This dissertation explores the importance of tourism and tourability to contemporary global politics. I argue that the global movement of tourists (declared by the UN World Tourism Organization as a ‘right to tour’) is made possible in part through what I call the production of tourability – the capacity of particular places, bodies, or experiences to be toured and to be seen as worthy of touring. Rather than a natural result of difference, tourability is a political process that involves contestations over what and who counts, how space should be organized, and how and what histories are told. I show that touristic movement is based on a specifically neoliberal mobility – a form of free movement that lays claim to ‘borderlessness’ and infinite access along lines eerily familiar to those claimed by contemporary capital – and use this to argue that the work of making places tourable is also designed in specific ways to facilitate this kind of movement. Thus, being tourable is part of the transnational politics of contemporary governance and is useful to constructing the boundaries of (in)appropriate movement. At the same time, the continual expansion of tourism across the Global South has given ‘being tourable’ important economic and political stakes for life, subjectivity, and land. To understand the interweaving of these stakes and the transnational mobility being produced, I examine two sites where tourability has been thrown into question by those whose work produces it. The first is situated at the tri-border region of the Colombian Amazon on the shores between Brazil and Peru that has, in recent years, seen a boom of tourism development and visitors. This boom has largely operated on the neoliberal designs of movement and contemporary development that promote access to tourable places as an enactment of freedom. Against this backdrop, a story circulating in early 2011 highlighted the decision by members of Nazaret, an indigenous community along the river, to refuse tourists and tour companies entry. Taking up this small and messy act, I interrogate around this refusal to examine how touristic mobility is being made (im)possible in this small corner of the Amazon. The second site is a tour designed by the indigenous Hñähñu community of El Alberto, Mexico, that takes participants on a simulated border-crossing to experience, as so many of these community members have, what it is like to cross the U.S.-Mexico border as an undocumented migrant. Impressive, provocative, complex, and controversial, this tour throws into question both how mobilities are addressed within touristic sites and the creative potential of those who are toured to make use of its practices in ways that further other aims. Using concepts of work, landscapes, circulation, and friction, I explore both production and refusal to elaborate on the transnational politics of tourism as neither a panacea nor as an afterthought, but as a sticky, messy, and significant part of global political life. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Esta pesquisa observa a relação entre migrantes transnacionais e dinâmicas urbanas na cidade de São Paulo, através de uma observação etnográfica participante e móvel, e da análise de trajetórias habitacionais de migrantes que passaram por diferentes tipos de ocupações de moradia. Desenvolvem-se as hipóteses de que migrantes, assim como não migrantes, são atores urbanos cuja relação com a cidade engendra agenciamentos, redes e alianças que resultam em diferentes formas de ação política transnacionalizada. A investigação demonstra que a presença migrante em ocupações é resultado de situações próprias da vida urbana, na qual há uma distribuição desigual da condição precária e deslocamentos cada vez maiores e mais frequentes de migrantes e não migrantes dentro e através das cidades. Nesse sentido, argumenta-se sobre a necessidade de se tomar a cidade como plano de referência para compreensão das mobilidades transnacionais de modo a observar, inclusive, os agenciamentos ao redor de categorias jurídico-políticas e identidades étnicas e nacionais. A pesquisa demonstra que a relação de migrantes com a cidade resulta em pontos de inflexão e entrecruzamentos nas trajetórias habitacionais dos atores, assim como em modificações no tecido social e nos próprios espaços - alguns deles funcionando como potentes conectores urbanos. Destaca-se que, nestes contextos, surgem conexões de interdependência e ações políticas que desafiam a condição precária e ao mesmo tempo colocam em xeque tanto a moral humanitária quanto a noção do migrante empreendedor de si mesmo. Nesse sentido, a investigação busca contribuir a uma compreensão mais heterogênea e menos excepcionalista da experiência migrante na cidade e aponta para a necessidade de uma agenda de pesquisa pós-nacional comprometida com a emergência de diferentes tipos de movimentos de resistência transnacionalizados. / This research observes the relationship between transnational migrants and urban dynamics in the city of São Paulo, through a participant and movel ethnographic observation, and the analysis of migrants\' housing pathways that crossed ocupações (squats). The hypothesis developed are that that migrants, as well as non-migrants, are urban actors whose relaonship with the city engenders agency, networks and alliances that result in different forms of transnational political action. The research shows that the migrant presence in ocupações is a result of urban life situations, in which there is an uneven distribution of precarity and increasing and more frequent displacements of migrants and non migrants within and through cities. In this sense, this work argues about the need to consider the city as the plane of reference for a proper understanding of transnational mobilities, which even allows the observance of the agencies around juridical-political categories and ethnic and national identities. This research shows that the relationship of migrants with the city results in inflection points and intersections in the housing pathways of the actors, as well as in changes in the social fabric and in the spaces themselves - some of them functioning as powerful urban connectors. It is noteworthy that, in these contexts, there are connections of interdependence and political actions that challenge the precarious condition and at the same time put in question both the humanitarian morality and the notion of the entrepreneurial migrant. In this sense, the research seeks to contribute to a more heterogeneous and less exceptionalist understanding of the migrant experience in the city, and it points to the need for a post-national research agenda that is committed to the emergence of different types of transnationalized resistance movements.

