The dangerous individual in a time of migration: Periculum, dominium and dangerousness

Abstract

This chapter analyses the relationship between the etymology of danger, the theoretical reflections regarding the historical uses of this notion, and the applicability of all this to the current migration crisis. More precisely, I first set the conceptual stage by providing a brief examination of two main etymological branches that correspond to the idea of danger: periculum and dominium. These are presented for the purpose of extracting some theoretical insights from the historical uses of language to convey and designate danger. These insights are then applied in the following section to draw a connection to historical and contemporary debates in the field of criminology. The idea of (criminal) dangerousness serves as the link to connect the uses of language, the social process of naming and labelling, and the criminological analysis of what could be called dangerousness discourse. Finally, the underlined insights are applied in a tentative reading of the migration crisis, through the lens of what we will call dangerization and endangerment. Conceptual connections to periculum and dominium are used as anchor points to analyse some of the characteristic features through which the migration crisis has manifested in recent times.