Refugee fictions: Brexit and the maintenance of borders in the European union

This chapter examines the key cultural issue that defined the 2016 EU referendum: immigration. By analysing short stories concerning the Syrian refugee crisis, the chapter demonstrates the significance of borders to Britain as a nation-state and the psychogeographical importance of borders to European society more generally. It is argued that the act of border crossing was utilised during the EU referendum campaign as a scare tactic and instrument of control in the formation of a Fortress Europe. Contemporary refugee narratives are shown to offer redemptive responses to the brutal injustices of forced migration, exposing the cultural dismissal of those seeking asylum in a political climate of atavistic nationalism and widespread xenophobia.