Abstract:On 1 January 2014 the transitional controls on free movement adopted by the UK when Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007, ended. This paper demonstrates how the discourses of politicians relating to their removal, amplified via news media contributed to the extension of state bordering practices further into everyday life. Based on ethnographic research into everyday bordering during 2013-2015 the paper uses an intersectional framework to explore how this homogenizing, bordering discourse was experienced… Show more
“…Contrary to wider public discourses that often frame many of those as seeking leave to remain as labour or economic migrants trying to benefit economically from coming to the UK (Wemyss & Cassidy, ), Dorothy actually highlighted how much better her situation would be financially in Nigeria.Staying here is just hiding yourself away from that situation you would find yourself in. Not that there is anything you are actually benefiting from here.…”
This paper draws on the growing body of geographical literature on carceral spaces and carcerality to explore alternatives sites of incarceration in everyday life and also to look beyond the state as a carceral actor and agent. In particular, it focuses on “unfreedom” and the punitive elements of UK immigration controls from the perspective of those who have left violent domestic situations and in doing so have been forced to apply for leave to remain in the country. The paper highlights the ways in which, in enacting the spatial violence of immigration policies and controls, everyday actors, such as sales assistants and landlords, become agents in the “continuum of unfreedoms.” The discussion, therefore, seeks to define carcerality beyond the institution as not only linked to institutional carceralities but as existing in and of itself in and around us in everyday life. In particular, it is argued that from a feminist perspective there is a need to better understand these everyday carceralities in the process of seeking asylum, as women are less likely to be incarcerated in state institutions. The paper also demonstrates the complex roles of non and quasi‐state actors in shaping the “unfreedoms” of everyday life for those seeking leave to remain in the UK as a result of domestic violence.
“…Contrary to wider public discourses that often frame many of those as seeking leave to remain as labour or economic migrants trying to benefit economically from coming to the UK (Wemyss & Cassidy, ), Dorothy actually highlighted how much better her situation would be financially in Nigeria.Staying here is just hiding yourself away from that situation you would find yourself in. Not that there is anything you are actually benefiting from here.…”
This paper draws on the growing body of geographical literature on carceral spaces and carcerality to explore alternatives sites of incarceration in everyday life and also to look beyond the state as a carceral actor and agent. In particular, it focuses on “unfreedom” and the punitive elements of UK immigration controls from the perspective of those who have left violent domestic situations and in doing so have been forced to apply for leave to remain in the country. The paper highlights the ways in which, in enacting the spatial violence of immigration policies and controls, everyday actors, such as sales assistants and landlords, become agents in the “continuum of unfreedoms.” The discussion, therefore, seeks to define carcerality beyond the institution as not only linked to institutional carceralities but as existing in and of itself in and around us in everyday life. In particular, it is argued that from a feminist perspective there is a need to better understand these everyday carceralities in the process of seeking asylum, as women are less likely to be incarcerated in state institutions. The paper also demonstrates the complex roles of non and quasi‐state actors in shaping the “unfreedoms” of everyday life for those seeking leave to remain in the UK as a result of domestic violence.
“…Boundary work is undertaken by individuals and institutions in order to situate themselves and in relation to others according to categories, such as gender, class and race (Bartkowski & Read, 2003;Anthias and Yuval-Davis, 2005) and involves processes and practices of differentiation, inclusion and exclusion. Examples of this interplay of borderwork and boundary work that frequently emerge in the UK media include the questioning of the 'genuineness' of young male asylum seekers (Griffiths, 2017) and the use of racialized and impoverished images of Romanian Roma to place Romania outside of the EU as a political project of belonging (Wemyss and Cassidy, 2017).…”
Section: Borderwork and Boundary Workmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In addition to state bordering once they are in the UK, Romanian citizens, in particular, were also the focus of intensive b/ordering discourses in the media prior to the removal of the transitional controls in January 2014 (Wemyss and Cassidy 2017). Coverage in the press used words such as 'swamp', 'flood' and 'flock' to describe the removal of the controls and the potential for higher levels of migration from Romania and Bulgaria to the UK (ibid).…”
Section: Everyday Re-bordering and Romanian Citizens In The Ukmentioning
This article explores the intersections of borderwork and boundary work in everyday encounters in the UK. It focuses on the experiences of Romanian nationals, who between 2007 and 2014 were subject to transitional controls, which are understood as a form of everyday re-bordering of the de-bordered space of the EU that denied equal access to the labour market and state support. These controls were accompanied by a range of bordering discourses in the media and political circles that firmly situated Romanians outside of the UK’s contemporary political project of belonging. This article argues that in order to understand borderwork in everyday life, we need to explore how it relates to boundary work, i.e. the differential positionalities of Romanians within social hierarchies, as well as their experiences of and engagement with emotion work. The data analysed comes from participant observation with Romanian communities in London and the North East of England in the period from 2009 to 2014.
“…(2019,2) What becomes clear is that while Brexit marks a moment where European populations living in Britain find themselves newly Othered (Lulle, Moroşanu, and King 2018;McCarthy 2019;Ranta and Nancheva 2019), for other European citizens this is an unwelcome amplification of longer-standing structural and institutional discrimination and everyday racism (see for example Ryan 2010;Szilassy 2012, 2015;Fox 2013;Moroşanu and Fox 2013;McGhee and Pietka-Nykaza 2016;Lumsden, Goode, and Black 2018;Lulle et al 2019;Rzepnikowska 2019). Indeed, research with intra-EU migrants originating in the accession states has revealed how discrimination and racism are a daily experience, notably through restriction of access to justice, labour markets and social protections (Wemyss and Cassidy 2017;Lafleur and Mescoli 2018). A particularly stark illustration of this can be found in stigmatization and everyday bordering experienced by Roma populations (see for example Fassin et al 2014;Humphris 2019).…”
This paper foregrounds an understanding of Brexit as unexceptional, as business as usual in Britain and Europe. It reports on original empirical research with British People of Colour who have settled elsewhere in Europe, to bring into view an original perspective to understandings of what Brexit means to Britons living in Europe, and to consider what these testimonies offer to emerging social science research on Brexit. As we argue, focussing on the testimonies of British People of Colour living in the EU-27 offers a unique lens into how Brexit is caught up in everyday racism, personal experiences of racialization and racial violence, and longer European histories of racialization and racism. Importantly, these experiences precede and succeed Brexit, taking place in both Britain and other European Union countries.
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