Smuggling the State into Transgression

Simon Harvey

Origin: Static Issue 02
Content: PDF

'The “illegal” can be “licit”’ suggests anthropologist Janet Roitman in her study of smuggling in the Chad Basin. Through this idea transgression, brought into the economy of what should be its adversary – law – would seem to lose much of its power and potential to undermine and overturn. But to subvert what exactly? Smuggling is only really subversive when it does not react to a specific prompt. It is much more likely that it will come into negotiation with the dominant band and often perform the latter’s business in alternative and more inventive ways. Many traffickings are, of course, violent and exploitative. The intention of this essay is neither to deny this, nor to promote what I consider to be smuggling’s potential – its productive modes of being-in-the-world – but instead to consider the collaborative ground of transgression/law from which these modalities, for better or for worse, are often able to emerge...'

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Contributor:

Simon Harvey is a lecturer in art theory at the Art Academy, University of Trondheim. His PhD was entitled 'Smuggling in Theories and Practices of Contemporary Visual Culture'. He is also a guide book writer.

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