Thanatic Ethics: The Circulation of Bodies in Migratory Spaces

Talk with Bidisha Banerjee.

This presentation will provide an introduction to and overview of the international, transdisciplinary project titled Thanatic Ethics: The Circulation of Bodies in Migratory Spaces that explores death in migration. Since the project began in 2020, we have had a series of webinars, 5 workshops and 4 international conferences. The events have covered themes such as response, repair and transformation, the immaterial and the sensory in death in migration, accountability, art and representation, and the Mediterranean. The Thanatic Ethics network has also published two special issues emerging from these conferences and workshops. My presentation will provide an overview of the project and discuss the key themes we have explored.

Bio

Bidisha Banerjee is Associate Professor of English and Acting Head of Department in the Literature and Cultural Studies Department at the Education University of Hong Kong. She has published widely on South Asian diasporic literature and film, visual culture, and the refugee graphic novel. She leads the transdisciplinary project Thanatic Ethics: The Circulation of Bodies in Migratory Spaces. She recently published her monograph Traces of the Real: The Absent Presence of Photography in South Asian Literature (Liverpool University Press, 2025) as well as the edited collection Thanatic Ethics: The Circulation of Bodies in Migratory Spaces. She has also co-edited special issues on Thanatic Ethics with Interventions (2024) and Cultural Studies (2026) and on the refugee graphic novel with the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics (2025).