Gendered and Racialised Border Security: Displaced People and the Politics of Fear

Maja Korac

doi:10.5204/ijcjsd.v9i3.1590

Abstract

This article examines the dynamics of constructing current migration from the so-called Global South in ‘risk’, ‘crisis’ and ‘fear’ terms that translate into xenophobic, racialised and gendered processes of ‘othering’ people who are displaced. This is done within the framework of a ‘coloniality of power’ (Quijano 2000b) perspective, understood as the ‘colonial power matrix’ (Grosfoguel 2011). This is how the location from which the current racialised and gendered politics of fear is being constructed. The notion of racialised security leads to racialised masculinity of the ‘Other’, while stigmatising migrant men. These colonial narratives that have created ‘knowledge’ about other masculinities have been invoked and re-articulated within the current racialised processes of securitisation of migration. They have supported construction of the sexual assault of ‘our’ women as the public security concern. Consequently, racially marked rape becomes an important part of State security, linked to national territory and border control.

Highlights

When Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi referred to the hotly debated ‘need’ for a wall for protection from migrants along the Mexican border with the United States (US), as the ‘manhood’ issue (DeBonis 2018) she pointed to the border implications of highly gendered and racialised politics of State security that characterise twenty-first century migration and related security debates
This study shows that 7% of women globally report having been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner, with 12.6% being in wealthy countries compared to 11.9% in Africa
This paper highlighted the coloniality of power causing the North–South migration divide, structured by race, gender and class

Summary

Introduction

When Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi referred to the hotly debated ‘need’ for a wall for protection from migrants along the Mexican border with the United States (US), as the ‘manhood’ issue (DeBonis 2018) she pointed to the border implications of highly gendered and racialised politics of State security that characterise twenty-first century migration and related security debates. I examine the dynamics involved in constructing current migration from the so-called Global South in ‘risk’, ‘crisis’ and ‘fear’ terms, which translate into xenophobic, racialised and gendered processes of ‘othering’ people who are displaced This is done so within the framework of a ‘coloniality of power’ (Quijano 2000b) perspective, understood as the ‘colonial power matrix’ that affects all dimensions of social existence and continues to structure the world (Grosfoguel 2011; Quijano 2000b). By analysing some of the reports and media coverage, predominantly from Germany, I show how the construction of migrant (Muslim) men as misogynistic and violent towards women, shaped by gendered interpretation of cultural and religious differences, help to enforce external and create internal borders This racialised ‘politics of fear’ (Ahmed 2004) shaped by the coloniality of power has produced a powerful social script of victimisation of the besieged that is central to racialised and gendered processes of securitisation of migration in the Global North. The Global North’s response to these developments was to ensure the security of its (national) borders by imposing new ‘technologies of control’ (Nyers 2003), often resulting in humanitarian crises in border zones

Racialised Security

Findings

Concluding Remarks