Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
7492516 Political Geography 2018 10 Pages PDF
Abstract
This article builds on the 'practice turn' in border studies by critically engaging assemblage theory as a means of unboxing European maritime surveillance. Through a case study of Spain's SIVE (Sistema Integrado de Vigilancia del Exterior) surveillance system, I tease apart the Guardia Civil's technocratic claims of omni-voyance by focusing on the daily interactions between border guards, vision technologies, rescue services, Moroccan forces, and the lively materials of the borderspace itself. I employ a literary narrative in order to expose the daily breaches of control as the guards and technologies contend with the non-human elements of the borderspace, as well as their own inability to remain vigilant. Far from offering unbroken control, therefore, I argue that the vision produced through SIVE is stuttered and fragmented through both human and technological flaws. I also draw on assemblage theory in order to trace the disparate actors being drawn into the border regime. I argue that these new actors are only ever partially encountered and incorporated, however, and that as a result the system's ability to incorporate also becomes its Achilles heel. The effect is a geography of the border that foregrounds the 'little details' of borderwork and the volatility of the borderspace itself - thus exposing the flaws behind a scopic narrative that claims unceasing vision and an unhindered reach.
Related Topics
Social Sciences and Humanities Arts and Humanities History
Authors
,