Seminar: Island Detentions and the Erosion of Asylum in the Enforcement Archipelago

SPECIAL SEMINAR CO-HOSTED BY BORDER CRIMINOLOGIES (CENTRE FOR CRIMINOLOGY) AND THE TRANSFORMATIONS CLUSTER (SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY AND THE ENVIRONMENT): 

Alison Mountz (Canada Research Chair in Global Migration, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University) 

Island Detentions and the Erosion of Asylum in the Enforcement Archipelago

This talk will explore struggles over access, entry, exclusion, and detention of migrants and asylum-seekers on islands. The islands are located along the peripheral edges of sovereign territory where migrants try to land, work, and seek asylum. Far from peripheral, migration-related activities offshore are central to understanding dynamic configurations of sovereignty and asylum in the interplay between geography, law, and jurisdiction. Their location is also significant for border enforcement authorities, raising issues surrounding legality and legal status, precarity, governance, and the shifting global landscape of asylum.