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Citation |
Walsh SN. Crime Prev. Community Safety 2008; 10(1): 48-64. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2008, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group -- Palgrave-Macmillan) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
In the midst of the Peloponnesian War the city of Athens held its last ostrakaphoria, the ritualized ostracism that served to thwart the ambitions of potential tyrants. Now, in the arena of contemporary politics, a new form of exile has emerged, the so-called residency ban enacted against individuals categorized as sex offenders that effectively prohibits them from maintaining domicile within participating municipalities. It is at the site of exile, perhaps more than at the site of even death itself, that the state reveals its failure. The exile is the actor beyond compliance, insufficiently disciplined and improperly socialized. In this paper, I examine the revaluation of power as represented in the comparison of ancient and modern exile. I argue that the futile effort to control sexual predation through the use of exile succeeds in inadvertently creating a new kind of political resistance. Through the lens of exile a notion of modern power emerges that is inverted from its ancient antecedent. |