Situating the Refugee: A Biopolitical Inquiry into Deep Halder’s Blood Island

The paper uses the biopolitical framework conceptualised by Foucault and Agamben to critically examine the figure of the refugee and its representation in Deep Halder's Blood Island: An Oral History of the Marichjhapi Massacre.The book attempts to reconstruct the history of the Marichjhapi massacre in January 1979 through interviews with survivors, journalists, activists and government officials by unearthing the series of events leading to the massacre.This paper attempts to look deeper into the dynamics of power relations between refugees and the State.The paper attempts to show refugees as the modern-day homo sacer, homo sacer being the figure of 'exception' in ancient Roman Law.What makes one's life to be an exception?Who decides on the exception?How do refugee occupancies become exceptional spaces?The paper searches for answers to these questions.It also shows how the subversion of stereotypes associated with refugees is not only a challenge to the dominant constructions of refugees but also an act of reclaiming the humanity they lost with their political identity.This paper also studies the relevance of oral history as a counternarrative to hegemonic discourses of history that constructs refugee as a threat and a life devoid of value.