ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the conceptual, empirical and theoretical challenges of including discussions of race and its consequences within borders scholarship. It argues that pushing race to the borders of borders scholarship is problematic not least because racialized hierarchies structure the flow of humans across the globe and shape access to citizenship. Therefore, the inclusion of analytical frameworks that are explicit about race can provide texture, nuance and a ‘lived reality’ to borders scholarship. Drawing on examples of empirical research on policing migration, the chapter reflects on how race and gender constitutively inflect research encounters. In doing so, it argues the case for embedding questions about positionality, connecting the consequences of colonialism with race and reflecting on the role of racialized emotions within borders scholarship.
