Placing futures in regimes of im/mobilities

Abstract

Concepts related to the future are abundant in research on im/mobilities. However, studies rarely explain the forces that impinge on who can imagine what future, and how these futures are funnelled to govern im/mobilities. Using a sociocultural psychological model of the imagination, I propose that regimes of im/mobilities, detailing how some movements are engendered while others are prohibited, also operate through imaginations of the future. I argue that when different technologies make some futures visible while making others invisible, this process represents a mode of governing and differentiating im/mobilities by disciplining people’s imagination. I incorporate existing research on indefinite detention in the British, Danish, and Swedish asylum systems, as well as my own fieldwork in the Faroe Islands. These examples show two opposing ways by which the future is fashioned to impact im/mobilities. I detail how various technologies of the imagination guide people’s imagination differently and serve as a crucial component of regimes of im/mobilities. These shifting forces correspond to the constantly changing nature of the regime of im/mobilities. Furthermore, the varying imaginations also emphasise the need to pay more attention to how people experience and navigate the imaginative arm of regimes of im/mobilities.