of temporal spaces of marginal vulnerable voicings? According
|
|
|
to the agonistic approach of the political theorist Chantal Mouffe,
|
|
|
critical art is art that provokes dissensus, that makes visible what the
|
|
|
dominant narrative tends to undermine and displace. “It is constituted
|
|
|
by a multiplicity of artistic practices aiming at giving a voice to all
|
|
|
those who are silenced within the framework of the existing hegemony”
|
|
|
(Mouffe, 2008).</p>
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|
|
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<p>I started working and engaging more with different bureaucratic
|
|
|
material that my peers and I encountered regularly or appeared in our
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|
|
(e)mail (in)boxes and are partly related to our identities as foreign
|
|
|
students coming from different places. I chose to start touching and
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|
|
looking for various bureaucracies that surround me as a personal filter
|
|
|
towards it. From identification documents and application forms to
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|
rental contracts, funding applications, visa applications, quality
|
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|
assurance questionnaires related to the university, assessment criteria,
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|
supermarket point gathering cards, receipts. A sequence of locked doors
|
|
|
to be unlocked more or less easily via multiple bureaucratic keys. The
|
|
|
methods and tools used to scrutinize the administrative artifacts are
|
|
|
not rigid or distinct. It is mainly a “collection” of small bureaucratic
|
|
|
experiments - closely related to language as well as the performative
|
|
|
“nature” of these texts themselves. I was intrigued by how transforming
|
|
|
the material conditions of a piece of text could influence the potential
|
|
|
understandings and perceptions of its meaning.</p>
|
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<h2 id="prototypes">prototypes</h2>
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<h4 id="section">1.</h4>
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<p><strong>Title:</strong> “Quality Assurance Questionnaire
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|
Censoring”<br />
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|
<strong>When:</strong> October 2023<br />
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|
<strong>Where:</strong> XPUB studio wall<br />
|
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|
<strong>Who:</strong> myself</p>
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|
<p><strong>Description:</strong> Some months ago my classmates and I received an email
|
|
|
with a questionnaire aimed at preparing us for the upcoming quality
|
|
|
assurance meeting within the school. Ada and I had a meeting, in an
|
|
|
empty white room with closed doors, with an external collaborator of the
|
|
|
university. The main request was to rate and answer the pre-formulated
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|
|
questions covering issues about performance, different and multiple
|
|
|
topics related to the course, the teaching staff, the facilities, the
|
|
|
tools provided. The micro linguistic experiment of highlighting,
|
|
|
censoring and annotating this document aimed for an understanding of
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|
|
what a quality assurance meeting is within an educational
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|
|
institution.</p>
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|
<p><strong>Reflections-Thoughts:</strong> This experiment was my first attempt to start
|
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|
interrogating and observing the language and the structure of a
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|
|
bureaucratic document. How these “desired” standards propagated through
|
|
|
text. What is the role of the student-client in these processes as an
|
|
|
esoteric gaze of control over the course and their teachers? My focus
|
|
|
was to locate and accumulate all the wording related to measurements,
|
|
|
rate, quantity, assessments, statistics. Highlighting the
|
|
|
disproportionate amount of metrics-related vocabulary was enough to
|
|
|
craft the narrative around this process.</p>
|
|
|
|
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|
<p>These ‘rituals’ are components of a larger “culture of evidence”,
|
|
|
serving as a tool that blurs the distinction between discourse and
|
|
|
reality (Cunningham, 2017). This culture of evidence influences how
|
|
|
