ABSTRACT
The chapter examines the social imaginary of the jungle within the border politics of Calais and ‘Fortress Europe’. The distinctiveness of the Calais camps lies mainly in the ‘colonial leitmotif’ of the jungle. As a container of transient human life yet not fully accorded any protection beyond its borders, the jungle connotes the camp as a complex and polysemic site where bare life is produced and where states of exception can be applied.
