We Are All Migrants: Political Action and the Ubiquitous Condition of Migrant-Hood

136 Pages·2015·0.493 MB·English

by  Feldman, Gregory

W E A R E A L L M I G R A N T S

W E A R E A L L
M I G R A N T S
Political Action and the Ubiquitous
Condition of Migrant-hood
G R E G O R Y F E L D M A N
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Feldman, Gregory, 1969– author.
We are all migrants : political action and the ubiquitous condition of
migrant-hood / Gregory Feldman.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8047-8933-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Political alienation. 2. Political participation. 3. Political psychology.
4. Power (Social sciences) 5. Political science—Philosophy. I. Title.
JA74.5.F47 2015
323.3'2912—dc23
2015004651
ISBN 978-0-8047-9588-3 (electronic)
Typeset by Classic Typography in 10/13 Adobe Garamond
FOR ARMANDO,
WHO MADE ME REALIZE THAT FREEDOM
BEGINS WITH THINKING.
FOR TY,
WITH WHOM I WANDERED THROUGH THE
HILLS OF BOXGROVE, ENGLAND, AND
WONDERED WHAT LIFE MIGHT HAVE BEEN
LIKE IN THE LOWER PALEOLITHIC.
I know somewhat too much; and from this knowledge, once one
has been infected, there seems to be no recovering. I ought
never to have taken my lantern to see what was going on in the
hut by the granary. On the other hand, there was no way, once
I had picked up the lantern, for me to put it down again.
—J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians
CONTENTS
Preface: Migrations Without Migrants
and Migrants Without Migrations ix
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction: The Presence of Migrant-hood
and the Absence of Politics 1
PART 1 Atomization: The Ubiquitous Condition of
Migrant-hood 19
PART 2 Activity: Atomization Through Connection 53
PART 3 Action: The Presence of Politics and the
Absence of Migrant-hood 85
Bibliography 113

PREFACE
Migrations Without Migrants and
Migrants Without Migrations
Archaeologists estimate that at least a hundred thousand years ago
anatomically modern humans began migrating out of what we
now call Africa. They traveled through today’s Sinai Peninsula and
Horn of Africa, into the Middle East, and then throughout the
Eurasian landmass. Their journeys would have involved the pursuit
of game, pressures from rival bands, climatic and environmental
changes, or a combination thereof. If these journeys transpired
over centuries or millennia, then perhaps they would not have even
recognized them as migrations. We can reasonably assume that
each generation encountered only slight shifts in location rather
than an epic trek “out of Africa,” as we might see it today. If signifi-
cant parts of the journey transpired over a few generations, then it
could have played a central role in collective memory. A sense of
estrangement might have characterized the lore that was narrated
to children. These people might have felt nostalgia for lost kin and
for the familiar landscapes they once effortlessly navigated. The old
deities, dwelling in the grasses, trees, and shrubs, who could help
or hinder the daily goings-on, would have become the stuff of leg-
ends, and new ones would have been encountered. The new game
they hunted might have ranged in less predictable circuits. Rather
than ally with neighboring clans that were easily located in their
ix