The Cost of Borders
Thursday 23 January 2025 90 minutes
Millions of displaced people attempt journeys across borders in pursuit of asylum. Though seeking asylum is a right sanctioned by international law, people on the move are often cast as rule-breakers and criminals. They are in turn forced to make incredible sacrifices — emotionally, physically, and financially — which differ at intersections of inequalities like race, gender, or physical ability.
In her new project, The Cost of Borders, Heba Gowayed, author of the award winning book Refuge, uses a multi-method approach drawing on ethnographic observations, interviews, and quantitative data on human mobility and state expenditures to ask what are the costs of borders? Focusing on the frontiers between Global North and South, Dr Gowayed examines borders as a series of transactions that are always costly and often deadly.
Meet our speakers and chair:
Dr Heba Gowayed, Associate Professor of Sociology at CUNY Hunter College.
Discussant:
Dr Tarsis Brito, IRD Fellow, Department of International Relations at LSE
Chair and Discussant:
Dr Stephanie Schwartz, Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at LSE
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