Presentation short abstract

This paper theorises political ecologies of migration through the concept of ‘border imperialism’. Doing so lets us link land, borders, and environmental issues and thereby re-politicise alarmist, state-centric, and neoliberal approaches to climate (im)mobilisation.

Presentation long abstract

Alarmist narratives project ‘climate migration’ as a problem to be solved, be it through charity, militarisation, neoliberal ‘resilience’ or legal justice. These narratives rest on a shared assumption that migration is pathological and nation-state borders are normal. The scholarly turn to ‘climate (im)mobilities’ demonstrates the empirical shortcomings of these simplistic narratives. However, the field lacks theoretical grounding, which limits its normative potential and renders its findings vulnerable to being co-opted into regulations privileging some migrants over others, thereby risking to further entrench borders.

This paper situates political ecologies of migration in relation to ‘border imperialism’ (Walia, 2013, 2021) which understands the structural and relational processes shaping contemporary migration patterns (borders) as a critical part of the organisation of global capitalism (imperialism). This critical framework can help migration scholars link land, borders, and environmental issues and trace the (im)mobilisation of people alongside the enclosure, accumulation, and exploitation of their resources.

By way of illustration, the paper applies this lens to the realities of migrant workers in the vast greenhouses of Almería, southern Spain, where a lack of legal migration pathways pushes people into precarious labour in extractive agriculture supplying northern European markets.

The paper suggests that ‘border imperialism’ can advance climate mobilities research in three ways, by (1) critiquing the state-centric assumptions underpinning dominant climate migration narratives, (2) connecting migration and environmental issues within a shared global history, challenging the field’s North-South divide, and (3) charting normative pathways to research and respond to (im)mobilities in environmental politics.