This issue situates immigration (and other forms of nomadism) as a possible disruptive event against Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s concept of Empire. We are interested in different perspectives that view or do not view immigration as a tool for combating Empire in different social arenas (social, political, economical, etc.). If we view the world with the author’s concept of Empire, how do we situate different forms of movement, both literally (immigration) and metaphorically (ontological, cultural change), within a global interior with no outside or other? Also of interest, how might other conceptualizations of global capitalism be used in regards to immigration?  How do our conceptual frameworks enhance or inhibit action?

In light of Arizona’s new immigration law in the United States, it would seem that as the “Third World” pops up in the “First World” neo-liberal policing comes into view of the Global North.  In light of the various reactions to these events, responses from the radical Left, in and outside of academia, need to be formulated in order to map resistances and the role of the immigrant and the exile within the Empire. Thus we are seeking essays that describe both (1) different forms of nomadism and/or immigration that present possible disruptions within the global Empire and (2) the converse of the aforementioned, simply: immigration as a part of Empire’s global assemblage of power.