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SPATIAL JUSTICE and DIASPORA Spatial Justice and Diaspora SPATIAL JUSTICE AND DIASPORA Spatial Justice and Diaspora Edited by Emma Patchett and Sarah Keenan Counterpress Oxford First published (revised) 2017 Counterpress, Oxford http://counterpress.org.uk © 2017 Emma Patchett and Sarah Keenan Contributing authors retain copyright in their individual contributions to this book. Rights to publish and sell this book in print, electronic and all other forms and media are exclusively licensed to Counterpress Limited. An electronic version of this book is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC-BY-NC 4.0) International license via the Counterpress website: http://counterpress.org.uk ISBN: 978-1-910761-05-2 (paperback) Typeset in 10.5 on 12 pt Sabon Cover image: ‘Hypoxic Highway’ © Jerome Flinders Global print and distribution by Ingram FOREWORD Parvathi Raman hen Emma Patchett and Sarah Keenan asked if I would write W a foreword for their new edited volume, Spatial Justice and Diaspora, I was delighted to be able to make a small contribution to this important, and timely, new book. In our current political moment, we urgently require engaged schol- arship on questions of space-making, the politics of diaspora, and the racialization of inequality. Global disparity has reached unprecedented levels. Mass displace- ment, fuelled by wars, environmental change and the gross disparity of wealth and opportunity, along with the increasing racialization of ‘differential inclusion’, now shape the contours of a world primarily defned by injustice. The concept of spatial justice, an approach that recognizes that always-already spatial nature of political, economic, and social struggles, can serve to highlight the confictual and often violent nature of co-existence in an inequitable world. It has the potential to provide a powerful lens for empirical analysis, and can act as an instrument for political change. In turn, as struggles for meaningful political and social inclusion proliferate, a radical politics of diaspora opens up the possibility of undermining hegemonic borders of political (un)belonging, and can challenge the exclusionary, and power laden, practices of the neoliberal state. When the concepts of spatial justice and diaspora are brought into conversation with each other, and interrogated through a focus on the empirical, they can offer new insights into the micro-politics of everyday existence. Such engagement requires the type of politically committed, innovative academic scholarship to be found in this edited volume. The book brings together thought provoking approaches to spatial justice (as the conception of, the struggle over, and the use of space) and diaspora (as a progressive potential to disrupt hegemonic and exclusionary political orders) with empirical studies of communities who are contesting space in contexts as varied as Chile, Germany, South Africa, Guantanamo Bay, and Britain. Neoliberal democracy, the dominant political framework of our times, is in crisis. One of its core characteristics, the relationship between the state and the market, is not functional for the vast majority vi Spatial Justice and Diaspora of people. We are witnessing intensifed inequalities and social polariza- tion, which starkly illustrate the limits of capital accumulation coupled with state-market relations. What is required of academics at this time is both evidence making research, and political critique, which holds power to account, but also illuminates the multiple ways that people are fghting for justice and democratic inclusion. Both are abundantly apparent in this impressive volume. Another reason I was pleased to contribute this foreword is the nature of the scholarship which is evident throughout the book. Traversing the disciplinary boundaries of law, politics, anthropology, and the broader social sciences, the authors engage with an open ended, contextual enquiry which evokes Susan Buck-Morss’ idea of ‘undisciplinarity.’1 For me, the call to be ‘undisciplined’ is both a way of exceeding the limits of disciplinary borders, and a refusal to conform to the requirements of neoliberal academia. It can open up new possibilities for radical research. Undisciplinarity means challenging the demands of an increasingly policy oriented and ‘problem solving’ academic landscape; confronting the idea of ‘impartial’ research; and upsetting notions of pragmatic, seemingly non-ideological results- measured solutions to complex problems. It requires a recognition of the confictual nature of academic labour, which can generate a productive politics of discomfort, and act as a call to action. In this volume, such an approach is skilfully interlinked with the perceptive use of radical theoretical paradigms. Academic approaches to issues of space and diaspora have generated some of the most exciting innovations in thinking in recent years, as well as many indulgent and abstract exercises which serve to reinforce academic privilege. This volume transcends the multicultural/hybridity limitations of much writing on space and diaspora. Here, the contributions pioneered by authors such as Massey, Harvey, and Soja on space, as well as Hall, Clifford, and Brah on diaspora, are utilized both incisively and cre- atively. It is scholarship that seeks to collapsing the false distinction between academia and activism; as is evident in the following pages, knowledge production is always a form of political action. Without doubt, ethnography has now moved beyond its anthropo- logical ‘home.’ The ethnographic studies in this volume provide both a sensitivity to context, and act as political critique. They illuminate the everyday arts of space making and diasporic resistance, at a time when our institutions are increasingly dysfunctional, and the state’s norms of control are, at once, less powerful, and more pernicious. The 1 Susan Buck-Morss, Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009). Foreword vii studies deftly illustrate the ways in which people attempt to escape the everyday governance of the state, and the ‘normalizing force’ of state power. The micro-politics of our everyday lives can often be hidden from view, giving the impression of monolithic institutions which render us powerless. But by giving centre stage to the creative art of people’s everyday socio-political space-making and diasporic practices, we can highlight not only how contemporary governance can be challenged, but can also be escaped, and on occasion, overturned. The vocabularies we use can render things visible. And visibility has the potential to open up the agency present in all of us. It con- fronts the notion that we are powerless to bring change to an unequal world. As Lefebvre has highlighted, we make space, and construct our own geographies. It is therefore also our responsibility to make an intervention in space making and diasporic practices, and help render them more just. This volume is a valuable contribution to that wider struggle. It refects genuine conceptual innovation in the felds of spatial justice and diaspora, and contributes to an understanding which is both transformative and productive. It is the work of a group young scholars who are making their intervention for change. CONTENTS Foreword . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. v PARVATHI RAMAN Contributors .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .x Introduction: Spatialities of Diaspora: Race, Justice, and Contentious Topographies . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .1 EMMA PATCHETT AND SARAH KEENAN 1 Law, Memory and Post-Apartheid Spatiality: ‘Reading Nomos Otherwise,’ ‘Mapping the Heterotopic’.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 10 JACO BARNARD-NAUDÉ 2 A Struggle for Space (Elsewhere): Marching for Gaza in Santiago de Chile .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 51 SIRI SCHWABE 3 Political Activism, Undocumented Migrants, and Solidarity Marriage: Between Kindness and Crime? . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 64 JULIA RUSHCHENKO 4 Diaspora, Space, and Tele-Biopolitics ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 84 DAFINA PACA 5 Where Are We and to What End? Marking Spaces of Bodily and Literary Resistance in Guantanamo Bay.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 100 MELANIE R. WATTENBARGER 6 Spatial Justice Through the Lens of Political Discourse, Dissecting Italian Responses to Bangladeshi and Filipino Diasporas ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 116 LE ANH NGUYEN LONG 7 Racial and Spatial Injustices and the Tower Hamlets Coup .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 134 NADINE EL-ENANY 8 Ethiopian Diasporic Community Networks and Practice of Homemaking in Sweden.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 144 TEKALIGN AYALEW 9 Diaspora Space and Nomadic Legality? Tribe and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 164 EMMA PATCHETT Index .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .
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