Todd Reeser & Chantal Zabus
« Queering Migration : (Counter-) Examples from the African Continent »
Résumé : The globalized picture we have of migration today is one of massive displacement, as nearly 300 million people live either as international migrants or internally displaced persons. Most of these migrants are facing displacement because of their being always already categorized in the place of origin as subaltern subjects, on the basis not only of race or ethnicity or class, ability, religion or belief system, but also of gender and sexuality, let alone any combination of the above. Over the past three decades, however, migration and gender-cum-sexuality studies were forced into an arduous dialogue, thereby complexifying the figure of the migrant and the relation between the Global North and the Global South. In this talk, we will draw examples and counter-examples from narrstive modes such as novels, autobiographies, testimonies and films, with a focus on Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Alexander Sager
Eurocentrism and the Political Philosophy of Migration
The political philosophy of migration is Eurocentric. Normative discussions overwhelmingly focus on South-North migration, which they frequently portray as an economic or cultural threat. These discussions largely ignore much larger South-South migrations or North-South migrations (often for military intervention, resource extraction, or evangelization). Furthermore, political philosophers often stipulate that their theories only apply to liberal democracies (a category they define as coterminous with the United States, Canada, Western Europe, and Australasia). I argue that this Eurocentric bias has misled the political philosophy of migration in three ways : 1) important normative questions are neglected ; 2) evidence is overlooked or misinterpreted ; and 3) normative conclusions are prejudiced. I propose strategies for how political philosophy can ameliorate this bias such as engaging with critical social scientific and philosophical approaches that seek to overcome Eurocentrism.