Transnational Circuitry, Relational Enforcement, and the Promise of Feminist Methods in Comparative Research on Border Enforcement

Keywords: border enforcement, affective governmentality, political geography, feminist geography, feminist data visualization
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, border enforcing states throughout the world have developed and circulated public information campaigns (PICs) in an attempt to affect migration-related decisions and hinder unauthorized migration. While PICs can be conceptualized as a ‘softer’ side of enforcement in comparison to highly militarized enforcement efforts, they raise important questions related to the geography of enforcement and the ethics surrounding the circulation of highly graphic and violent messages. This presentation draws on data collected for a large comparative study of the use of PICs by Australia and the United States to illustrate: 1) how transnational circuits of people, money, and knowledge are key to enabling PICs to operate as a technology of enforcement; and 2) how border enforcement strategies are increasingly expansive, targeting families and communities in addition to migrants themselves. In doing so, we illustrate how examining PICs through a comparative lens allows us to see both continuities and differences in the way this form of enforcement develops and operates in different geographic sites. Moreover, we draw attention to the methodological challenges of doing research on border enforcement in different geographic sites and how feminist methods and approaches—namely feminist periscoping and feminist data visualization—are key tools that can help researchers navigate these challenges. Our analysis illustrates that the increasingly expansive and creative techniques of border enforcement and governments that shape our transnational world require researchers to be equally creative and expansive in our theoretical and methodological approaches.