Taking Pictures: Pity, Fear, and Security at the Border [Recommended Event]

Taking Pictures: Pity, Fear, and Security at the Border
Tuesday, October 4th, 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Smith Hall, Room 114 (801 22nd St., NW)
Interested in the role of arts and culture in global politics and humanitarian crises? Check out this unique lecture event with Dr. Barbara Johnson.
“The humanitarian community working on behalf of refugees and irregular migrants relies heavily upon creating in the public imagination a particular ‘image’ of a migrant in need of assistance.
They depict individuals in camps or, after arriving in a host country, trying to rebuild a fractured life.  The security community invested in controlling the border similarly relies upon an image of the migrant.  This representation, however, is rooted in imaginations of criminality, of threat, and of individuals (often men) wrongfully subverting the asylum system.  These imaginations mark the border as the deciding ‘creative’ moment in determining both the character and the identity of the migrant.  I argue that the politics of representation in asylum are framed by the border itself.  Our imagination not only of the border, but of the political agency and subjectivity of the irregular migrant, is informed by these representations and by discourses of gender and race.  I ask how these dynamics shape the policies and politics of asylum, and how we might productively reshape these politics towards a spirit of long term solidarity.” –Dr. Heather Johnson

Dr. Heather Johnson is a Senior Lecturer in International Studies at Queen’s. Her research focuses on irregular migration and asylum seekers, border security, and the practices of resistance, solidarity and protest of noncitizens. She also writes about visual representations of refugees, particularly through a gender studies lens. Heather is currently working on a project about irregular migration in the maritime space, funded through the ESRC Future Research Leaders Programme.
This event sponsored by the Office of International Programs and the GW Department of Fine Arts and Art History.