The Cost of Borders

This lecture by Dr. Heba Gowayed will explore the marketplace between migrants, smugglers, and states. At borders, multimillion-dollar, state-sponsored industries of carceral and military technologies confront and contain people pursuing better tomorrows. In The Cost of Borders, Gowayed unravels this confrontation, arguing that borders, rather than static markers of sovereign territory, are dynamic marketplaces comprised of a series of transactions that are always costly and often deadly. Moving from Lesbos to Gaza to Tijuana, and centering the perspective of people on the move, this project shows how the costs of borders, patterned by inequalities of racism, sexism, and disability, fluctuate over time and space, and differ depending on who is attempting to cross. Heba Gowayed is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Hunter College, CUNY.