people perceive and understand information. The primary purposes of
|
|
|
these metrics are twofold: they play a role in the marketing sphere,
|
|
|
attracting potential students to the university as well as they are
|
|
|
utilized in interactions and negotiations with the government, which
|
|
|
increasingly cuts budgets allocated to universities.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<figure>
|
|
|
<img src="quality.jpg"
|
|
|
alt="The linguistic experiment of the Quality Assurance Questionnaire Document" />
|
|
|
|
|
|
<figcaption aria-hidden="true">The linguistic experiment of the Quality
|
|
|
Assurance Questionnaire Document</figcaption>
|
|
|
</figure>
|
|
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|
|
|
<h4 id="section-1">2.</h4>
|
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|
<p><strong>Title:</strong> “Department of Bureaucracy and Administration
|
|
|
Customs Enforcement”<br />
|
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|
<strong>When:</strong> November 2023<br />
|
|
|
<strong>Where:</strong> Leeszaal<sup><span class="margin-note">Community
|
|
|
Library in Rotterdam West</span></sup><br />
|
|
|
<strong>Who:</strong> XPUB peers, tutors, friends, alumni</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Description: </strong>During the first public moment at Leeszaal, I decided to
|
|
|
embody and enact the traditional role of a bureaucrat in a graphic and
|
|
|
possibly absurd way performing a small “theatrical play”. I prepared a
|
|
|
3-page and a 1-page document incorporating bureaucratic-form aesthetics
|
|
|
and requesting applicants’ fake data and their answers for questions
|
|
|
related to educational bureaucracy. People receiving an applicant number
|
|
|
at the entrance of Leeszaal, queuing to collect their documents from the
|
|
|
administration “office”, filling forms, waiting, receiving stamps,
|
|
|
giving fingerprints and signing, waiting again were the main components
|
|
|
of this act.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Reflections-Thoughts:</strong> Beyond the information gathered through my
|
|
|
bureaucratic-like questionnaires, the most crucial element of this
|
|
|
experiment was the understanding and highlighting of the hidden
|
|
|
performative elements that entrench these “rituals”. It was amazing
|
|
|
seeing the audience becoming instantly actors of the play enacting
|
|
|
willingly a administrative ritualistic scene. The provided context of
|
|
|
this “play” was a social library hosting a masters course public event
|
|
|
on graduation projects. I am wondering whether this asymphony between
|
|
|
the repetitive bureaucratic acts within the space of Leeszaal, where
|
|
|
such acts are not expected to be performed, evoked contradictory
|
|
|
feelings or thoughts. Over-identifying with a role was being
|
|
|
instrumentalized as an “interrogation” of one’s own involvement in the
|
|
|
reproduction of social discourses, power, authority, hegemony.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<figure>
|
|
|
<img src="queue.jpg"
|
|
|
alt="Leeszaal West Rotterdam - November 2023 – People queuingI was thinking of queues as a spatial oppressive tool used often by (bureaucratic) authorities. The naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line waiting for “something” to happen at “some point” under the public gaze in an efficiently defined area. to receive their documents and sign" />
|
|
|
|
|
|
<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Leeszaal West Rotterdam - November 2023 –
|
|
|
People queuing<sup><span class="margin-note">I was thinking of queues as
|
|
|
a spatial oppressive tool used often by (bureaucratic) authorities. The
|
|
|
naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line waiting for “something” to happen
|
|
|
at “some point” under the public gaze in an efficiently defined
|
|
|
area.</span></sup> to receive their documents and sign</figcaption>
|
|
|
</figure>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<figure>
|
|
|
<img src="mitsi.jpg"
|
|
|
alt="One of the forms that the audience had to fill out during the Lesszaal event" />
|
|
|
<figcaption aria-hidden="true">One of the forms that the audience had to
|
|
|
fill out during the Lesszaal event</figcaption>
|
|
|
</figure>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="section-2">3.</h4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Title:</strong> “Passport Reading Session”<br />
|
|
|
<strong>When:</strong> January 2024<br />
|
|
|
<strong>Where:</strong> XML – XPUB studio<br />
|
|
|
<strong>Who:</strong> Ada, Aglaia, Stephen, Joseph</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Description:</strong> This prototype is a collective passport reading session.
