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Bodies, Mobility, Politics: On Choreography and Security at the El Paso-Juarez Border

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Charlotte VealORCiD

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Abstract

A close but unrecognized affinity exists between border movements and dance. There is a politics to movement and principles that govern movement. This paper foregrounds body-centred encounters with international border security and traces the conspicuously choreographed strategies mobilised to manage and deter human mobilities. I draw upon critical scholarship in human geography and security studies on the performative function of borders, embodied slow violences, and discourses of affect. I braid these with dance theorist Andre Lepecki’s writing on choreo-politics and choreo-policing. Lepecki’s theoretical reading of the body-politics nexus can, I argue, advance a critical conceptual framework for interrogating the surveillance, disciplining, and ultimate orchestration of bodies in the border region. Through choreo-politics and choreo-policing I question the application and porosity of state controller apparatus and probe inconsistencies in state imaginaries of division. At the same time, I am equally interested in how dance might intervene in border discourse. The conclusion turns to Hispanic/Latino dance choreography, created and staged by El Paso Ballet Theatre (2023), to tell different stories of territory and security, founded on embodied, multi-sensual knowledge.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Veal C

Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)

Publication status: Published

Conference Name: World Social Science Association 66th Annual Conference

Year of Conference: 2024

Print publication date: 07/04/2024

Acceptance date: 30/11/2023

Publisher: World Social Science Association

URL: https://www.wssaweb.com/media/attachments/2024/05/01/2024-wssa-final-program-rev.3.pdf

Notes: Association for Borderland Studies section of conference

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