Not to be confused with Unperson or Persona non grata. For other uses, see Impersonality.
An individual without social status or documentation
A nonperson is a citizen or a member of a group who lacks, loses, or is forcibly denied social or legal status, especially basic human rights, or who effectively ceases to have a record of their existence within a society (damnatio memoriae), from a point of view of traceability, documentation, or existence.[citation needed] The term also refers to people whose death is unverifiable.[citation needed]
Legal status[edit]
In the case of undocumented immigrants and at times foreign nationals in the United States who have entered the country legally, there are comparisons made to non-personhood due to their lack of agency and differential treatment under the law.[1]
See also[edit]
- Damnatio memoriae
- Disenfranchisement
- Exile, which includes internal exile
- Former people
- Homo sacer
- Internally displaced person
- Outlaw
- Persona non grata
- Personhood
- Stateless person
References[edit]
- ^ Johnson, Kevin (1997-01-01). "The Social and Legal Construction of Nonpersons". University of Miami Inter-American Law Review. 28 (2): 263.