|
|
|
I asked my classmates to bring their passports or IDs and sitting in a
|
|
|
circular set up we attempted to “scan” our documents. Every contributor
|
|
|
took some time to browse, annotate verbally, interpret, understand,
|
|
|
analyze, vocalize their thoughts on these artifacts, approaching them
|
|
|
from various perspectives. The three passports and one ID card were all
|
|
|
coming from European countries.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Reflections-Thoughts: For the first time I observed this object so
|
|
|
closely. The documentation medium was a recording device, Ada’s mobile
|
|
|
phone. The recording was transcribed by vosk<sup><span
|
|
|
class="margin-note">Vosk is an offline open-source speech recognition
|
|
|
toolkit.</span></sup> and myself and a small booklet of our passport
|
|
|
readings was created.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
|
<p>“So the object here is like not by random it comes from the history
|
|
|
of nation-states and how nation-states and nationalities created like a
|
|
|
form of identity. So nation-state is actually a recent invention that
|
|
|
came into existence over the last two hundred fifty years in the form as
|
|
|
we know it nowadays, in the form of democratic capitalism, before like
|
|
|
monarchies and so on and each citizen of such a nation-state got also
|
|
|
kind of a particular identity”,<br />
|
|
|
Joseph says about his ID card.</p>
|
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>We read the embedded signs, symbols, categories, texts, magical
|
|
|
numbers in our passports that construct our profiles. Seeing someone’s
|
|
|
passport, ID cards, visas, travel documents might mean that you are able
|
|
|
to understand how easy or not is for them to move, what are their travel
|
|
|
paths, how departure or arrival is smooth or cruel. Are there emotions
|
|
|
along the way? For some people these are documents “that embody power —
|
|
|
minimal or no waiting, peaceful departure, warm and confident arrival”
|
|
|
(Khosravi, 2021).</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><a href="passport1.png">Part of the A6 booklet of the
|
|
|
transcription of the passport readings session</a></p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><a href="passport2.png"></a></p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="section-3">4.</h4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Title:</strong> “Postal Address Application Scenario”<br />
|
|
|
<strong>When:</strong> February 2024<br />
|
|
|
<strong>Where:</strong> Room in Wijnhaven Building, 4th floor<br />
|
|
|
<strong>Who:</strong> XPUB 1,2,3, tutors, Leslie</p><br>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><strong>Description:</strong> This scenario is the first part of a series of small
|
|
|
episodes that construct a bureaucratic story unfolding the processes of
|
|
|
my communication with the government. The body of the text of the
|
|
|
“theatrical” script is sourced from the original documents as well as
|
|
|
recordings of the conversation I had with the municipality throughout
|
|
|
this process. I preserved the sequence of the given sentences and by
|
|
|
discarding the graphic design of the initial form, I structured and
|
|
|
repurposed the text into a scenario. The main actors were two
|
|
|
bureaucrats vocalizing the questions addressed in the form, in turns and
|
|
|
sometimes speaking simultaneously like a choir, three applicants
|
|
|
answering the questions similarly while a narrator mainly provided the
|
|
|
audience with the context and the storyline constructing the scenery of
|
|
|
the different scenes.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The first and the last moment of the performance was during a
|
|
|
semi-public tryout moment where XPUB peers performed the distributed
|
|
|
scenario in a white room on the 4th floor of the Winjhaven building.
|
|
|
They were seated having as a border a black long-table. A border
|
|
|
furniture between the bureaucrats and the applicants. The narrator was
|
|
|
standing still behind them while they were surrounded by the audience.
|
|
|
The main documentation media of the act were a camera on a tripod, a
|
|
|
recorder in the middle of the table and myself reconstructing the memory
|
|
|
of the re-enactement at that present - 6 days later.</p><br>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Reflections-Thoughts: Vocalizing and embodying the bureaucratic
|
|
|
questions was quite useful in acknowledging the government’s voice and
|
|
|
presence as something tangible rather than a floating, arbitrary entity.
