Refugees, migrants, and minorities of migrant origin frequently appear in European mainstream news in emergency situations: victims of human trafficking, suspects of terrorism, “bogus” asylum seekers. Through analysis of work by established filmmakers Michael Haneke, Fatih Akin, and Alfonso Cuarón, In Permanent Crisis contemplates the way mass media depictions become invoked by film to frame ethnic and racial Otherness in Europe as adornments of catastrophe. Special attention is given here to European auteur films in which riots, terrorism, criminal activities, and honor killings bring Europe’s minorities to the forefront of public visibility only to reduce them to perpetrators or victims of violence.
“I am sure In Permanent Crisis will become a key work in the fields of transnational migration and cinema studies as it without doubt offers a fresh and original look at the often frustratingly limited discourse at the intersection of these fields.”
—Fatima El-Tayeb, University of California, San Diego
“In Permanent Crisis offers an original, sophisticated, and politically insightful critique of four 21st century transnational feature films dealing with migration to Western and Southern Europe. Ipek A. Celik makes a significant contribution to European cultural studies, film studies, and broader discussions of migration, racism, and the anxieties of national identity formation.”
—Anne Donadey, San Diego State University
Cover: photograph of Croydon Riots 2011 © Raymond Yau
