Provocations are the questions that lie at the heart of conversations about migration and borders but that often are not made explicit. The provocations emerged from the overarching themes that developed out of the team’s engagement with the oral histories. They are points of entry that both inform and are informed by the oral histories and are meant to provoke critical thinking and engagement.
1. Why do borders exist?
Rarely do we reflect on what gives states the authority to enforce borders in particular ways or even why borders exist in the first place. This provocation encourages you to ask: What work do borders do? Are they needed? Why do states use labels or categories to differentiate between people who cross their borders? How do borders include or exclude? Who can take mobility for granted and why? What is your relationship to borders?
2. What are the relationships between borders in North America?
To what extent and in what ways are the borders of North America connected? What can we learn from examining them together? How do laws and policies work together across the continent to shape migratory histories? How do solidarity and sanctuary networks span and persist across borders? This provocation asks you to consider the kinds of relationships and networks that exist or have emerged across borders.
3. Whose stories are told and by whom?
Consider what you know about the Canada-US border. What do you know about its history? Which histories and memories are recorded, while others are forgotten or silenced? Who tells the stories about migration across it? How are borders imagined and how are border stories told differently by those that cross them, local communities, solidarity groups, faith-based groups, and the nation-states that seek to control them? How does the way stories are told influence our connection to them and our willingness to engage?
4. Are we only moved by questions of innocence?
Think about the kinds of expectations that states, communities, and advocates have about people seeking asylum. How do expectations of refugeeness influence how people respond? Consider the dynamics of refugee assistance. Are we only moved by questions of innocence when it comes to people crossing borders? Can there be empathy without an expectation of gratitude from those being helped?
5. What does refuge look like?
At its core, the term ‘refuge’ implies the provision of shelter or protection. What does seeking refuge look like for different people? It might be about finding physical safety or the absence of harm, but it can also be about finding a place of acceptance or comfort or being able to provide for oneself and one’s family. Implied in the term refuge can also be the meaning of ‘home’. What does the word ‘refuge’ mean to you? Where do you find home?
6. Why do we frame migration as a crisis?
Think of some examples of movements of people that have been labelled as a crisis and others that have not. What does it mean to call migration a ‘crisis’? In what ways does this label influence how states and other actors respond? What work does the term crisis do? What would it mean to ask the related question, a crisis for whom?
7. How do people navigate their migration journeys
Many stories of migration include accounts of overcoming obstacles and of arduous journeys. What keeps people going, despite these struggles? How do people navigate policies, borders, and communities as they move from one place to another? What does it take to survive and persist? What language is used to describe what it takes and what do you make of concepts like resourcefulness, resilience, agency, and self-advocacy? In what ways might it be harmful to focus on the resiliency of refugees?