The Right to Light
Visibility and Government in the Rio Grande ValleyColonias
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3776013 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michal Braier (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 110 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1208-1223 |
| Publication date | 2020-07-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annals of the American Association of Geographers (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2469-4452 • E-ISSN: 2469-4460 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/24694452.2019.1674127 |
| OpenAlex | W2990419609 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 49 |
Examining the Right to Light campaign carried out by colonia residents in south Texas, this article analyzes the relationship among three axes: the effects of the Valley’s urban geography on the grassroots struggle of marginalized citizens to install streetlights to attain material illumination and security; the ensuing visibility of these citizens to governing apparatus and their increased susceptibility to mechanisms of management and control; and, finally, the production of political visibility in the public sphere through collective action. I show how struggles over distribution of regional and national resources, social recognition, and political participation not only give shape to concrete spaces but also shape how colonia residents understand their own subjectivities as a concerned public. Considering the relationship between materiality, visibility, and power, I argue that the problem of darkness is deeply connected to racialized distinctions between citizens and immigrants, between legality and illegality, and between those who deserve to be part of the urban community and those who are obliged to stay outside its boundaries. Key Words: concerned publics, political visibility, streetlight infrastructure, Texas colonias, U.S.–Mexico border
Geography · Grassroots · Militarization · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Principle of legality · Publics · Right to the city · Sociology · Visibility · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Public Administration · Urban Planning and Governance
Shadowed lives
The Will to Improve
Material Participation
The Art of Not Being Governed
Making neo-liberal governance
Cities for People, Not for Profit
“Our People Are Still Resisting”
U.S. statecraft and the U.S.–Mexico border as security/economy nexus
Beyond Smoke and Mirrors
Crossing Borders, Reinforcing Borders
Colonias and Public Policy in Texas and Mexico
Governable Places
Impossible Subjects
Powers of Freedom
Entrapment Processes and Immigrant Communities in a Time of Heightened Border Vigilance
The Human Condition
The Human Condition
For democracy
Building strength from within
The Nature and Extent of Self-Help Housing in Texas
Neo-liberalism
Dreaming the ordinary
The Variegated Landscape of Local Immigration Policies in the United States
Cities of Refuge
The Paradox of Contemporary Immigrant Political Mobilization
Illegality at Work
The Social Production of Latin@ Visibilities and Invisibilities
Partners in Crime? Neoliberalism and the Production of New Political Subjectivities
Immigrant “Illegality” as Neoliberal Governmentality in Leadville, Colorado
Claiming Space, Claiming Water
With Numbers in Place
Rescaling the “Alien,” Rescaling Personhood
Pushing the boundary
Municipal Annexation and the Selective Underbounding of Colonias in Texas' Lower Rio Grande Valley
The “Local” Migration State
Governmentality and the mastery of territory in nineteenth-century America
Going Public
"The Legal Production of Mexican/Migrant "Illegality
Governmentality, Calculation, Territory
Citizenship and the right to the global city
What's in a Name? A Critique of 'Colonias' in the United States
Race, Space, and Electric Power
Seeing Like a State
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |