Résumé
Although the so-called migrant crisis has been ongoing for over a decade now, instead of dealing with migrant deaths more empathetically, populist agendas around the world have led to a hardening of ‘us versus them' narratives and ever more restrictive migration policies. 2023 was the deadliest year on record, with 8565 migrant deaths, with actual numbers thought to be even higher. The re-election of Donald Trump in the United States, followed quickly by his institution of blatantly anti-immigrant policies, coupled with ‘Fortress Europe'’ rhetoric in Europe, has fueled serious concerns for migrants globally. This is exacerbated by a confounding lack of care for the plight of refugees who die on their perilous migratory journeys. Their construction as illegitimate because they are undocumented, along with the frequent irretrievability of their bodies when they perish, normalizes the death of migrants and reinforces the impossibility of mourning. Turning to care ethics fraught by questions of relationality, we want to suggest that a transdisciplinary approach in which literature and the arts, along with the social sciences, play an important role, can offer alternative routes in thinking about migrant death.