‘A Baby Is a Baby’: The Asha Protests and the Sociology of Affective Post-Nationalism

Abstract

Theories of post-nationalism are concerned with deconstructing the relationship between citizenship and national identity. While literature in this field has tended towards macroinstitutionalist analysis, recent research has re-articulated post-nationalism as micro-level practice. This article builds on this development by attending to the 'affective conditions' of such micropolitical practices. The article draws on research into protests in Brisbane in February 2016 to prevent 'Asha', a child seeking asylum, from being returned to offshore detention. The analysis of this case demonstrates that affect performs a dual function in the practice of post-nationalism, to catalyse action in solidarity with the noncitizen informed primarily by the emotional resonance of a particular rendering of vulnerability, and in re-imagined solidarity with the co-citizen around a post-national community of feeling. Informed by this analysis, the article highlights the complex and fragile nature of a post-national solidarity dependent on intersecting, overlapping and at times problematic, affective conditions.

Whistleblowing advocacy: Solidarity and fascinance

“…This yielded an imminent, specific desire to help counter these risks: people found themselves compelled to care and to act. This idea of compassion as emerging from an awareness of the vulnerability of the other, along with a felt sense of empathy, is a feature of solidarity organisations (Hemmings, 2012; Tonkiss, 2021; Weldon, 2006). In the case of our interviewees, it has led them to eschew often-lucrative careers in traditional law firms, in favour of working in poorly-paid whistleblower advocacy groups and engaging in solidarity with the various causes that whistleblowers bring.…”

State of normality: Transnational migrants’ shifting views of state institutions and their obligations

“…Looking at everyday micro-politics, we may identify moments of post-national contestations, or even resistance, but these are strongly interwoven with affective national alliances and sense of community (Tonkiss, 2020). It seems that there is more potential for discursive de-making of the nation in situations of crisis, such as obvious violations of human rights by nation-states, which motivate people to take explicitly post-national positions against selected actions of the states, as the work of Tonkiss (2019, 2020) demonstrates. In settled times, however, post-nationalism is ephemeral, and we are only at the very beginning of understanding if, how and why post-national situations emerge.…”

“…It remains uncertain, however, whether post-national forms of governing can be successful and indeed beneficial for all (Zürn, 2000). The second take, which I term ‘non-national’, points to belongings, solidarities and loyalties that fit uneasily within the frameworks set by nation-states; their non-national character takes root in commitments to human rights and cosmopolitan orientations (Tonkiss, 2019, 2020). Migration links these two approaches.…”

“…This is also because nationalism permeates the structure of thought and feeling, becoming an unconscious part of everyone’s habitus (Bonikowski, 2016: 437). Thus, nationally underpinned emotions may effectively counter post-national struggles (Tonkiss, 2020).…”

“…Post-nationalism is about the relationship between state and the people, and how it is shaped by nationalism. It concerns membership, rights and belonging (Tonkiss, 2019, 2020). Yet there is no single definition of ‘post-national’ and the term tends to encompass various phenomena.…”