CFP: ˇNo Borders! Towards a new political geography of “immigration”
Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (Seattle,
April 12-16, 2011)
Organizers: Hunter Jackson (The Graduate Center, CUNY) and Jennifer
Ridgley (Center for Place, Culture and Politics, CUNY)
While from a historical perspective, the global system of migration
controls is relatively new, it has become largely naturalized in both
policy making circles and geographical scholarship. This lack of a
critical perspective on international boundaries themselves results in
a reading of 'immigration' that privileges the perspective of the
state and inherently casts border crossing as a problem that needs to
be solved. In solidarity with broad based movements for immigrants’
rights, however, a growing number of activists and scholars around the
world have taken up a call for a politics that does not take the
existence of borders, controls over the movement of people, or
differential access to rights based on citizenship status for granted.
We seek participants for several sessions at the AAG who are
interested in thinking through what it means to engage in geographical
scholarship or organizing work from a “no borders” or “freedom of
movement” perspective.
For example:
How can geographers doing work on immigration and borders ground their
work in a freedom of movement framework? What do geographers have to
contribute to a "no borders" perspective?
What already existing or emerging forms of political thought and
action are challenging the global system of migration controls?
How do these challenges intersect with other struggles and bodies of
political theory? (for example, anti-racist, anti-colonial, and
anti-capitalist traditions)
What does it mean to advance a “no borders” politics in an era of
rising anti-immigrant sentiment?
We seek participants for both a paper and panel session, and envision
a format that prioritizes open discussion, rather than formal
presentations. If you are interested in being a part of these
sessions, please send a brief abstract (for the paper session) or
expression of interest (for the panel) to Hunter Jackson
([log in to unmask]) or Jennifer Ridgley ([log in to unmask])
by October 18th. We welcome participants at all stages of their
research and careers.
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