Presentation short abstract

This paper explores the striking contrast between the celebrated mobility of red crabs and the enforced immobility of detained migrants on Christmas Island. It questions how infrastructures of care for more-than-human life coexist with carceral regimes that limit human movement and dignity.

Presentation long abstract

Each year, millions of red land crabs migrate across Christmas Island in a spectacular display of synchronized movement, prompting road closures, protective barriers, and specially constructed crab bridges and underpasses. These elaborate infrastructures highlight an island-wide commitment to supporting more-than-human mobility. Yet, just beyond this scene lies a stark contrast: the North West Point immigration detention center, where human movement is tightly controlled and constrained.

This paper interrogates the disjuncture between the celebrated, facilitated movement of crabs and the restricted, often punitive immobility imposed on migrants—many of whom have lived in Australia for decades before being detained and deported. The talk examines how infrastructures of care for crabs coexist with carceral architectures for humans. It considers how conservation efforts, while vital for biodiversity, can inadvertently mask or support systems of exclusion and control—creating an ecology of contradiction where compassion is unevenly distributed across species lines.

By situating Christmas Island at the intersection of environmental stewardship and border securitization, the talk explores how mobility is managed, mediated, and moralized. It ultimately asks: Who is granted care and protection, and who is rendered immobile, invisible, or expendable? And what does this tell us about the broader politics of compassion in a world increasingly defined by both ecological crisis and border enforcement?