XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

JS-10

No Ban, No Wall, No Borders: Migrant Solidarities and Political Imaginaries of Resistance

RC31 Sociology of Migration (host committee)
RC05 Racism, Nationalism, Indigeneity and Ethnicity
RC48 Social Movements, Collective Actions and Social Change

Language: English

The passage of US president Donald Trump’s “Muslim Ban” in 2017, the endemic realities of police brutality and violence against black lives, and the push for more stringent regulations against migrant workers have propelled oppressed communities to form movements. As awareness of the issues facing these communities grow, movements expand. For example, many chapters of Migrante and Black Lives Matter have emerged in different countries. Similarly, various women’s marches and protests against Islamophobia and White Supremacy have taken place globally. While the growth of these movements has enabled widespread dissemination of social justice ideals, challenges of voice and representation concurrently emerge. When members of oppressed communities in one movement become ‘allies’ in another movement, for example, new tensions and opportunities might emerge for negotiating solidarity and belonging in both spaces.

Papers in this session will address everyday and political imaginaries of resistance that are produced through migrant organizing and solidarity work. Panelists who have researched and/or organized in local communities including but not limited to Canada, Dubai, Mexico, South Korea, the US and in transnational spaces, will reflect on the challenges and opportunities of migrant organizing. Their projects raise questions about whether and how different communities might work together in solidarity, what negotiations occur, and the viabilities of cross-movement solidarity. In addressing both local and transnational actions, this panel will ultimately consider whether and how joint struggles put movement actors one step closer towards creating a vision of social justice that is untethered from existing political, economic, and social constraints.