Politics Talk: Anne McNevin

The Politics Department at The New School for Social Research presents Anne McNevin, lecturer in Politics and International Relations/School of Social Sciences at Monash University, Australia, who will speak on “Exploring new horizons in migration research: a view from the Indonesian island of Bintan.”

In 2008, sociologist Adrian Favell proposed that migration theory ought to be “rebooted”. In this presentation,  McNevin outlines analytical and political reasons why Favell’s provocation ought to be taken seriously. Reflecting, in particular, on a specific theatre of contemporary migration on the Indonesian island of Bintan, she highlights spatial and temporal dimensions of contemporary governance practice with respect to migration.  Against this backdrop, she argues that the governance of migration threatens to outrun the explanatory capacity of spatial (territorial) and subject (citizen/migrant) registers habitually employed to think through human mobility. As a consequence, she suggests that a “reboot” may well be in order. She concludes with some preliminary thoughts on approaches to inquiry that steer us towards new horizons in migration research.