Immobility

Abstract

Increasingly, since the early years of the twenty-first century, some have questioned the relevance of historians’ ‘fetishization of mobility’ in an era of closing borders. This has led to greater attention being placed on systems of ‘regulation and intervention’ that shape global migration. Shifting away from the narratives centred on movement and fluidity, we argue that immobility is not a mere lack of movement: it is about the power relations and barriers that enforce, experience, and resist stillness. By delving into the archives of Past and Present, we aim to construct a conversation around the processes of enforcing, experiencing, and challenging immobility. We have found that immobility shapes the experiences of both the historical actors found in the journal and the historians and scholars who write these histories. This issue explores immobility through three interconnected sections: ‘Spaces’ examines the physical and metaphorical places where movement is arrested, revealing the lived experiences within these confines and the technologies that facilitate and enforce stillness; ‘Shadows’ delves into the legal and administrative categorizations that produce and sustain immobility, focusing on the policies and ideologies that mark certain bodies as immobile; finally, ‘Aftermath’ reflects on the consequences of enforced immobility, exploring how displaced and immobilized individuals navigate and shape their identities and communities in the wake of restrictions.