Borders, labor, and beyond: Collective reflections on Harsha Walia's writing, activism, and influence on the anthropology of work

Abstract

Harsha Walia is the winner of the 2022 Conrad M. Arensberg Award given by the Society for the Anthropology of Work for outstanding contributions to the anthropology of work from inside the discipline and beyond. Walia is a scholar, activist, and organizer committed to migrant justice and border abolition. She is also author of Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism (Fernwood Press 2021), Undoing Border Imperialism (AK Press 2013), as well as numerous journal articles. Walia's analysis and her organizing with No One Is Illegal and other activist communities lay bare why border imperialism continues to feed into worker exploitation and why border abolition is imperative for migrant worker justice. This roundtable discussion is the culmination of collective thinking by anthropologists about how Walia's work has influenced their own, including their research, writing, and advocacy with their interlocutors who live and work across borders.

Notes from the editorial collective

“…Their forum is a breath of fresh air in foregrounding the ethics and praxis that anthropological researchers and scholars must grapple with in the thick "groves of academe" (Figueira, 2002, p. 164) and in the context of carceral violence and attacks on coalitional solidarities for ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinians in Gaza. As contributor Arjun Shankar notes, Walia's contributions teach us "why liberalism and fascism play so well together; why all we see is a continuous cycle of violence, inequality, and despair; and why there can be no real hope for a better future without a radical re-imagining of our current world order" (Campbell et al, 2024).…”