FGSS 3400 - Refugees and the Politics of Vulnerability: Intersections of Feminist Theory and Practice

(crosslisted) AMST 3420, GOVT 3401
(CA-AS, GLC-AS, SCD-AS)

Fall. 4 credits. Student option grading.

J. Juffer.

Topic Fall 2020: The Time and Space of Immigrant Detention in the U.S.: Migration is about movement, yet the journey often ends in the denial of movement, especially if one migrates to the U.S. This country detains more immigrants than any other country in the world, often in deplorable conditions. Yet many people in this country do not know about these conditions, which amount to imprisonment for the simple act of crossing a border without papers. The centers are often geographically isolated, compounding the isolation of the people being held there. The situation has been exacerbated in the last three years due to increasingly draconian policies advanced by the Trump administration, making immigrant detention an urgent human rights issue. This class examines the practices and politics of detention, focusing on the temporal and spatial conditions that make detention so difficult for those inside. Connecting theory and practice, we will also visit people being held at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center, exploring how we address social injustice while not “speaking for” or “on behalf of” the people most affected by these injustices. How do we approach these issues through an intersectional lens that attends to the complex interplay of gender, sexuality, race, class, and religion? How do we avoid constructing hierarchies of immigrants who are more vulnerable (such as children) than others? What constitutes an effective and affective feminist theory and practice?