Forced migrants: exclusion, incorporation and a moral economy of deservingness

The chapter examines the dynamics of contemporary forced migration initially through the lens of various well-established theoretical approaches. It considers the utility of theories in the context of the lived realities of forced migrants within what is defined here as a ‘circumscribed liminality’. Here migrants are described as experiencing an enigma of arrival in locations such as Malta where they are held and ‘processed’ as asylum seekers while seeking a passage to destinations in mainland Europe. A crucial determinant of migrant journeys are shifting laws and policies and practices based on states of exception that offer, or foreclose, various avenues of access for migrants seeking to reach a chosen destination. They may thus find themselves in protracted situations in liminal spaces such as ‘The Jungle’ in Calais and asylum seeker centers in Malta. To address the complexities of contemporary forced migration, an integrated theoretical approach is developed encompassing considerations of the deservingness of migrant groups