Borders as mirrors: racial hierarchies and policing migration
This article considers how state-controlled borders and bordering practices are conceptualized, what they symbolize and the consequences of these representations. By critically analysing the metaphors that are used to describe borders and migration, and drawing on empirical research on policing migr...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer
2020
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| _version_ | 1826307092900741120 |
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| author | Parmar, A |
| author_facet | Parmar, A |
| author_sort | Parmar, A |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This article considers how state-controlled borders and bordering practices are conceptualized, what they symbolize and the consequences of these representations. By critically analysing the metaphors that are used to describe borders and migration, and drawing on empirical research on policing migration in the UK, an alternative metaphor; where borders are heuristically depicted as mirrors, may be instructive for capturing the multiple functions of borders and their racializing consequences. I propose that borders and their control across western liberal democracies are like mirrors that represent, reflect and at times deflect the reality of exclusionary attitudes and the racialized anxieties they foment. Harnessing the function of borders through a process of self-reflection, where societies hold a mirror to themselves may be both instructive and transformative. By reconsidering the metaphors employed in relation to migration, the article contributes to interdisciplinary debates on border studies, critical race perspectives and the criminalization of mobility. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:57:48Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:feb9c44e-262f-4376-aabd-adc8437d8214 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:57:48Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Springer |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:feb9c44e-262f-4376-aabd-adc8437d82142022-03-27T13:38:51ZBorders as mirrors: racial hierarchies and policing migrationJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:feb9c44e-262f-4376-aabd-adc8437d8214EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordSpringer2020Parmar, AThis article considers how state-controlled borders and bordering practices are conceptualized, what they symbolize and the consequences of these representations. By critically analysing the metaphors that are used to describe borders and migration, and drawing on empirical research on policing migration in the UK, an alternative metaphor; where borders are heuristically depicted as mirrors, may be instructive for capturing the multiple functions of borders and their racializing consequences. I propose that borders and their control across western liberal democracies are like mirrors that represent, reflect and at times deflect the reality of exclusionary attitudes and the racialized anxieties they foment. Harnessing the function of borders through a process of self-reflection, where societies hold a mirror to themselves may be both instructive and transformative. By reconsidering the metaphors employed in relation to migration, the article contributes to interdisciplinary debates on border studies, critical race perspectives and the criminalization of mobility. |
| spellingShingle | Parmar, A Borders as mirrors: racial hierarchies and policing migration |
| title | Borders as mirrors: racial hierarchies and policing migration |
| title_full | Borders as mirrors: racial hierarchies and policing migration |
| title_fullStr | Borders as mirrors: racial hierarchies and policing migration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Borders as mirrors: racial hierarchies and policing migration |
| title_short | Borders as mirrors: racial hierarchies and policing migration |
| title_sort | borders as mirrors racial hierarchies and policing migration |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT parmara bordersasmirrorsracialhierarchiesandpolicingmigration |