In this article I use Arendt's thought to analyze the different responses to the so-called "refugee crisis" by European governments and I contrast them with the self-image that the European Union has attempted to cultivate. With this aim, I connect the issue with Arendt's concept of the "pariah" and her notion of "worldlessness". Further, I examine the limitations and perplexities that Arendt found behind the discourse of human rights and how it implies that an effective protection of the refugee can never be ensured. This is the reason why, I conclude, the refugee tends to be represented as a kind of new and contemporary barbarian. © 2018 Centre for Women and Literature. Gender, sexualities and cultural criticism. All Rights Reserved.

human rights Refugees Pariah World Hannah Arendt European Union

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