Ben Muller presents chapter on border technologies at EastBorderNet conference

Benjamin Muller, associate professor in the Department of Political Science, is scheduled to speak at the EastBorderNet conference, “Relocating Borders: A Comparative Approach,” in Berlin, Germany this weekend.

Held January 11-13 at Hamboldt University, the conference provides an opportunity for border scholars from around the world to consider the relocation and reconstitution of borders, both materially and conceptually.

Muller will be presenting on a roundtable panel his recently published chapter, “Borderworld: Biometrics, AVATAR and Global Criminalization,” in F. Pakes, ed., Globalisation and the Challenge to Criminology (London: Routledge, 2012): 129-145. His presentation will focus on the use and development of border technologies in the Sonoran Borderlands of Sonora, Mexico and Arizona, USA.

“By recounting the story of the emerging reliance on biometric and surveillance technologies in the Sonoran borderlands, with reference to the controversial Arizona state law SB 1070, the chapter contends that we are increasingly witnessing an emerging “borderworld,” says Muller, “wherein a vast array of techniques and technologies are similar across various borderlands throughout the world. In fact, borders and borderlands are increasingly re-articulated as global techno-spaces.”

For more information on Muller, please visit https://www.kings.uwo.ca/academics/politics-international-relations/political-science-people/dr-benjamin-muller/

For more information on the EastBorderNet conference, please visit www.eastbordnet.org/conferences/2013/index.htm