Original scientific paper
Anticipating "Hey You There!": Interpellation on the Road to the Border
Stef Jansen
orcid.org/0000-0001-5729-5952
; School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Abstract
This article ethnographically explores the contrast between two episodes in
which people approach inter-state borders by car. Emphasising the importance
of the location of those people—certified by state-issued documents—
in relation to a regime of sovereignty and mobility regulation, it stresses
the importance of anticipation in those episodes. To analyse this temporal
dimension, it explores the value of two concepts developed to theorise subject
formation in modern social configurations—interpellation and confession. The
article hopes to show that, although they originate from philosophical treatises
on subject formation detached from empirical research, these concepts can
be useful tools for ethnographic analyses of border-crossing episodes if
deployed in a limited, precise and pragmatic-material manner that avoids the
assumptions of circularity and affective investment that their use often entails.
Keywords
interpellation; confession; anticipation; borders; mobility regulation
Hrčak ID:
146062
URI
Publication date:
8.12.2011.
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