(Im)mobility Economies: Extractivism of the Refugee as a Human Commodity
This chapter advances a resource extractive framework for understanding the expansion of extraction and capitalist activity into the governance of human mobility. I utilise a theoretical framework centred on resource extraction to argue that the figure of the refugee is entangled in extractive capit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Institut de Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Revue Internationale de Politique de Développement |
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| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/poldev/5430 |
| _version_ | 1797809608131084288 |
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| author | Julia C. Morris |
| author_facet | Julia C. Morris |
| author_sort | Julia C. Morris |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This chapter advances a resource extractive framework for understanding the expansion of extraction and capitalist activity into the governance of human mobility. I utilise a theoretical framework centred on resource extraction to argue that the figure of the refugee is entangled in extractive capitalism. Understanding the expansion of extractive industries into ‘frontiering’ practices requires attention to asylum as a form of governance, powered by a heavily racialised and liberal-positioned performative economy. Asylum is one means of entry across the hardened nation state borders of the current racialised global order. In putting forward an asylum claim, migrants (largely the Black and brown poor from the global South) must perform within a particular objectified narrative, making claims on their bodies to move between sovereign states. This performative dimension can allow for agency, but it is also a mode of subjectification that creates immense power imbalances, while profiting a vast industry of corporate, non-governmental, government, and other actors. Arguing that value is extracted from migrants as resources, I also probe the power of liberal-leftist representations, which help sustain this (im)mobility economy. Tropes of refugee suffering have gained popularity, leading to the fetishisation and durability of refugee extractivism, all while obscuring the massively consequential impacts of the industry. By moving outside of state and industry categorisations, we might better imagine alternative systems of free movement that go beyond adjudicating human worth and solidifying hierarchies of suffering. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T06:55:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dc7437101b42483b8371fd509edda67b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1663-9375 1663-9391 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T06:55:17Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | Institut de Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Revue Internationale de Politique de Développement |
| spelling | doaj.art-dc7437101b42483b8371fd509edda67b2023-06-07T11:58:33ZengInstitut de Hautes Études Internationales et du DéveloppementRevue Internationale de Politique de Développement1663-93751663-93912023-05-0110.4000/poldev.5430(Im)mobility Economies: Extractivism of the Refugee as a Human CommodityJulia C. MorrisThis chapter advances a resource extractive framework for understanding the expansion of extraction and capitalist activity into the governance of human mobility. I utilise a theoretical framework centred on resource extraction to argue that the figure of the refugee is entangled in extractive capitalism. Understanding the expansion of extractive industries into ‘frontiering’ practices requires attention to asylum as a form of governance, powered by a heavily racialised and liberal-positioned performative economy. Asylum is one means of entry across the hardened nation state borders of the current racialised global order. In putting forward an asylum claim, migrants (largely the Black and brown poor from the global South) must perform within a particular objectified narrative, making claims on their bodies to move between sovereign states. This performative dimension can allow for agency, but it is also a mode of subjectification that creates immense power imbalances, while profiting a vast industry of corporate, non-governmental, government, and other actors. Arguing that value is extracted from migrants as resources, I also probe the power of liberal-leftist representations, which help sustain this (im)mobility economy. Tropes of refugee suffering have gained popularity, leading to the fetishisation and durability of refugee extractivism, all while obscuring the massively consequential impacts of the industry. By moving outside of state and industry categorisations, we might better imagine alternative systems of free movement that go beyond adjudicating human worth and solidifying hierarchies of suffering.http://journals.openedition.org/poldev/5430refugeesasylummigrationmobilitycommodificationextractivism |
| spellingShingle | Julia C. Morris (Im)mobility Economies: Extractivism of the Refugee as a Human Commodity Revue Internationale de Politique de Développement refugees asylum migration mobility commodification extractivism |
| title | (Im)mobility Economies: Extractivism of the Refugee as a Human Commodity |
| title_full | (Im)mobility Economies: Extractivism of the Refugee as a Human Commodity |
| title_fullStr | (Im)mobility Economies: Extractivism of the Refugee as a Human Commodity |
| title_full_unstemmed | (Im)mobility Economies: Extractivism of the Refugee as a Human Commodity |
| title_short | (Im)mobility Economies: Extractivism of the Refugee as a Human Commodity |
| title_sort | im mobility economies extractivism of the refugee as a human commodity |
| topic | refugees asylum migration mobility commodification extractivism |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/poldev/5430 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT juliacmorris immobilityeconomiesextractivismoftherefugeeasahumancommodity |