Basé sur une enquête ethnographique multi-située, le présent travail de thèse aborde les pratiques circulatoires des migrants de nationalité malienne arrivés en Espagne à partir des années 1990. Les acteurs, les espaces, les stratégies, les conditions matérielles et symboliques de ces mobilités complexes font l’objet de ma recherche. En portant mon regard sur un vaste espace de circulation compris entre le Mali, ses pays limitrophes et plusieurs pays européens, j’ai pourtant identifié un terrain d’observation spécifique afin d'analyser l’inscription territoriale de la mobilité dans un contexte social pouvant être délimité. L’Espagne à l’époque de la crise économique, de la contraction du marché de l’emploi et de la précarisation sociale des populations migrantes correspond à cet espace-temps clé de ma démarche. Dans ce contexte en rapide évolution, on observe aujourd’hui l’essor d’un nouveau cycle de mobilités nationales et transnationales. Confrontés à l’érosion du salariat dans les secteurs qui les employaient autrefois, un nombre croissant de migrants maliens fait de la circulation une ressource capitale, permettant de saisir des opportunités d’affaires et d'embauches au sein d’un périmètre géographique élargi. Les mouvements pendulaires à la quête d’emplois précaires, les voyages dans le cadre d’entreprises d’importation de produits d’occasion, les déplacements saisonniers pour les travaux agricoles constituent autant d’exemples concrets d’une économie de la mobilité qui brouille les repères entre migration de travail et commerce transnational. J’ai prêté une attention particulière à la manière dont les acteurs interprètent leurs pratiques de circulation, ainsi qu'à l’évolution des représentations et des imaginaires mobilisés. Du point de vue des acteurs en mouvement, la mobilité semble souvent participer d’une stratégie de recomposition des parcours migratoires exposés à la précarité ; dans certains cas, elle devient une manière d’aborder graduellement le retour dans le milieu d’origine en échappant aux écueils d’une réinstallation à long terme. En suivant les itinéraires et recueillant les histoires de vie, on découvre la variété, l’effervescence, mais aussi la fragilité des différents équilibres sociaux, familiaux et économiques, bâtis sur la mobilité. Ces équilibres renvoient à l’urgence de reformuler la relation avec les espaces et les sociétés investis selon des configurations souvent inédites et en perpétuelle construction. / Based on a multi-sited ethnography, this thesis studies the movements of Malian migrants that arrived to Spain since 1990. The people, their strategies, the locations, and the material and symbolic conditions of their complex movements make also part of this research. Looking into the broad space of circulation, from Mali and their neighboring countries, to the European countries, I have identified a terrain for observing the mobility of migrants inside their social context. Spain, during the economic crisis, with the unemployment and social precariousness is the key point, in space and time, of my study.In this context of rapid evolution, we observe today a new cycle of national and transnational mobility. Facing the reduction of the economic sectors that used to provide work in the past, a growing number of Malian migrants make circulation and mobility their key resource, allowing them to engage in business deals and trade in a larger geographical area. The suburban trips looking for short term jobs, the trips to different countries to sell second hand products, or the seasonal trips for working in agriculture, are just few examples of an economy of the mobility, that blurs the limits between migration and international commerce. I made specific attention to the way the migrants understand their circulation practices, and to the evolution of the imaginary of mobility.From the migrant standpoint, mobility seems to make part of a strategy of reconstruction of emigrational paths exposed to precariousness; in some cases, it becomes a way to gradually face the return to their home countries avoiding the pitfalls of a long term stay there. Following these itineraries and gathering their histories we discover the variety and the thrill, but also the fragility of the different social, familiar and economic balances built on mobility. These balances take us to the urgency of reformulating the relationship with the spaces and the societies created around new and unusual situations and in constant evolution.

