From the Womb to the Borders: The Politics of Carcerality in Social Reproduction

Abstract

ABSTRACT Over the last several years, several reforms have been implemented in Sweden, specifically targeting women and children in what the state has named as “vulnerable areas”. The reforms have been presented as feminist measures that will secure the integration of “foreign-born women” and reduce everything from criminality to poverty. This article explores the public debate on the relationship between families and crime, the reform of the supplement to family with more than one child and family planning. The article discusses how racialized mothers and their children are defined as a threat to the nation, its welfare and its national security. Inspired by feminist research on the relationship between social reproduction and the carceral state, I argue that analysis of the current political conjuncture in Sweden needs to take into consideration how policing in the streets and at the nation’s borders is entangled with policing in the sphere of social reproduction.