The Interstitial Ecotones of Migration: Working Towards a Transdisciplinary Approach

Abstract

Adapted from Thomas Lacroix and Judith Misrahi-Barak "The Interstitial Ecotones of Migration: Three Examples for a Transdisciplinary Approach", a conference paper presented at “Utopia and Migration: Renewing the Imagination of Borders in the 21st Century”, Oxford: Maison Française d’Oxford, April 2021International audienceAn ecotone is a term initially defined to designate an ecological transition zone. It is a contact zone between two ecosystems (sea and land, plain and mountain, forest and savanna...) (Hufkens, Scheunders, and Ceulemans 2009). It is a space of interpenetration, reciprocal adaptation, exchange, production of hybrid species, competition, disruption and relegation. The concept has only recently been introduced in the field of migration studies. Our aim is here to outline what we understand as migratory ecotones. We contend that ecotones can be conceived as heterotopic sites where encounters shape and reshape a plural humanity. These theoretical considerations will be supported by three literary examples: a raft and a construction site as they appear in ‘Children of the Sea’ and ‘Without Inspection’, two short stories by Edwidge Danticat, and a shop which serves as a stage in Shani Mootoo’s short story ‘Out on Main Street’. In the last section, the paper wraps up the argument by relating the concept of migratory ecotone with Foucault’s notion of Heterotopia