Distance as care: The politics of care in research on border externalization

This article examines the conflicting care imperatives that shape data collection in interpretative research in the field of border externalization and how they can be navigated through distance. It considers research relations with respondents whose professional care practices deviate from those of the researcher. The article forwards two key points. First, it proposes to build on standpoint epistemologies and the notion of thinking-with to unpack the situatedness of knowledge production within a wider politics of care. This renders visible potentially conflicting care imperatives with regard to caring through knowledge production and caring for respondents. Second, it shows how three care imperatives, care through knowledge production, care towards respondents, and care towards oneself, can be navigated through enacting distance as a practice of care. The article brings considerations on the politics of care to the study of border externalization, focusing specifically on counter migrant smuggling efforts, and contributes to debates on distance in ethnographic methods. In doing so, it adds to emerging debates on how to conduct interpretative research within Critical Security, Critical Migration, and Critical Border Studies.