Subversive mobilities

There has been an inherent bias in studies of ‘mobility regimes’ toward the perspective of the authorities. This article suggests the concept of ‘subversive mobilities’ to offer a novel perspective on the construct of mobilities regimes, by stressing the ways such regimes are penetrated by adversaries through diverse routes and practices, despite the regimes’ various control and defense mechanisms. We investigate how ‘smugglers’ make use of weaknesses in existing mobility regimes to facilitate their subversion, using three case studies of subversive mobilities, smuggling of Rohingya migrants, of Colombian cocaine and of South African rhino horns, to substantiate the potential of our approach. The subversive mobilities of all three case studies reveal some common traits: a multiplicity of routes and means of travel, informal personal networks based on trust and retribution rather than formal organization, and interconnected series of assemblages of differently involved actors. We claim that the continued success of ‘smugglers’ to subvert the existing mobility regimes is their greater flexibility: they tend to be pro-active, initiating new routes and means of movement, and the cooperation of illicit and legitimate role-bearers, while the mobility regimes are mostly reactive, giving the former at least a temporary advantage over the latter. Our approach leads to a more inclusive and dynamic view of mobilities regimes, and enables a better understanding of why the ‘smuggling’ of goods and ‘trafficking’ in people is increasingly successful, despite the efforts of mobilities regimes to block these activities