Call for Papers: "Border Policing, Boundary Creation, and Emotions" and Workshop

We are pleased to announce a call for papers for a special issue of Emotions, Space and Society on the theme "Border Policing, Boundary Creation, and Emotions." This special issue will bring together cutting-edge research that explores the complex interplay between border policing practices, the creation and maintenance of boundaries, and the emotional experiences of those who enforce and are subjected to enforcement practices. As part of preparing the special issue, we are organizing a two day workshop in Leiden, on October 7th and 8th. This workshop is part of the Border Criminologies Network Thematic Group on Border Policing & Emotions and partially funded by the Netherlands Science Organisation (NWO), the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law & Society and Leiden University Interdisciplinary Research Program Social Citizenship & Migration (SCM).

Scope and Aims:

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition in the academic literature of the need to understand the emotional dimensions of border policing and boundary creation. Scholars such as Ahmed (2004) and Anderson (2012) have emphasized the significance of emotions in shaping social and political life, including the practices and experiences of bordering. This special issue responds to calls for more nuanced explorations of how emotions are implicated in the enforcement of borders and the creation of boundaries (Mountz, 2010; Jones, 2016).

Ahmed (2004) in "The Cultural Politics of Emotion" argues that emotions play a crucial role in the construction of national and racial boundaries, influencing who belongs and who is excluded. Building on this, Anderson (2012) in "Affective Atmospheres" discusses how spaces of border control are infused with affective atmospheres that impact both border enforcers and those subjected to border control measures. These works highlight the need to further investigate the emotional geographies of border policing and boundary-making. Additionally, Jones (2016) in "Violent Borders" explores how the enforcement of borders often involves violent practices that generate fear, anxiety, and other strong emotions. Similarly, Mountz (2010) in "Seeking Asylum" examines the emotional toll of border enforcement on both asylum seekers and border officials. These studies call for more comparative and global perspectives on how emotions shape and are shaped by border policing and boundary-making practices.

Moreover, the concept of emotional and affective labor, as discussed by Hochschild (1983) in "The Managed Heart" and expanded by other scholars (Wharton, 2009; McDowell, 2009), provides a critical framework for understanding the work involved in managing emotions within the context of border enforcement. Border police officers and other enforcement agents engage in significant emotional labor, managing their own emotions as well as those of the people they interact with. This special issue aims to explore how emotional and affective labor is integral to the practices of border policing and boundary creation.

This special issue will contribute to these existing conversation through papers that explore the following themes:

Emotional Geographies of Border Policing and Boundary Creation: How do emotions such as fear, anxiety, hope, and despair manifest in spaces of border control and boundary-making? What are the spatial dimensions of these emotional experiences?

Affect and Agency: How do emotions influence the actions and decisions of border police officers, boundary-makers, and other enforcement agents? Conversely, how do the emotional responses of migrants, refugees, and other border-crossers affect their interactions with border authorities and boundary creators?

Comparative Perspectives: How do emotional experiences of border policing and boundary-making vary across different geopolitical contexts? Comparative studies that highlight differences and similarities in emotional responses to border and boundary enforcement in various regions are particularly welcome.

Global Narratives and Local Realities: How do global discourses on security, migration, and sovereignty intersect with local emotional experiences of border policing and boundary-making?

Resistance and Resilience: What emotional strategies do individuals and communities employ to resist or cope with border policing and boundary-making practices? How do emotions foster resilience and solidarity among border-crossing and boundary-crossing populations?

Policy and Practice: What are the implications of emotional dynamics for the development and implementation of border policing and boundary-making policies? How can a better understanding of these emotional dimensions inform more humane and effective border and boundary management practices?

Historical and Cultural Dimensions: How have historical and cultural contexts shaped the emotional experiences of border policing and boundary-making? What can we learn from historical cases of border and boundary enforcement about the emotional dynamics at play?

Technological Mediation: How do technologies such as surveillance systems, biometric controls, and digital borders influence the emotional experiences of border policing and boundary creation? What new emotional landscapes emerge with the use of these technologies?

Bureaucratic and Legal Perspectives: How do bureaucratic and legal cultures condition border agents’ emotional lives? How can bureaucratic and legal mechanisms encourage or thwart the emergence of so-called “moral emotions,” and their related behavioral responses.

We encourage submissions from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including but not limited to geography, sociology, anthropology, political science, psychology, and law. Papers should be original contributions that have not been published previously and are not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Workshop October 7- 8

During our two (half) day hybrid workshop on Monday October 7th and Tuesday October 8th we would like everyone to present their work and idea for a written contribution to be submitted in Spring 2025 as part of a special issue. Each presentation will be followed by a group discussion aimed at helping the author to further sharpen their idea.

Furthermore, the aim of the workshop is to bring together scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds working on these topics to also further identify the most urgent and interesting gaps in the literature that is out there, with the aim to also incorporate these insights into the contributions of the special issue.

Important Dates:

Abstract Submission Deadline: September 1st, 2024

Notification of Acceptance: September 15, 2024

Submission Process:

Please submit your abstracts (maximum 450 words) to m.a.h.vanderwoude@law.leidenuniv.nl while using for the subject “October workshop.” Also, please indicate whether you plan to attend the workshop in person or online and, in case of the latter, in which time zone you are. The workshop will start on Monday October 7th at noon, and, depending on time zone will run until the evening. The second day of the workshop, October 8th, will start at 9.00 and ed at 1 pm/ 13.00 h.

We look forward to your contributions to this important and timely special issue.

Lisa-Marie Borrelli,

Amalia Campos Delgado,

Irene Vega,

Maartje van der Woude.