The Arc of Justice in the Era of Routinized Violence

How is justice configured in an era of routinized violence? How do the dynamics of changing institutions of justice and segments of civil society intersect to shape the arc of justice? This plenary will focus on questions of power, violence, and justice by foregrounding the case of documented, partially documented, and undocumented immigrants in the United States. I will argue that states are increasing using routine violence-institutionalized violence as well as facilitation of vigilante action--to shape the human in/securities of all those who are deemed immigrants. I will conclude by pointing out that this nexus of justice and treatment of 'immigrants' reveals a state's commitment to principles of democracy--freedom, rights-as well as the gap between rhetoric and practice.