Workshop 11: Rhetoric, Migration, & Mobility

Workshop Leaders: Lisa Flores and Leslie Harris

Workshop Leaders:

Lisa Flores and Leslie Harris 

Migration, whether between or within nation-states, is a phenomenon of movement. The figurations of that movement across public discourse, this workshop contends, are drenched with the complex layerings of bodies. Indeed, the constellations of bodies that move and migrate across discourses of migration are rhetorically saturated in ways that (re)produce, disrupt, and sustain larger discourses of race, gender, sexuality, and belonging. 

In this workshop, we attend to the mobilities of migration, from the chaotic and frenetic to the contained and controlled. We consider as well the spaces of migration and mobility, turning to the most familiar, the borders, as well as to those we that have garnered less attention, such as those spaces that contain, detain, and impede migrant movement. Though we recognize the clear need for global attention migration and mobility, this workshop centers movement into and across the U.S. 

Workshop participants will read rhetorical scholarship on mobility and migration while also turning to authors such as Sara Ahmed, Timothy Creswell, and Nicholas De Genova. Over the course of the workshop participants will map key issues in migration/ mobility research and leave the workshop with a proposal and plan for future research.  

Contact Information

Lisa Flores: lisa.flores@colorado.edu
Leslie Harris, harrisl@uwm.edu