Border Zemiologies

The harmful nature of borders permeates all aspects of our social lives. Contemporary bordering is increasingly characterised by invisibilised forms of bureaucratic violence, which include restrictions on housing, access to healthcare, personal autonomy, opportunities to work or study, and even marriage, family rights, and relationships. The effects of these barriers to human realisation range from dehumanisation and degradation to the infliction of mental, emotional, or physical harms. The sesocially mediated harms are often difficult to recognise and have complex causes,making harm mitigation evermore challenging.

This thematic group seeks to explore and expose the multifarious impacts of bordering in the everyday lives of migrants, and the personal and societal consequences of border harms. We are interested in highlighting the racialised and gendered implications of neo-colonial legacies of exclusion, from the exceptional to the mundane. We welcome interest in autonomy harms, emotional and psychological harms, physical harms, relational harms, environmental and non-human harms, and in any strategies to counteract and resist these border harms. In particular, we strive to encourage a platform for those most affected by border harms to speak out, and for those with capacity to challenge border harms to engage and collaborate.

If you would like to join the group please contact one of the three convenors: Imen El Amouri (I.ElAmouri@tilburguniversity.edu), Francesca Soliman (F.Soliman@napier.ac.uk), and Victoria Canning (v.canning@lancaster.ac.uk).