Video: In this seminar titled Precarious Inclusion: Irregular Migration, Welfare Policy & State Borders in Norway, Dr. Marry-Anne Karlsen presented on the ambiguities of the Norwegian state’s approach to irregular migration. Specifically, she examined the interaction between welfare policy and entry control, highlighting the role of discretionary decision-making in shaping or contesting state borders during medical encounters.
Dr. Karlsen argued that the border is not a fixed entity but one that is multiple, dispersed, and constantly negotiated in everyday practices and situations. By adopting an ethnographic lens, she illuminated how the border manifests and transforms in interactions between healthcare providers and irregular migrants. Her findings challenge traditional notions of borders, emphasizing their fluid and context-dependent nature.
To illustrate these dynamics, Dr. Karlsen explored the intersection of migration control and healthcare provision, focusing on how the Norwegian health system has become increasingly implicated in enforcing state borders. She contended that discretionary decisions made in medical settings can either perpetuate or disrupt the state’s bordering practices, creating a precarious inclusion for irregular migrants. Despite these challenges, her analysis revealed the complex and often contradictory roles of welfare policies in the governance of migration.
About the Speaker
Dr. Marry-Anne Karlsen earned her PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Bergen in 2015 and holds a major in Human Geography from the same institution. Her research interests lie at the intersection of migration control, welfare policy, and border politics. Her doctoral thesis, Precarious Inclusion: Irregular Migration, Practices of Care, and State Bordering in Norway, explored how healthcare systems interact with irregular migration and was part of the RCN-funded project Provision of Welfare to Irregular Migrants.