54 min
E34: What does it mean to be mobile? Space, Place, and Mobility Part 2 (w/ Dr. Marian Aguiar) re:verb
-
- News
The spread of COVID-19 has changed the way we see our own relationship to space and mobility. Within this state of emergency, disparities in access are made more stark: as certain sectors of workers are able to continue their jobs under quarantine and observing social distancing guidelines while other sectors are forced into dangerous forms of mobility, borders old and new are being inscribed and reinscribed through austerity measures. The present crisis has exposed not only the existence but the extremity of this precarity, and has the paradoxical effect of making it seem like a shockwave momentarily fissuring our otherwise just system.
To explore some of these increasingly-relevant issues, we focus today’s episode around two discussions of the concept of “mobility” and how it functions in culture. The first is a free-roaming conversation between Alex and (newly-minted on the mic) co-producer Ben Williams about their shared experiences and reflections living in self-isolated “stasis,” as well as how the language of crisis in the era of COVID-19 belies structural inequalities already experienced by certain groups in our society. The second is an interview with Dr. Marian Aguiar, a professor of literary and cultural studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Aguiar has focused on issues in globalization, postcolonial studies, and feminism, and her recent work on refugee mobilities explores transnationalism through the ways we represent and imagine movement.
During this latter conversation with Dr. Aguiar, we examine what it means to be displaced, and how various accounts of migration stabilize and destabilize representations of refugeehood through narratives, visual documentation, and art installations. Finally, we focus on the systemic currents that subject those who’ve been displaced to drifts as they cross national borders and seek asylum, as well as the affective currents that both help and hinder advocacy struggles over immigration policy and expanding the freedom of movement.
Dr. Marian Aguiar’s work on space, place, and mobility
Aguiar, M. (2011). Tracking Modernity India’s Railway and the Culture of Mobility. University of Minnesota Press.
Aguiar, M. (2018). Arranging Marriage Conjugal Agency in the South Asian Diaspora. University of Minnesota Press.
Aguiar, M., Mathieson, C., & Pearce, L. (2019). Mobilities, literature, culture. Palgrave Macmillan.
Works and Concepts cited in this Episode
Berlant, L. (2011). Cruel optimism. Duke University Press.
Bissell, D. (2007). Animating suspension: waiting for mobilities. Mobilities, 2(2), 277-298.
Butler, J. (2015). Notes toward a performative theory of assembly. Harvard University Press.
Coetzee, J. M. (1980). Waiting for the barbarians. Penguin Books.
Cresswell, T. (2006). On the move: Mobility in the modern western world. Taylor & Francis.
Cresswell, T. (2014). Place: an introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
Debord, G. (2012). Theory of the derive [originally published 1958]. Situationist International Anthology, 50-54.
Lancione, M. & Simone, A. (2020). Bio-austerity and solidarity in the Covid-19 space of emergency - episode one. Society and Space. Retrieved from: https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/bio-austerity-and-solidarity-in-the-covid-19-space-of-emergency
Lautor, B. (2020). Is this a dress rehearsal? Critical Inquiry. Retrieved from:
https://critinq.wordpress.com/2020/03/26/is-this-a-dress-rehearsal/
Malkki, L. (1996). Speechless Emissaries: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and Dehistoricization. Cultural Anthropology, 11(3), 377–404.
Nguyen, L., & McCallum, K. (2016). Drowning in our own home: a metaphor-led discourse analysis of Australian news media reporting on maritime asylum seekers. Communication Research and Practice, 2(2), 159-176.
Santa Ana, O. (2002). Brown tide rising: Metaphors of Latinos in contemporary American public discourse. University of Texas Press.
Steinberg, P., & Peters, K. (2015). Wet ontologies, fl
The spread of COVID-19 has changed the way we see our own relationship to space and mobility. Within this state of emergency, disparities in access are made more stark: as certain sectors of workers are able to continue their jobs under quarantine and observing social distancing guidelines while other sectors are forced into dangerous forms of mobility, borders old and new are being inscribed and reinscribed through austerity measures. The present crisis has exposed not only the existence but the extremity of this precarity, and has the paradoxical effect of making it seem like a shockwave momentarily fissuring our otherwise just system.
To explore some of these increasingly-relevant issues, we focus today’s episode around two discussions of the concept of “mobility” and how it functions in culture. The first is a free-roaming conversation between Alex and (newly-minted on the mic) co-producer Ben Williams about their shared experiences and reflections living in self-isolated “stasis,” as well as how the language of crisis in the era of COVID-19 belies structural inequalities already experienced by certain groups in our society. The second is an interview with Dr. Marian Aguiar, a professor of literary and cultural studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Aguiar has focused on issues in globalization, postcolonial studies, and feminism, and her recent work on refugee mobilities explores transnationalism through the ways we represent and imagine movement.
During this latter conversation with Dr. Aguiar, we examine what it means to be displaced, and how various accounts of migration stabilize and destabilize representations of refugeehood through narratives, visual documentation, and art installations. Finally, we focus on the systemic currents that subject those who’ve been displaced to drifts as they cross national borders and seek asylum, as well as the affective currents that both help and hinder advocacy struggles over immigration policy and expanding the freedom of movement.
Dr. Marian Aguiar’s work on space, place, and mobility
Aguiar, M. (2011). Tracking Modernity India’s Railway and the Culture of Mobility. University of Minnesota Press.
Aguiar, M. (2018). Arranging Marriage Conjugal Agency in the South Asian Diaspora. University of Minnesota Press.
Aguiar, M., Mathieson, C., & Pearce, L. (2019). Mobilities, literature, culture. Palgrave Macmillan.
Works and Concepts cited in this Episode
Berlant, L. (2011). Cruel optimism. Duke University Press.
Bissell, D. (2007). Animating suspension: waiting for mobilities. Mobilities, 2(2), 277-298.
Butler, J. (2015). Notes toward a performative theory of assembly. Harvard University Press.
Coetzee, J. M. (1980). Waiting for the barbarians. Penguin Books.
Cresswell, T. (2006). On the move: Mobility in the modern western world. Taylor & Francis.
Cresswell, T. (2014). Place: an introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
Debord, G. (2012). Theory of the derive [originally published 1958]. Situationist International Anthology, 50-54.
Lancione, M. & Simone, A. (2020). Bio-austerity and solidarity in the Covid-19 space of emergency - episode one. Society and Space. Retrieved from: https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/bio-austerity-and-solidarity-in-the-covid-19-space-of-emergency
Lautor, B. (2020). Is this a dress rehearsal? Critical Inquiry. Retrieved from:
https://critinq.wordpress.com/2020/03/26/is-this-a-dress-rehearsal/
Malkki, L. (1996). Speechless Emissaries: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and Dehistoricization. Cultural Anthropology, 11(3), 377–404.
Nguyen, L., & McCallum, K. (2016). Drowning in our own home: a metaphor-led discourse analysis of Australian news media reporting on maritime asylum seekers. Communication Research and Practice, 2(2), 159-176.
Santa Ana, O. (2002). Brown tide rising: Metaphors of Latinos in contemporary American public discourse. University of Texas Press.
Steinberg, P., & Peters, K. (2015). Wet ontologies, fl
54 min