 Accountability in a state of liminality: Iranian students’ experiences in American airportsHadi Khoshneviss Mobilities, 2017, vol. 12, issue 3, 311-323 Abstract: This paper studies the lived experience of Iranian students upon arrival at American airports. By using two concepts of liminality and accountability, I examine how Iranian students walk the gauntlet of US airports, and study the influences of the treatment they receive at airports on their perceptions of the US. Empirically, I draw on 15 in-depth qualitative interviews with eight Iranian students at a Southern university in the US. The paper posits that multiple layers of liminality surface and intensify in airports as a threshold where international travelers can see both ways, behind and before them, while belonging to neither one. The requirement to be an ‘accountable other’ adds up to the contingencies of the situation. Theoretically, this paper puts the politics of mobility in the colonial context and claims that legal recognition will not result in integration when negative discourses around the civilizational other regards their mobility as a threat and challenges their social recognition. Date: 2017 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rmobxx:v:12:y:2017:i:3:p:311-323 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2017.1292028 Access Statistics for this article Mobilities is currently edited by Professor Kevin Hannam, Professor Mimi Sheller and Professor John Urry More articles in Mobilities from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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