Benjamin Martin Rosher
About Benjamin Martin Rosher
About Ben Rosher
I am an international political sociologist and Postdoktor in the Centre for European Research (CERGU) and the School of Global Studies (SGS) at the University of Gothenburg.
Research Areas
My research interests span critical border studies and ontological security studies. I am interested in how borders variously support or undermine ontological security for different subjects in different contexts. I am also interested in the increasing fragmentation and digitalisation of contemporary border regimes, and the sociological and international implications of this trend.
Ongoing Research
My main research agenda examines affective attachments to borders. Simply put, for reasons of conflict, globalisation, and climate change, the ways in which we currently organise and enforce state borders are unsustainable. Nevertheless, our current border imaginaries provide a sense of belonging and ontological security for much of the population. Through this research I am seeking to understand the emotional and ontological security needs that borders fulfil in order to begin to conceive of alternative, less violent, border(less) imaginaries that are still able to satisfy these emotional needs.
I am also working on a project that considers the contingent and fragmented nature of contemporary border regimes and the effect of such contingency on ontological security, and a project which examines Scotland's ontological security seeking practices after Brexit.
Teaching
My teaching focusses on international relations, broadly defined. Specifically, critical security studies and issues related to borders and migration.