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Danger in the Post-Cold War Era: Nation, Environmental Security and Postcolonial Feminism
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suggest that racialized understandings of both US national security and American identity areembedded in US immigration policy. With the American nation defined largely as white, and threatsto nation defined as largely non-white, US immigration policy has been characterized by punitivemeasures excluding people of color from definitions and rights associated with US citizenship. TheNaturalization Act of 1790 is an instructive example. As America’s first immigration law, it sought tolimit citizenship to “free white persons” only, and remained in effect until 1952 (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey, 2001:56). The focus of my research is on immigration across the US/Mexico border and therelationship posed between immigration and environmental security within US government securitydiscourse. Through the lens of Postcolonial Feminism and following a brief discussion of some of theUS policies targeting the US/Mexico border, I examine several US government security documents(released between 1994 and 2001), highlighting how environmental security discourse on immigrationacross the US/Mexico border engages nation and national security. I place particular emphasis on theextent to which this discourse is informed by constructions of “others” in its identification andinterpretation of security threats.
I use a Postcolonial Feminist framework for a number of reasons. Although a full discussion of
this framework is beyond the scope of this paper,
3
several points warrant mention. For one,
Postcolonial Feminists disrupt hegemonic definitions of power in IR by pointing to the failure of manyIR theorists to recognize the power inherent in the construction of knowledge itself. In arguing thatcurrent international hierarchies, relations of power and geographical boundaries are still presentlydetermined by relations characteristic of colonialism (Pettman, 1996:26), Postcolonial Feminists placeextensive focus on the relationship between knowledge and power, demonstrating that knowledge(re)produced on the basis of power-over relationships (which includes constructions andrepresentations of “others,”) acts as an instrument of power. Mainstream IR as mentioned, pays littleattention to issues of knowledge production and representation, despite the fact that “unveilingpractices of power in IR requires at the very least an engagement with the problem of representation,and its racialized and gendered implications” (Chowdhry and Nair, 2002:16, 17).
Postcolonial Feminist scholars stress the necessity of illustrating “the complex ways in which
postcolonial others have been constructed, and discursively mapped and managed” (Chowdhry andNair, 2002:16), which is directly connected to Postcolonial Feminist understandings of interconnectedsystems of power. While emphasizing the significance of what Chowdhry and Nair (2002) term the“imperial juncture,” Postcolonial Feminists draw attention to and interrogate interlocking and mutuallyreinforcing systems of power, privilege and oppression. Put differently, rather than an additive model,Postcolonial Feminists understand colonialism, sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism andglobalization as interconnected systems, which is essential to more fully understanding people’s lives,institutional arrangements, social issues and approaches to social change more generally (Andersonand Hill Collins, 2001a:3).
Recognizing not only international power imbalances, but also the role of state, nation and
nationalisms is also crucial in this context. Discussions of each must go beyond simple identificationof geographic location, the location of particular nations within global power imbalances, andmovements aimed at disrupting the global order. (Re)Productions of nation and nationalisms areimbedded in relations of domination and exploitation and perhaps most important, scholars like Doty(1996) and Manzo (1996) have demonstrated the centrality of race, gender, sexuality and class in theirreproduction. Constructions of nation, state and nationalisms are intimately connected to structuresand ideologies of domination and privilege -- one cannot be separated from the other. In illustratingthis, Mohanty points to a world “traversed with intersecting lines of power and resistance, a worldwhich can be understood only in terms of its destructive divisions of gender, color, class, sexuality, andnation” (1991a:2). These structures of domination come together forming a matrix of domination, butthis matrix is fluid as its structures intersect differently given varied historical, social and economiclocations. Therefore, Mohanty refers to them as “relations of ruling” and suggests that it is at the
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suggest that racialized understandings of both US national security and American identity are
embedded in US immigration policy. With the American nation defined largely as white, and threats
to nation defined as largely non-white, US immigration policy has been characterized by punitive
measures excluding people of color from definitions and rights associated with US citizenship. The
Naturalization Act of 1790 is an instructive example. As America’s first immigration law, it sought to
limit citizenship to “free white persons” only, and remained in effect until 1952 (Kirk and Okazawa-
Rey, 2001:56). The focus of my research is on immigration across the US/Mexico border and the
relationship posed between immigration and environmental security within US government security
discourse. Through the lens of Postcolonial Feminism and following a brief discussion of some of the
US policies targeting the US/Mexico border, I examine several US government security documents
(released between 1994 and 2001), highlighting how environmental security discourse on immigration
across the US/Mexico border engages nation and national security. I place particular emphasis on the
extent to which this discourse is informed by constructions of “others” in its identification and
interpretation of security threats.
I use a Postcolonial Feminist framework for a number of reasons. Although a full discussion of
this framework is beyond the scope of this paper,
3
several points warrant mention. For one,
Postcolonial Feminists disrupt hegemonic definitions of power in IR by pointing to the failure of many
IR theorists to recognize the power inherent in the construction of knowledge itself. In arguing that
current international hierarchies, relations of power and geographical boundaries are still presently
determined by relations characteristic of colonialism (Pettman, 1996:26), Postcolonial Feminists place
extensive focus on the relationship between knowledge and power, demonstrating that knowledge
(re)produced on the basis of power-over relationships (which includes constructions and
representations of “others,”) acts as an instrument of power. Mainstream IR as mentioned, pays little
attention to issues of knowledge production and representation, despite the fact that “unveiling
practices of power in IR requires at the very least an engagement with the problem of representation,
and its racialized and gendered implications” (Chowdhry and Nair, 2002:16, 17).
Postcolonial Feminist scholars stress the necessity of illustrating “the complex ways in which
postcolonial others have been constructed, and discursively mapped and managed” (Chowdhry and
Nair, 2002:16), which is directly connected to Postcolonial Feminist understandings of interconnected
systems of power. While emphasizing the significance of what Chowdhry and Nair (2002) term the
“imperial juncture,” Postcolonial Feminists draw attention to and interrogate interlocking and mutually
reinforcing systems of power, privilege and oppression. Put differently, rather than an additive model,
Postcolonial Feminists understand colonialism, sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism and
globalization as interconnected systems, which is essential to more fully understanding people’s lives,
institutional arrangements, social issues and approaches to social change more generally (Anderson
and Hill Collins, 2001a:3).
Recognizing not only international power imbalances, but also the role of state, nation and
nationalisms is also crucial in this context. Discussions of each must go beyond simple identification
of geographic location, the location of particular nations within global power imbalances, and
movements aimed at disrupting the global order. (Re)Productions of nation and nationalisms are
imbedded in relations of domination and exploitation and perhaps most important, scholars like Doty
(1996) and Manzo (1996) have demonstrated the centrality of race, gender, sexuality and class in their
reproduction. Constructions of nation, state and nationalisms are intimately connected to structures
and ideologies of domination and privilege -- one cannot be separated from the other. In illustrating
this, Mohanty points to a world “traversed with intersecting lines of power and resistance, a world
which can be understood only in terms of its destructive divisions of gender, color, class, sexuality, and
nation” (1991a:2). These structures of domination come together forming a matrix of domination, but
this matrix is fluid as its structures intersect differently given varied historical, social and economic
locations. Therefore, Mohanty refers to them as “relations of ruling” and suggests that it is at the
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