The political dehumanization of climate migrants and the climate vulnerable: Emerging narratives of climate apartheid.

Keywords: Climate Justice, Climate Migration, Climate Apartheid
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 36

Abstract

This paper seeks to draw out the connections between the dehumanization of climate migrants and a much larger project of segregation and nationalist securitization. As issues of climate-induced migration and internal displacement become increasingly prevalent in political discourse, so has their ability to be weaponized. At present, one-dimensional narratives dominate the discussion, despite critiques pointing to the complexity of climate-driven migration, climate vulnerability, and the inability to accurately forecast who, where, when, and to what extent climate migration occurs (see Boas et al. 2019; Boas & Wiegel, 2021; Kaczan & Orgill-Meyer, 2020). Focusing primarily on the humanitarian crisis along the U.S.-Mexico Border, this paper examines the ways that national governments are weaponizing immigration/migration to justify climate injustices carried out in the name of security and survivability. Furthermore, the situation along the U.S.-Mexico Border necessitates the interrogation of a larger political project: ‘climate apartheid’ (Rice et al. 2021). Rooted in colonial legacies of dehumanization, the violence of racial capitalism, and patriarchal systems, climate apartheid has been defined as the “emerging system of discrimination, segregation, and violence based on various axes of oppression and privilege…produced by the material effects of climate change [as well as] policy responses to the climate crisis” (Rice et al. 2021, 3). This paper ultimately suggests that deeper engagement with narratives of climate migration, securitization, and eco-fascism give us a clearer understanding of the current trajectory of a global project that serves to systematically protect the climate privileged, while further marginalizing those populations most vulnerable to climate change.