Borders and Ghosts : Migratory Hauntings in Contemporary Visual Cultures

• Main Author: Saybasili, Nermin
• Published: Goldsmiths College (University of London) 2008
• Subjects: 701
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.504779

The work examines the issue of displacement and migration through the notion of the 'ghost' and in the context of hauntology, that is 'a science of ghosts', a 'science of what returns', proposed by Jacques Derrida. Focussing on the complexities of haunting and the very particular condition of ghostliness, the arguments throughout the text are centred on the production of subjectivities on/through borders/boundaries, in reference to both contemporary art practices and materials circulated in contemporary visual cultures. In its broadest sense, the study addresses fundamental questions such as: What gives the movement its starts? How is it possible to consider the complexities embedded in migratory movements? The study takes up theoretical models, bodies of artistic practice, ethnographgic case studies of specific locations in Turkey and the broader geographical region, to produce an in-depth cross section of migratory effects and perceptions. The main argument in this study is that immigration is not a problem in itself; it is rather produced as a 'problem'. This concern is played out through the theme of haunting. The conditions of haunting emerge when the illusion of coherence, stability, homogeneity and permanence is faced with .t he shadowy realities of displacement, dislocation, unbelonging, with all the other layers of diasporic formations and migration flows, with the crossover and overlap of cultures, and with hybrid identities and new ethnicities that are constantly being formed. It sets up an inquiry into strategies of uncovering hidden structures embedded in the realities of displacement and migration rather than simply focussing on mapping the trajectories and consequences of human movement. In this instance, the' notion of the 'ghost' emerges as a strategic tool in an attempt to connect the past to the present, the living to the non-living, presence to absence, the visible to the invisible, the near to the far, the abstraction to the materialization.