Seeing like a smuggler

Shahram Khosravi (Stockholm University) gave a presentation, followed by a discussion with Naja Bjørnsson (Lund university) and questions from participants. William Kutz moderated the seminar. 

Presentation

In this talk, Shahram Khosravi discussed how smuggling has emerged as a significant response to the crises and contradictions inherent in the border regime. The term 'smuggler' often conjures a simplified, negative image propagated by the media and authorities. Such state-centric perspectives conceal the myriad social, political, and economic relations associated with smuggling. However, if we shift our focus to examining borders from below, the nature of smuggling takes on a different light. In contrast to the seeing-from-above approach which is based on externalizing irregularities such as smuggling as criminal act, from below identifies the contradictions and inconsistencies within the nation-state system.  

About the series 

This is the eighth seminar of the series Dwelling, elsewhere: Comparative-methodological perspectives on borderland inhabitation, arranged and moderated by William Kutz and the Öresund Comparative Borderland Research Group, funded by CEMES.