Le Blanc, G. (2025). Let Live or Let Die: Stranger to the Nation. Translated by Kaitlin Sager. In: Elhariry, Y., Keller-Privat, I., Tamalet Talbayev, E. (eds) Re-Membering Hospitality in the Mediterranean. Mediterranean Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-84043-2_9
Abstract
This chapter explores Michel Foucault’s analysis of biopolitics and its application to contemporary migration and refugee issues. Drawing on Foucault’s analogy between the madman and the foreigner, the study examines how modern migrants embody the status of “border-being,” as they are simultaneously included and excluded from society. The notion of hospitality is criticized as a mechanism that facilitates exclusion under the guise of care, with refugee camps serving as the instruments of segregation and invisibility. The text extends Foucault’s concepts, arguing that biopolitics today bifurcates toward the management of productive lives and the relegation of unproductive ones—especially migrants—to the margins. The chapter highlights the racialization of migrants, which moves from biological to cultural “neo-racism,” wherein cultural differences sustain exclusion. An interrogation of the role of humanitarian governance likens the process to managing “undesirables,” and identifies parallels between historical mechanisms of exclusion and contemporary migration management, such as surveillance and detention. The analysis critiques the re-legitimization of the nation-state through the biopolitical distinction between nationals and foreigners, underpinned by disciplinary technologies. Finally, the study reflects on the symbolic invisibility of migrant spaces, like camps and jungles, as heterotopias that spatialize exclusion and reinforce national identities. The conclusion calls for a reconsideration of the intersection of biopolitics, national borders, and social governance in the face of global migration challenges.
Foucault News 