Weiqiang LIN, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Jean-Baptiste FRÉTIGNY, CY Cergy Paris Université, France
Over two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has often come to be associated with border closures, transport stoppages, network shrinkages and travel inconveniences. In particular, international journeys remain severely crimped by increased financial and time costs for travellers. While these disruptions are ostensible, this paper argues that such a negatively impacted view of transport only tells part of the story on the state of international travel today. Using the concept of ‘body as border’, this paper posits two alternative ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic may have actually expanded the remit and scope of international travel, by infiltrating unlikely geographical landscapes now used to secure risky bodies. First, the nodes of international travel (traditionally, airports) have materially and semi-permanently spilled onto static urban infrastructures not normally considered as part of cross-boundary journeys and commutes, including city hotels, healthcare facilities and even the home. Second, procedural standardisation, both nationally and internationally, is gradually conflating ‘safe’ management measures across both international and domestic terrains, blurring the boundary between what constitutes global and local circulations. Rather than viewing ‘disruption’ as a direct blow to transport, the paper highlights the encroachment opportunities that it has, instead, afforded political elites in their governance—and differentiation—of circulating bodies. The paper draws on research on ongoing policies as well as ethnographic work in Asia and Europe to illustrate these momentous changes to the meaning and conduct of international travel.
Mots clés : border|body|COVID-19 pandemic|disruption|international travel
A104133WL