Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
Monopoly on Mobility
Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
In a 2009 TED Talk, economist Paul Romer proposed “charter cities,” territorial carve-outs in poor countries that would be overseen by outside democracies. The concept sounds so much like colonialism that it has resonated primarily with the political right. But that doesn’t mean the left should ignore Romer’s idea. Such places, the economist — who won the Nobel Prize in 2018 — told me, could be designed to welcome immigrants,...
A Failure of Imagination | On Borders and the Nation-State
Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
In 1990, there were fifteen international border walls, according to the political geographer Reece Jones. Today, that figure has more than quintupled — and it doesn’t account for the vast surveillance apparatuses that track and criminalize migration even in the absence of brick-and-mortar (and chain-link, and steel) barriers. By 2025, the global border-security market is expected to generate more than $65 billion in revenue. These structures and systems haven’t stopped...
Maternal Bliss
Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
If an alien were to learn about early motherhood in America solely through the media produced by American mothers, she’d reasonably conclude that it is either a blissfully transformative experience punctuated by the occasional diaper blowout, or a series of traumatic indignities redeemed only by social norms that some people call “hormones” and others call “love.” Before I got pregnant, I liked and wanted kids, but expected having them to...
“Steered by the Reactionary” | What To Do About Feminism
Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
For a long time now, we’ve had the sense that feminism is in trouble. In the years before the pandemic, its most prominent battles — the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Women’s March, #MeToo, the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, “Nevertheless, she persisted” — were about figureheads. These days, symbols no longer seem adequate, or even all that meaningful. The professions (teaching, nursing, eldercare) that have been most overtaxed and underprotected during the...
