Immobilizing mobility: Border ethnography, illiberal democracy, and the politics of the "refugee crisis" in Hungary

ABSTRACT In the summer of 2015, more than 350,000 migrants moved through Hungarian territory. Almost immediately there emerged in response a dialectic between, on the one hand, depoliticizing narratives of crisis that sought to immobilize the migrants and, on the other, concrete political mobilizati...

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Published in:American ethnologist Vol. 43; no. 1; pp. 25 - 37
Main Authors: KALLIUS, ANNASTIINA, MONTERESCU, DANIEL, RAJARAM, PREM KUMAR
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Arlington Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.2016
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects:
Activism
Borders
Crises
Democracy
Ethnography
Hegemony
Humanitarianism
Hungarian language
Hungary
Internet
Management of crises
Migrants
Mobility
Mobilization
Narratives
Politics
Refugees
Summer
Territorial issues
Hungary
ISSN:0094-0496, 1548-1425
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:ABSTRACT In the summer of 2015, more than 350,000 migrants moved through Hungarian territory. Almost immediately there emerged in response a dialectic between, on the one hand, depoliticizing narratives of crisis that sought to immobilize the migrants and, on the other, concrete political mobilization that sought to facilitate their mobility. While state institutions and humanitarian volunteer groups framed mobility in terms that emphasized a vertical form of politics, a horizontal counterpolitics arose by the summer's end, one that challenged hegemonic territorial politics. The state's efforts to immobilize resulted only in more radical forms of mobility. Outlining an ethnography of mobility, immobilization, and cross‐border activism, we follow the dramatic yet momentary presence, and subsequent absence, of migrants in an evanescent rebel city marked by novel political solidarities. [mobility, immobility, transit zones, border politics, refugees, migrants, Hungary]
Bibliography:ArticleID:AMET12260
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SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0094-0496
1548-1425
DOI:10.1111/amet.12260