|
|
|
It was interesting observing the bureaucrats performing their role with
|
|
|
confidence and entitlement, contrasting with the applicants who appeared
|
|
|
to be more stressed to respond convincingly and promptly. There is a
|
|
|
notable distinction between performativity and performance. Performing
|
|
|
consciously and theatrically amplifying real bureaucratic texts by
|
|
|
occupying roles and overidentifying with them can constitute a
|
|
|
diffractive moment, a tool itself. From bureaucratic text to
|
|
|
performative text scenarios to speech. The embedded (but rather
|
|
|
unconscious) performativity of “real” bureaucratic rituals establishes
|
|
|
and empowers (bureaucratic) institutions through repetitive acts. These
|
|
|
theatrical moments attempt to highlight the shrouded performative
|
|
|
elements of these processes.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><a href="postal.png">A6 booklet of the first chapter of the
|
|
|
“theatrical” scenario created out of the Postal Address Application
|
|
|
documents and performed by XPUB peers</a></p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="conclusion">conclusion</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3
|
|
|
id="next-chapters-of-the-case-with-reference-number-a.b.2024.4.03188">next
|
|
|
chapters of the case with reference number A.B.2024.4.03188</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>I expanded the “play” by incorporating additional “scenes” sourced
|
|
|
again from the documents accompanying the ongoing “conversation with the
|
|
|
government”. Two weeks after submitting my application for a short-term
|
|
|
postal address [16/02/2024], I received a letter from the municipality
|
|
|
stating their rejection of my request and warning me of potential fines
|
|
|
if I fail to declare a valid address and provide a rental contract.
|
|
|
After extensive communication with the municipality, I decided to
|
|
|
respond to this decision by writing and sending an objection letter
|
|
|
[19/02/2024]. The objections committee received my letter [21/02/2024],
|
|
|
and after some days, they issued a confirmation letter outlining the
|
|
|
following steps of the objection process which involves hearings with
|
|
|
municipality lawyers and further investigation of my case. The textual
|
|
|
components collaged for the next “episodes” are sourced from the
|
|
|
transcribed recordings of my actual conversations with the municipality
|
|
|
clerks, my objection letter, the confirmation documents including the
|
|
|
steps I am required to take.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>My case has finished by this time. I withdrew my objection
|
|
|
[7/03/2024] and I de-registered [11/03/2024] after a good amount of
|
|
|
stress and precarity. My bureaucratic literature is meant to be read and
|
|
|
voiced collectively. People’s bureaucratic literatures should be read
|
|
|
and voiced collectively.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>My intention is to facilitate a series of collective performative
|
|
|
readings of bureaucratic scenarios or other portable paperwork stories
|
|
|
as a way of publishing and inspecting bureaucratic bordering
|
|
|
infrastructures. The marginal voices of potential applicants are
|
|
|
embodying and performing a role. “The speech does not only describe but
|
|
|
brings things into existence” (Austin, 1975). I would like to stretch
|
|
|
the limits of dramaturgical speech through vocalizing a document in
|
|
|
public with others and turn an individual administrative case into a
|
|
|
public one. How do the inscribed words in the documents are not
|
|
|
descriptive but on the contrary “are instrumentalized in getting things
|
|
|
done” (Butler, 1997). Words as active agents. I am inviting past and
|
|
|
future applicants, traumatized students, injured bearers, bureaucratic
|
|
|
border crossers, stressed expired document holders or just curious
|
|
|
people to share, vocalize, talk through, read out loud, amplify,
|
|
|
(un)name, unplace, dismantle the injurious words of these artifacts.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><a href="objection1.png"></a> <a
|
|
|
href="objection2.png"></a></p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="we-didnt-cross-the-border-the-border-crossed-us20">“we didn’t
|
|
|
cross the border, the border crossed us”(20)</h4>
|
|
|
<p>As I sit in the waiting area at the gate B7 in the airport preparing
|
|
|
to come back to the Netherlands, I am writing the last lines of this
|
|
|
text. I am thinking of all these borders and gates that my body was able
|
|
|
to pass through smoothly, carrying my magical object through which I
|
|
|
embody power- at least within this context. However, I yearn for a
|
|
|
reality where we stop looking at those bodies that cross the
|
|
|
multifaceted borders and get crossed and entrenched by them, but on the
|
|
|
contrary we start interrogating and shouting at the contexts and the
|
|
|
frameworks that construct them and render them invisible, natural and
|
|
|
powerful.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="references">references</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Agamben, G. (2000) Means without end: Notes on politics. Minneapolis,
|
|
|
MN: University of Minnesota Press.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Anzaldua, G. (1987) Borderlands - la Frontera: The new mestiza. 2nd
|
|
|
ed. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Austin, J. L. (1975) “lECTURE VII”, in How to do things with words.
