The Voice of Silence: Exploring how 'Illegal' ImmigrantPopulations Become Emancipated Through Silent Forms ofPolitical Participation

In the face of rising global migration, we are witnessing how migrants, in particular refugees, are forming an increasingly large political community that has no formal 'citizenship' and no formal voice. As this unfolds, we need to rethink our perception of what it means to be, and how one can be, emancipated politically. It is in this context that my research asks, how can 'illegal' immigrant populations become emancipated through silent forms of political participation"? While, conventionally, we understand speech as the way to be political, increasing global migration pushes to ask: what does politics look like without speech? My project seeks to understand what possibilities for emancipation there are for populations who have been, or are, silenced. This focus means the project will research how, for silenced populations, the body-its movements, actions, and expressions-is a key vehicle for political participation. This theoretical argument will be tested through three case studies within the US, Europe and Australia; 1) the silent protests undertaken by refugees within the detention centre on Manus Island in 2017; 2) the silent protests of refugees caught between the Greek and Macedonian border crossing in 2015; and 3) the silent actions undertaken by undocumented migrants in the US. This will be done to examine whether silent protests are a distinct way that marginalised populations can act politically while being denied political standing.