Papers by Huub Dijstelbloem
Geopolitics, 2019
This paper seeks to expand recent interest in the material practices, policy techniques and techn... more This paper seeks to expand recent interest in the material practices, policy techniques and technopolitics of borders, migration and solidarity initiatives in Europe by connecting this debate to Sloterdijk’s spherological philosophy. With his thematization of enclosures, atmospheres, foams and life sup- port Sloterdijk helps us to give a more morphological account of borders. We illustrate the benefits of this move by reflecting on the recent questions of hostile environment and the crim- inalization of migrant solidarity practices and movements. The paper also highlights certain limitations in Sloterdijk’s thoughts, which appear when it is brought into migration research. Arguing that Sloterdijk remains somewhat sedantarist in his approach to atmosphere we introduce a concept of the envelope as a way to foster a more dynamic, agonistic and mobilityfocused conception of enclosure.
The Multiple Movements of the Humanitarian Border The Portable Provision of Care and Control at the Aegean Islands, 2019
The “humanitarian border” that emerged at the Aegean Islands of Chios and Lesbos during the so ca... more The “humanitarian border” that emerged at the Aegean Islands of Chios and Lesbos during the so called “refugee crisis” arose out of various engagements with care and control. A humanitarian border can be said to consist of the entanglements between humanitarianism and securitization. But how do care and control materialize in practice and how can they move from one place to another? By combining the notion of the “humanitarian border” with the concept of “viapolitics” and an actor-network lens, and based on interviews with state authorities, volunteers and NGOs, this article brings in three claims. First, by studying the “missing masses”, the humanitarian border can be said to arise out of “conjoint actions” that concern engagement with peoples and objects of all sorts. Second, the humanitarian border is not only of a composite nature but of a mobile nature as well. Third, the interstructure of the humanitarian border is generated by a productive relationship between the fluidity of network configurations on the one hand and emerging frictions on the other. By studying the situated tensions between humanitarianism and securitization and focusing on the circulation of materialities of all sorts the movements that make up a humanitarian border can be displayed.
The relation between vision and action is a key element of both practices and conceptualizations ... more The relation between vision and action is a key element of both practices and conceptualizations of border surveillance in Europe. This paper engages with what we call the ‘operative vision’ of surveillance at sea, specifically as performed by the border control apparatus in the Aegean. Elaborating on three examples of fieldwork conducted at the Aegean and the islands of Chios and Lesbos, this paper analyzes the consequences of this operative vision in a political way. One of the main aims is too bring the figure of the migrant back in to the study of border technologies. By combining insights from Science and Technology Studies with Border, Mobility and Security Studies, the article distinguishes between processes of intervention, mobilization and realization and to emphasize the role of migrants in their encounter with surveillance operations. Two claims are brought forward. Firstly, engaging with recent scholarly work on the visual politics of border surveillance we circumscribe an ongoing ‘transactional politics’. Secondly, the dynamic interplay between vision and action brings about a situation of ‘recalcitrance’ in which mobile objects and subjects of various kinds are drawn into securitized relations, for instance in encounters between coast guard boats and migrant boats at sea. Without reducing migrants to epiphenomena of those relations, this recalcitrance typifies the objects of surveillance as both relatable as well as resistant particularly in the tensions between border control and Search and Rescue.
B en M - Beleid en Maatschappij, 2003
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Papers by Huub Dijstelbloem