Sanctuary cities and urban struggles by Jonathan Darling Harald Bauder

Author:Jonathan Darling, Harald Bauder [Jonathan Darling, Harald Bauder]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781526155993
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2021-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

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Sanctuary artivism: expanding geopolitical imaginations

Jen Bagelman

Today we are certainly witnessing the intensification of violent border regimes; however, we are also witnessing a vibrant range of politics that are generative of a more welcoming approach. In the last decade, ‘sanctuary’ has emerged as a particularly powerful expression of hospitality, garnering widespread attention within academic and activist circles. As a working definition, this chapter approaches ‘sanctuary’ as a movement that seeks to ensure that all people – regardless of citizenship – have safe access to the places in which they reside (be that an urban or non-urban dwelling).1 Here, sanctuary is understood as a complex set of practices that consists of formal policies and ordinances and a myriad of creative expressions. These practices, it will be argued, belie simplistic normative frames. Rather, sanctuary enacts both generative openings that ‘do not automatically replicate the closures of policies devised by national governments keen to absolve themselves of responsibility for the displaced’ (Darling, 2010) and yet, in particular contexts, also entrenches exclusionary politics (Bagelman, 2016).

In light of these burgeoning sanctuary movements we have seen a proliferation of sanctuary scholarship. This literature has effectively explored sanctuary initiatives and policies in various geographical contexts (Bauder, 2017; Lippert, 2004; Mancina, 2012). This diverse literature has carefully mapped out the history and contemporary manifestation of sanctuary ordinances such as ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell’ and ‘Access without Fear’ policies, and a host of other initiatives. Within this literature it has been widely argued that a deepened understanding of these policy fields (how they vary and travel) is vital, for it is partly through concrete policy change that we see our localities becoming more welcoming places. The argument rightly made by many sanctuary scholars is that, without evaluating these material policies, sanctuary may become hollowed out as a banal slogan or a dangerously misleading empty gesture.

While attending to these policy domains remains important, this chapter shifts the focus. I aim to foreground art. I draw on and expand upon work by scholars who have gestured towards artful expressions in sanctuary movements (Darling, 2010; Carney et al., 2017) while seeking to further concretise and theorise its role in reshaping our geopolitical landscapes. The guiding question animating this chapter is: how does art feature in sanctuary movements today? In particular I am interested in exploring how artful practice might advance the aspiration to make localities more welcoming places for all residents regardless of citizenship status.

To address this question, I reflect upon on a variety of artful practices. These empirical examples are gleaned from my own grounded engagement with and participation in sanctuary movements on Coast Salish territories (Vancouver Island, Canada) and in parts of the United Kingdom. Reflecting on these intimate experiences with activist networks in these contexts, this chapter identifies five main forms of artful practice and demonstrates how these enact an affective role in sanctuary struggles today. First, I explore how sanctuary crafty maps challenge abstract statist cartographies through situated place remaking. Second, I examine how sanctuary art in the form of détournement reroutes repetitive and exclusionary securitisation rituals.

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