Bringing the outside(r) in: Law’s appropriation of subversive identities

Main author: Keenan, Sarah
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-17410
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration
K Law (General)
description This article explores some of the ways in which law appropriates subversive identities. Drawing on work from geographical, feminist and critical race approaches to property, I put forward an understanding of property as a relation of belonging ‘held up’ by space. Building on this understanding, I argue that identity can operate as property in the same way that land and material objects can, and that law appropriates subversive identities by bringing them into its hegemonic space of recognition and regulation. Law’s appropriations have a range of effects on both the individual subjects directly involved in legal proceedings and the broader spaces in and through which those subjects forge their identities. Specifically this article explores the appropriation of gay and lesbian identities in the context of immigration law, and of aboriginal identities in the context of Australia’s Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 (Cth) (NTNERA).
format Journal Article
author Keenan, Sarah
author_facet Keenan, Sarah
authorStr Keenan, Sarah
author_letter Keenan, Sarah
title Bringing the outside(r) in: Law’s appropriation of subversive identities
publisher Queen's University Belfast
publishDate 2013
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/17410/