Paper short abstract:

Our paper offers a theoretical perspective on political subjectivity, focusing on the dynamic interplay of identification (classification) and identity (belonging) as well as its multiple effects, including pain and desire, in transnational social fields.

Paper long abstract:

Responding to the call to work together on an analytical framework that addresses contemporary struggles for recognition, right to mobility/settlement and belonging in transnational social fields, our paper offers a theoretical perspective on political subjectivity. We conceptualise political subjectivity as the changing positions from which groups or individuals become recognizable as actors, articulate themselves, and can address authorities (including, but not restricted to, state bodies) in multiple ways. Our understanding of political subjectivity (cf. Krause & Schramm 2011) focuses on the dynamic interplay of identification (classification) and identity (belonging) as well as its multiple effects, including pain and desire. Based on our research on undocumented migrants in Europe (Kristine Krause) and transnational postcolonial indigeneity in South Africa (Katharina Schramm), we outline three intersecting aspects in the articulation of political subjectivity:

First, we discuss in the ways in which particular bodies become marked and classified (e.g. as disabled, racialized or carrier of genetic dispositions).

Second, we call attention to the processes and specific moments of interpellation by which these bodies become the ground for claim making and institutional recognition (or denial thereof).

Third, we take into account the role of transnational circulations (not only of people, but also of intersecting knowledge platforms) in the making of political subjects.