TY - JOUR
T1 - A community psychology for migrant justice
T2 - Critically examining border violence and resistance during the COVID-19 syndemic
AU - Esposito, Francesca
AU - Rebelo, Dora
AU - Olanrewaju, Moshood
AU - Vine, Megan
AU - Fernandes-Jesus, Maria
AU - Bodden, Debi
AU - Kalokoh, Aminata
AU - Olson, Bradley
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. American Journal of Community Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Community Research and Action.
PY - 2024/3
Y1 - 2024/3
N2 - This article explores the magnifying lenses of the COVID-19 syndemic to highlight how people racialized as migrants and refugees have been—and continue to be—disproportionally harmed. We use empirical evidence collected in our scholarly/activist work in Europe, Africa, South Asia, and the United States to examine migrant injustice as being produced by a combination of power structures and relations working to maintain colonial global orders and inequalities. This is what has been defined as “border imperialism.” Our data, complemented by evidence from transnational solidarity groups, show that border imperialism has further intersected with the hygienic-sanitary logics of social control at play during the COVID-19 period. This intersection has resulted in increasingly coercive methods of restraining people on the move, as well as in increased—and new—forms of degradation of their lives, that is, an overall multiplication of border violences. At the same time, however, COVID-19 has provided a unique opportunity for grassroot solidarity initiatives and resistance led by people on the move to be amplified and extended. We conclude by emphasizing the need for community psychologists to take a more vigorous stance against oppressive border imperialist regimes and the related forms of violence they re/enact.
AB - This article explores the magnifying lenses of the COVID-19 syndemic to highlight how people racialized as migrants and refugees have been—and continue to be—disproportionally harmed. We use empirical evidence collected in our scholarly/activist work in Europe, Africa, South Asia, and the United States to examine migrant injustice as being produced by a combination of power structures and relations working to maintain colonial global orders and inequalities. This is what has been defined as “border imperialism.” Our data, complemented by evidence from transnational solidarity groups, show that border imperialism has further intersected with the hygienic-sanitary logics of social control at play during the COVID-19 period. This intersection has resulted in increasingly coercive methods of restraining people on the move, as well as in increased—and new—forms of degradation of their lives, that is, an overall multiplication of border violences. At the same time, however, COVID-19 has provided a unique opportunity for grassroot solidarity initiatives and resistance led by people on the move to be amplified and extended. We conclude by emphasizing the need for community psychologists to take a more vigorous stance against oppressive border imperialist regimes and the related forms of violence they re/enact.
KW - COVID-19 syndemic
KW - border imperialism
KW - border violence
KW - community psychology for migrant justice
KW - no border solidarity and resistance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85158062010&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/ajcp.12669
DO - 10.1002/ajcp.12669
M3 - Article
C2 - 37126214
AN - SCOPUS:85158062010
SN - 0091-0562
VL - 73
SP - 27
EP - 43
JO - American Journal of Community Psychology
JF - American Journal of Community Psychology
IS - 1-2
ER -