|
|
|
Oxford University Press, pp.83-93.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Barthes, R. (1983) Fashion system. Translated by M. Ward and R.
|
|
|
Howard. Hill & Wang.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Border controls (2017) Defensie.nl. Available at:
|
|
|
https://english.defensie.nl/topics/border-controls</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Borelli, C., Poy, A., and Rué, A. (2023). “Governing Asylum without
|
|
|
‘Being There’: Ghost Bureaucracy, Outsourcing, and the Unreachability of
|
|
|
the State.” <em>Social Sciences</em>, 12(3), 169. [DOI:
|
|
|
https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12030169]</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Butler, J. (1997) Excitable speech: A politics of the performative.
|
|
|
London, England: Routledge.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Cretton, V., Geoffrion, K. (2021). “Bureaucratic Routes to Migration:
|
|
|
Migrants’ Lived Experience of Paperwork, Clerks and Other Immigration
|
|
|
Intermediaries”, University of Victoria</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Cunningham, J. (2017), “Rhetorical Tension in Bureaucratic
|
|
|
University”, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Graeber, D. (2015) The utopia of rules: On technology, stupidity, and
|
|
|
the secret joys of bureaucracy. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House
|
|
|
Publishing</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Hayles, N. K. (2002) Writing Machines. London, England: MIT
|
|
|
Press.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Introduction days (2021) Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.
|
|
|
Available at:
|
|
|
https://www.rotterdamuas.com/study-information/practical-information/international-introduction-days/Tuberculosis-test/
|
|
|
(Accessed: April 8, 2024).</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Keshavarz, M. (2016) Design-Politics: An Inquiry into Passports,
|
|
|
Camps and Borders. Malmö University, Faculty of Culture and Society.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Khosravi, S. (2010) “illegal” traveller: An auto-ethnography of
|
|
|
borders. 2010th ed. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Khosravi, S. (ed.) (2021) Waiting - A Project in Conversation.
|
|
|
transcript Verlag.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>M’charek, A. (2020) “Harraga: Burning borders, navigating
|
|
|
colonialism,” The sociological review, 68(2), pp. 418–434. doi:
|
|
|
10.1177/0038026120905491.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Malichudis, S. (2020) How the Aegean islands became a warehouse of
|
|
|
souls, Solomon. Available at:
|
|
|
https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/
|
|
|
(Accessed: April 7, 2024).</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>McKittrick, K. (2021) Dear science and other stories. Durham, NC:
|
|
|
Duke University Press.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Mouffe, C. (2008) ‘Art and Democracy: Art as an Agonistic
|
|
|
Internvention’. Open:14 Art as a Public Issue, No.14 (2008), p.4</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Pater, R. (2021) Caps lock: How capitalism took hold of graphic
|
|
|
design, and how to escape from it. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Valiz.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Picozza, F. (2021). The coloniality of asylum : mobility, autonomy
|
|
|
and solidarity in the wake of Europe’s refugee crisis. London: Rowman
|
|
|
& Littlefield Publishers.</p>
|
|
|
|
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|
</div>
|
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|
</body>
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