Rearticulating “Crisis” and the U.S.-Mexico Border

Abstract

This article examines how “crisis” declarations resonate within and reinforce a national imaginary that commonly configures the U.S.-Mexico border as under threat by migrants. Drawing on Karen Barad, the author approaches crisis declarations as phenomena produced via their entanglement with, and exclusion of, particular configurations of the border, a process that contributes to the ongoing sedimentation of “crisis.” The article specifically analyzes how a mix of digital practices and dominant understandings articulate a 2019 USA Today online project as being about an immigration and border “crisis” despite attempts by people involved to complicate crisis narratives.