Trapped Mobility: a theoretical framework and literature review focusing on displaced youth at the borders between the Global South and Global North

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of ‘trapped mobility’ as a way of analyzing the complexity of the lives of displaced young people at the borders between the Global South and Global North. ‘Trapped mobility’ results from state policies, for containing immigration and mobility at borders around the world and their impact on the experiences of displaced youth. The article’s contribution is to explore this concept both as a way of understanding (im)mobility and as an intersection between power structures and the experiences of trapped youth. Drawing on the notion of ‘being misled’, I show how ‘entrapment’ occurs and how borders are used to construct ‘trapped mobility’. The paper also synthesizes displaced young people's responses as a means of unpacking trapped mobility. The conclusions provide a deeper understanding of the logic of youth mobility and advance the theoretical comprehension of the new geographies of young people at borders.