As part of its lunchtime seminar series, ACMS invites you to a presentation by Darshan Vigneswaran (University of Amsterdam) to be held on Tuesday 11 November at 12:30 at the Graduate Humanities Seminar Room, SWEB, on the University of the Witwatersrands East Campus. The presentation title is Weak State/Tough Territory: The Social Sources of Immigration Control in South Africa Darshans research explores how states’ claims to territory are reconfigured in response to changing patterns of human mobility. Vigneswarans paper argues that territory is a rare point of consensus in a political system that is otherwise characterized by disunity and discord and that ‘anarchical societies’ may more powerfully determine whether the norm of territory endures (Bull 1977, Wendt 1999). In the absence of commands from above, fractious groups of non-sovereign actors – including multilateral organizations, bureaucratic cliques and vigilante mobs – may combine to defend national borders. As a result, territory can be surprisingly strong even when rulers are not. The paper develops this position through an in-depth study of the puzzling case of immigration control in South Africa which is a developing country with long and unprotected borders. It will try to explain why post apartheid South Africa became one of the most prolific deporters of foreign nationals in the world – removing more immigrants per capita than the United States and the European Union and how this relatively weak state was able to create such tough territory. The paper achieves this by traveling down the bureaucratic food chain in the search for answers, exploring everyday practices in the offices, field sites and detention centres where immigration enforcement takes place (Lipsky 1979). It will present lessons about immigration policy as it is understood ‘from below’, in the words of ordinary South African officials, NGOs, and private citizens and also delve into the internal politics of immigration policy networks and fora. Finally, the paper will present observations - up close and in real time - of how illegal migrants are found, arrested, and sent home. Venue: Graduate Humanities Seminar Room South West Engineering Building Wits East Campus University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Time: 12:30-13:30 We hope to see you there.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 11:17:02 +0000
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