Reflections

S. Irudaya Rajan and Anand Sreekumar

Chapter 37 in Handbook of Research on Migration, COVID-19 and Cities, 2025, pp 649-655 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This concluding section ties together all the chapters which constitute this volume. We argue that a unifying normative theme which emerges from this volume is the need for a decolonial post-pandemic urban future. Towards this end, we illustrate how most of the contributions sought to deconstruct nation-state centrism as well as the interlinked modes of border thinking and border ontologies which characterized migration governance during the pandemic, including within cities. This nation-first approach had devastating consequences for migrants, culminating in the entrenchment of practices of categorization and hierarchization as well as exacerbating associated inequities related to patriarchy and neoliberal capitalism. Guided by an emancipatory outlook, we argue that a post-pandemic decolonial urban future must go beyond this nation-centrism to incorporate meaningful decentralization. A decolonial commitment also involves a greater recognition of alternate voices and pluralistic epistemologies drawn from migrants’ experiences themselves.

Keywords: Decolonial; Migration; Post-colonial; Urban; Cities; Borders (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035301225
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