In today’s world, cultural, social, and economic relationships increasingly transcend national borders. This coincides with high levels of migration and physical mobility across the globe. Therefore, this study investigates the degree that migrants participate in such transnational phenomena and how this participation relates to their integration in the country of residence. To address these questions, the cross-border relationships and practices of Turkish and Romanian migrants in Denmark, Germany, and Italy are examined. The study analyses the degree to which migrants are transnational, by which factors migrants’ transnationalism is determined, and whether transnationalism impacts the social and identificational integration of migrants in their country of residence. With respect to identification, not only the national but also the local level is taken into focus. The use of a unique quantitative dataset allows the study to address the often-voiced need for further quantitative findings on migrants’ transnationalism in Europe and particularly the lack of cross-national studies in this field. Additionally, the analysis goes beyond migration research’s typical focus on transnational connections between migrants’ country of origin and country of residence. The results show that the level of migrants’ transnationalism strongly differs between the measured dimensions of this phenomenon. Moreover, transnational connections and practices of all samples go beyond the dichotomy of origin and residence country, stressing the need to incorporate a broader perspective in migration research. The analysis does not find many effects of transnationalism on social and identificational integration. The few observable effects are in part of a positive and a negative nature. Furthermore, these effects differ across the analysed dimensions of integration. Based on these results, the study highlights that transnationalism and integration are not mutually exclusive.

La thèse étudie, à partir du cas des pensionnats privés internationaux de Suisse romande, les mécanismes de l’acquisition d’un pouvoir social sur l’espace et d’une gestion spatiale des ressources, notamment économiques, pour les établissements et pour les élèves. La thèse porte sur les mécanismes par lesquels les pensionnats produisent des ancrages sur le territoire suisse pour les élèves et les anciens élèves. Cette recherche repose sur des entretiens semi-directifs auprès de plusieurs établissements privés, avec directeurs et managers, anciens élèves, enseignants et tuteurs d’internat et sur un travail socio-historique et quantitatif. La première partie étudie au XXe siècle la genèse progressive du secteur du secondaire privé des « pensionnats pour étrangers » et des « écoles internationales » de la région lémanique. L’attraction des grandes fortunes, notamment européennes et états-uniennes, dans ces écoles privées et l’organisation locale de ce secteur éducatif se sont appuyées sur des discours et des pratiques liées aux ressources du territoire suisse. Si les pensionnats suisses occupent aujourd’hui une place périphérique dans le monde international des certifications d’une éducation « d’élite », récemment, de nouveaux processus d’intégration financière mondiale et de défense de la place éducative suisse permettent de redéfinir leur mise en concurrence dans un espace international « d’écoles d’élites ». La deuxième partie porte sur le rôle que joue l’espace suisse dans des stratégies de placement multidimensionnelles en pension par les familles fortunées et sur les rapports à l’espace suisse des élèves et anciens élèves. La notion d’école « refuge » prend un triple sens, celui d’éducation « familiale » et affective de la vie à l’internat, celui d’un évitement des institutions très sélectives sur le plan scolaire et celui lié à un envoi en pension sur le territoire suisse. Les origines nationales des élèves se sont progressivement transformées depuis les années 1950 pour accueillir des nouvelles fortunes non européennes et non américaines, mais les anciens élèves continuent de revenir ou de rester en Suisse. Les forces de rappel des anciens élèves sur le territoire suisse sont le fruit d’une tension : manifestation d’une centralité suisse de leurs carrières financières, espace protecteur face à des incertitudes familiales, politiques et nationales. / The thesis examines how international boarding schools in Switzerland have been producing spatial resources for their students and alumni. The research is based on socio-historical analysis, quantitative analysis, and on semi-directive interviews with headmasters and managers, alumni, teachers and boarding staff at a diversity of international private schools in the Lake Geneva region. The first part of the thesis focuses on the emergence of the private educational sector progressively uniting « boarding schools for foreigners » and « international schools ». Since the beginning of the 20th c., schools have promoted their territorial resources for attracting the very rich, notably from Europe and the United States, and organized sectorial interests accordingly. Swiss boarding schools now have a peripheral part to play in the international spheres of certification and accreditation that govern elite education on a global scale. Nevertheless, recent processes of financialization of the educational sector and ways of protecting the Swiss educational sector contribute to redefine their place within internationalizing governance schemes of elite schools. The second part of the thesis examines the role played by spatial resources in wealthy families’ educational strategies in Switzerland and the spatial relations to Switzerland that students and alumni develop. The notion of « refuge school » or « recovery school » encompasses three dimensions : the « family » education that the boarding schools promote, parental strategies of avoiding selective national educational systems, socio-political determinations. Under the rise of non-European and non-American wealthy clienteles, students’ national origins have changed since the 1950s, but alumni continue to stay or come back to Switzerland. This results from a tension : Swiss centrality for financial careers and protection against family, political and national uncertainties.