Multiple Roles and Role Conflict: Seafarers As Economic, Humanitarian and Security Actors

Abstract

AbstractThe chapter aims to draw attention to the experiences of seafarers when encountering undocumented migrants in the maritime domain. Focussing on seafarers’ interactions with stowaways and migrants across the Mediterranean Sea, it explores the tensions, contradictions and outcomes that arise from the often-diverging expectations placed upon seafarers. The chapter demonstrates how seafarers are forced to assume multiple and conflicting economic, humanitarian and security roles in their interactions with stowaways and migrants at sea. Navigating the tensions and conflicts between these roles can prove challenging for seafarers with severe implications for both seafarers and the migrants in some instances.