Disrupting 21st-Century In/Security

Abstract

This thematic issue probes into twenty-first-century security concerns in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and their transnational implications. In particular, it explores three tensions that characterise contemporary security concerns: national security vs. human security, policy measures vs. grassroots activism and scholarly discourses vs. artistic interventions. The 'War on Terror' launched by President George W. Bush marked the beginning of the century with issues of violence and insecurity, with major human rights ramifications. Grassroots activists, however, have resisted the imposition of security policy and stood up to the insecurities they face. This thematic journal issue discusses questions of in/security around a robust people-centred framework that delineates questions of insecurity as a complex nexus that intertwines policy-making, everyday experiences, cultural representations and formal and informal communication networks. This focus presents an alternative to more conventional approaches that examine issues of societal in/security solely from the viewpoint of nation states and law enforcement. The collection’s case studies address the ways in which ordinary people in a transnational North American context experience questions of insecurity. The articles highlight the central position of gender, race, class and sexuality in both strengthening and challenging danger, uncertainty and liminality.