How a body becomes a boat: The asylum seeker in law and images

Justine Poon*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    6 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat to seek protection have been the catalyst for significant legal reform and the proliferation of political discourses. The paper analyses the metaphor of the boat as being a common trope in the legislative category of the “unauthorized maritime arrival” and in the government images that advertised this legal change. The figure of the boat effaces the asylum-seeker’s body from the frame of law and discourse and constructs a myth about sovereignty and borders that enables coercive control over asylum seeker bodies.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)105-121
    Number of pages17
    JournalLaw and Literature
    Volume30
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2 Jan 2018

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