Irregular migration struggles and active subjects of trans-border politics: New research strategies for interrogating the agency of the marginalised
| Author | Michael Strange,Anna Lundberg,Vicki Squire |
| Published date | 01 August 2017 |
| Date | 01 August 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0263395717715856 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395717715856
Politics
2017, Vol. 37(3) 243 –253
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0263395717715856
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Irregular migration struggles
and active subjects of
trans-border politics:
New research strategies
for interrogating the agency
of the marginalised
Michael Strange
Global Political Studies, Sweden
Vicki Squire
The University of Warwick, UK
Anna Lundberg
Global Political Studies, Sweden
Abstract
The politics of migration has become increasingly prominent as a site of struggle. However, the
active subjecthood of people on the move in precarious situations is often overlooked. Irregular
migration struggles raise questions about how to understand the agency of people who are
marginalised. What does it mean to engage people produced as ‘irregular’ as active subjects
of trans-border politics? And what new research strategies can we employ to this end? The
articles presented in this Special Issue of Politics each differently explore how actions by or on
behalf of irregular/ised migrants involve processes of subjectivity formation that imply a form of
agency. Collectively we explore how irregular migration struggles feature as a site marked by
active subjects of trans-border politics. We propose a research agenda based on tracing those
processes – both regulatory, activist, and everyday – that negotiate and contest how an individual
is positioned as an ‘irregular migrant’. The ethos behind such research is to explore how the most
marginalised individuals reclaim or reconfigure subjecthood in ambiguous terms.
Keywords
agency, irregular migration, marginalisation, subjectivity, trans-border
Received: 1st February 2017; Revised version received: 22nd May 2017; Accepted: 26th May 2017
Corresponding author:
Michael Strange, Global Political Studies, Niagara, Malmö 205 06, Sweden.
Email: michael.strange@mah.se
715856POL0010.1177/0263395717715856PoliticsStrange et al.
research-article2017
Special Issue Article
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