Migration and Racialization in Times of “Crisis”: The Making of Crises and their Effects

Modern history is marked by a relentless sequence of upheavals―health, ecological, financial, humanitarian, and beyond. Far from being temporary disruptions, these events reveal a paradox: they are not anomalies, but enduring features of a system governed through perpetual instability. This form of governance sustains and reinforces racial and patriarchal capitalism.

Examining the mechanisms of crisis sheds light on the necropolitics of power―the ways states exert control over life itself. The language of crisis often obscures the systemic oppression underlying these events, legitimizing the erosion of rights and freedoms while intensifying surveillance, profiling, and arbitrary arrests. Black and racialized people, Indigenous communities, as well as refugees and migrants are frequently among those most impacted.

Through an analysis of diverse examples―healthcare, migration, Indigenous rights, academic freedom, and Islamophobia―this work delves into the construction and rhetoric of “crisis.” It explores how populist and supremacist ideologies shape public discourse and perpetuate patterns of visibility and ignorance, with profound sociological effects on marginalized communities.