Gender Research Centre Orientation Talk: Visa Violence: Asylum-seekers in Marriages of Exception in Hong Kong
日期 : 2020-10-28
Speaker: Prof. Sealing Cheng (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, CUHK)
Moderator: Prof. Surabhi Chopra (Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, CUHK)
Date: 30 Oct 2020 (Fri)
Time: 19:30-20:30
Language of the talk: English
Registration: http://bit.ly/grctalkoct30
Abstract: Visa approval is a part of the state apparatus for border control. In this talk, I look at how visa denial to asylum-seeking spouses of local residents is part of the securitisation of borders in Hong Kong. I use the concept of ‘Visa violence’ to capture both the structural and experiential dimensions of securitization – the assertion of sovereignty effecting a debilitating limbo of immobility, uncertainty, and invisibility. In the first part, I examine the expanding illegalization of asylum-seekers in the government’s attempt to shore up its legitimacy. In the second part, I use ethnography to illuminate the unspectacular yet insidious effects of visa denial on not only intimate lives but also sense of self, as well as the unfolding of agency of those in asylum-marriages over time. The analysis considers how family is a key site of state power and domination for both migrants and citizens in an expanding state of exception.
The talk will be taking place online, using Zoom. Look forward to seeing you all!