Autonomy of Migration and the Governmentality of Plastic Borders

Inspired by the autonomy of migration approach, we analyse borders as sites of control and violence but also as migrant praxis, as strategies of escape and rupture. We explore the idea of “bodily borders”, emphasizing that borders shape subjects on the move and are themselves shaped by the embodied experiences of border-crossers. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of governmentality and Malabou’s analysis of the concept of plasticity, we argue that migrations are governed through “plastic borders” that are formed as direct responses to migrant mobilities, using the empirical example of the externalization of borders as an EU policy of migration management.
KEY WORDS: autonomy of migration, borders, governmentality, plasticity, externalization of borders, Balkan migratory route