In this lecture, Albahari will outline the emergence of the Mediterranean Sea as the world’s deadliest international border, focusing in particular on the central (Libya-Italy) and eastern (Turkey-Greece) migratory routes. By considering both the geopolitical context and the human dimension of the ongoing “crisis,” Albahari will illustrate how the separation between Europe and the Mediterranean constitutes an unsustainable status quo that can be perpetuated only at an excruciating cost. Finally, the lecture explores the fundamental role of citizens, in Europe and more generally in Mediterranean coastal locations, in challenging sovereign boundaries of mourning, responsibility, and belonging.

Maurizio Albahari is the author of Crimes of Peace: Mediterranean Migrations at the World’s Deadliest Border (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). He is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame (Ph.D. UC Irvine; B.A. University of Florence, Italy), where he is also affiliated with the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and the Center for Civil and Human Rights. Recent articles focusing on human rights, citizenship, and democracy in light of the ongoing refugee crisis have appeared or are forthcoming in Anthropology Today, Anthropological Quarterly, Social Research, Anthropology Now, and other academic journals. Actively pursuing the intersections of public scholarship and engaged citizenship, Albahari has also published articles and editorials with venues including Perspektif, Fox News, History News Network, and CNN.