Borders as Mirrors: Racial Hierarchies and Policing Migration

Alpa Parmar

doi:10.1007/s10612-020-09517-1

Abstract

This article considers how state-controlled borders and bordering practices are conceptualized, what they symbolize, and the consequences of these representations. By analyzing critically the metaphors that are used to describe borders and migration, and by drawing on empirical research on policing migration in the United Kingdom, an alternative metaphor, where borders are depicted heuristically 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.

Highlights

Borders and bordering practices have prompted a gamut of critical empirical and conceptual analysis to explore some of the novel concerns raised by contemporary migration (Casas-Cortes et al 2015)
Based on my research findings and in light of the application of metaphors that are used to describe migration, I found it useful to develop a heuristic device or alternative metaphor of “borders as mirrors” in order to generate intellectual reflection about how bordering processes are as much about ourselves as they are about migrants or those perceived to be “others.” The idea of “borders as mirrors” adds to the literature on critical perspectives in criminology by complementing existing scholarship that encourages us to question the socio-political function of borders and their ubiquity, as well as the role of borders in excluding and criminalizing minority ethnic groups and in maintaining racial hierarchies and regulating foreigners across the globe (Aas 2016; Lalonde 2018; Lyon 2005; Preston and Perez 2006)
Sammy was categorized as potentially “high harm” and eligible for Nexus’s dedicated team. (For the purposes of Operation Nexus, foreign national offenders are considered as “high harm” cases where their conduct has resulted in significant adverse impact, whether physical, emotional or financial, on other individuals or the wider community (Home Office 2017).) I saw how criminal records were repurposed under Nexus and their digitization allowed the immediate sharing of previous convictions and recent criminal justice punishment information to be accessed, in order to create a file about a person (Jacobs 2015; Lageson and Maruna 2017)

Summary

Introduction

Borders and bordering practices have prompted a gamut of critical empirical and conceptual analysis to explore some of the novel concerns raised by contemporary migration (Casas-Cortes et al 2015). Based on my research findings and in light of the application of metaphors that are used to describe migration, I found it useful to develop a heuristic device or alternative metaphor of “borders as mirrors” in order to generate intellectual reflection about how bordering processes are as much about ourselves as they are about migrants or those perceived to be “others.” The idea of “borders as mirrors” adds to the literature on critical perspectives in criminology by complementing existing scholarship that encourages us to question the socio-political function of borders and their ubiquity, as well as the role of borders in excluding and criminalizing minority ethnic groups and in maintaining racial hierarchies and regulating foreigners across the globe (Aas 2016; Lalonde 2018; Lyon 2005; Preston and Perez 2006). Nexus was inaugurated in 2014 and has led to the removal of 3000 individuals between 2012 and 2015—a figure expected to increase following Brexit when European Union citizens will be subject to British immigration rules (Griffiths and Morgan 2017)

Methodology

Conclusion