Borders, Detention, and the Disruptive Power of the Noisy-Subject

Abstract Violent borders are one of the most pressing ethical and political questions of our time. This article seeks to challenge the violent construction of borders through the concept of noise. Drawing on Michel Serres's philosophy of noise and Marie Thompson's emphasis on its affectiveness, the article shows the generative, disruptive, and affective power of noise at the border. I argue that noise creates a disruption in the system and, in doing so, calls for new encounters and relations that operate within and beyond existing power relations. I suggest that the figure of the noisy-subject creates, interrupts, and disturbs the border. The noisy-subject simultaneously prompts disorder and order on the border and transforms it into a third space that is neither simply captured by the sovereign nor fully emancipated from its power. The border as a third space constantly moves with the affective force of its noisy-subjects.