Visual Power, Representation and Migration Law: Framing Migrants

Interrogates how the images of migrants and refugees effect the legitimacy of legal changes in the area of migration law

• Analyses the relationship between typical depictions of migrants and affective response of the viewers to these images
• Examines 5 selected archetypal migrant figures: the ‘genuine’ and ‘bogus’ asylum seeker, the mass, the invisible illegal, the other and the innocent
• Examines the relationship between legal interpretation, decision making and policy making
• Compares perspectives from Australia, Europe and the USA
• Includes 10 illustrations used by sources such as the Australian Government, electoral campaigns and major news sources

This book analyses the dominant imagery related to migration and illustrates how framing of migrants as subjects viewed through the lens of the host gaze positions them for exclusion and marginalisation. It focuses on comparative sources derived from public and media visual campaigns focusing on migration issues. It illustrates how the ethical gap that the host-centric way of looking creates results in the growing suspicion of the migrant and how this ethical gap broadens and impacts on the legal exclusion of migrants as legal subjects.