Abstract

Science-and-technology (STS) studies on security have foregrounded the increasing role of technology in the governance of migration and borders. From biometrics to drones, interactive maps and statistics, technology is integral to the regulation of flows of individuals.

More recently, scholars have argued that STS research is Eurocentric, and its Eurocentrism lies in the silencing of the foundational role of colonialism, imperialism and race in the historical development, deployment and circulation of technology. Migration and border research has – to some extent – been receptive to such criticism.

A growing number of studies draw on post-/decolonial literature to unpack the colonial and imperial underpinnings of technology in the managing of space and im/mobility of populations. This talk aims to contribute to debates on the Eurocentrism of STS studies on migration and borders.

I will first review existing post-/decolonial research on STS and migration and borders. I will then argue that attempts to remedy the Eurocentrism of the field has reproduced some of the fundamental problems in STS scholarship regarding the absence of the ‘non-West.’ After discussing the upshots of this absence in conceptual terms, I will invite for integrating ‘non-Western’ histories into our accounts for the role of technology in migration and border control.

Science-and-Technology Studies and its Enduring Eurocentrism: Bringing the ‘Non-West’ in
Beste Isleyen, University of Amsterdam

About the event series

“STS-MIGTEC circle” is a small format which takes place once a month and which serves to reflect jointly on work-in-progress contributions related to the themes of interest to STS MIGTEC. The idea is to create a safe space for probing and experimenting with ideas, arguments, attempts of analysis, sense-making of empirical material.