CALL FOR PAPERS
Special Session for the Third International and
Interdisciplinary Conference on Emotional Geographies
Session Title: Border Panic? Re-thinking Emotions on the Edge
Provocation: Despite utopian predictions that the age of globalization would do away with the anachronism of borders, the post-9/11 security environment has intensified border politics as new security technologies, procedures and regulations are used to police the edges of the nation-state: in airports, coastal waters, walls and fences. As the falling of the
Yet this focus on border panic/border anxiety fails to take into account the complexity of emotions we feel at the borders: from the boredom of the airport lounge to the fear and trepidation of refugees fleeing across borders, from the sadness of leaving loved ones to the joy of starting anew. Perhaps too, if we listen carefully at the edges of the state we may find here the shame of the transgressor meeting the disgust of those who feel transgressed. The border re-invents itself, re-aligns itself and embeds itself in our bodies, in our most visceral beings, forcing us to confront not just the borders of the nation-state but the borders of our communities and bodies. What work does emotion do in the production of borders? What emotions do different borders evoke?
In a similar vein, emotions themselves transgress the borders of our bodies as they spark resonances in our surroundings, across other spaces and to other bodies. How does emotion travel across borders? Can e-motion subvert borders and boundaries? Why are some emotions attached to particular localities while others are presumed to naturally transcend political geographies? What are the emotions and affects of migration and travel?
Convenor: Gilbert Caluya
, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The Centre for Postcolonial and Globalization Studies, Hawke Research Institute,
gilbert.caluya@unisa.edu.au
Please send 200-250 word abstracts to the convenor by