Paper short abstract:

Building upon a set of debates on governing the body and health under advanced liberalism, this paper, focusing on the Portuguese context, suggests ideas towards a new research agenda on immigration, care, responsibility, family planning and the public health sector.

Paper long abstract:

In the recent context of the European Union governmental activity - in particular in this time of crisis - immigration-related issues became of pivotal importance. Social care programs targeting deprived migrant populations equate reducing social problems with guiding their conduct towards more responsible, healthier habits and life projects. Building upon a set of debates on governing the body and health under advanced liberalism, this paper, focusing on the Portuguese context, suggests ideas towards a new research agenda on immigration, responsibility, family planning and the public health sector, paying particular attention to the construction of "the problem," "the solution," and "the ideal outcome". The insecurities, threats and overall concerns in a time of global crisis create a state of exception, which justifies the deployment of illiberal practices in order to secure collective well-being. In particular, I am interested in how the dominant discourses of the health and social care sectors influence (1) the ways in which "the right thing to do" is constructed and debated and the material effects of these decisions on immigrants lives; (2) the ongoing strategies, micro negotiations of power and truth between different actors; (3) the fading borders of the subject of medical knowledge, which becomes no longer to govern the body merely according to a medical logic, but rather to seek social well-being. This paper will also argue how these interventions are inherently racialized, constituting a kind of ethnopolitics conceiving immigrants as needy and deprived subjectivities - not only of economical resources but also of citizenship resources.