{"id":588,"date":"2009-04-06T15:51:32","date_gmt":"2009-04-06T19:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/?page_id=588"},"modified":"2026-02-18T14:36:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:36:02","slug":"walters-william","status":"publish","type":"cu_people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/people\/walters-william\/","title":{"rendered":"Walters, William"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Academia: <\/strong>    Follow<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google Scholar:  Follow<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chancellor’s Professor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I am a Professor of Politics in the Department of Political Science and Department of Sociology & Anthropology, and FPA Research Excellence Chair<\/a> (2019-22) at Carleton. As an undergraduate I trained in chemistry at Imperial College, London, before doing graduate studies in politics at City University of New York and York University, Toronto. I have published widely in the areas of political sociology, political geography, citizenship studies, security and insecurity, and Foucault studies. If I had to describe my approach it would be empirical or grounded political theory. This is to say that I am interested in questions of theory which I approach by working through specific cases, contexts and domains. The domains I have looked at include the history of unemployment, migration<\/a> and borders, and most recently, state secrecy<\/a> and the covert imaginary<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides my ongoing interest in secrecy I am currently working on three projects: (1) a SSHRC<\/a> funded (2017-22) collaborative study of air deportation<\/a> which focuses on the role of civil aviation in the forced removals of illegalized or criminalized people in and from Europe; (2) a co-edited book (with Charles Heller and Lorenzo Pezzani) called Viapolitics: Borders, Migration and the Power of Locomotion<\/em> <\/a>(forthcoming with Duke University Press); (3) The Handbook on Governmentality<\/em> for Edward Elgar publishing, which I am co-editing with Martina Tazzioli and which should appear in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think our interests might overlap and you are looking for supervision, do get in touch!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected Publications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Walters, W. 2021. State Secrecy and Security: Refiguring the Covert Imaginary<\/em><\/a>, New York: Routledge.
\nListen to a podcast conversation about this book<\/a> with William Walters and Alison Mountz, Balsillie School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walters, W. 2020. \u2018Everyday Secrecy: Oral History and the Social Life of a Top Secret Research Establishment during the Cold War<\/a>\u2019. Security Dialogue.<\/em> 51(1): 60-76.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walters, W. 2020. \u2018Secrecy and Migration<\/a>\u2019, PARSE Journal<\/em>, Issue 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dijstelbloem, H. and Walters, W. 2019. \u2018Atmospheric Border Politics: The Morphology of Border and Solidarity Practices in Europe<\/a>\u2019, Geopolitics<\/em>. DOI: 10.1080\/14650045.2019.1577826, pp.1-24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walters, W. 2019. \u2018The Microphysics of Deportation. A Critical Reading of Return Flight Monitoring Reports<\/a>.\u2019 M. Hoesch and L. Laube (eds) Proceedings of the 2018 ZiF Workshop \u201cStudying Migration Policies at the Interface between Empirical Research and Normative Analysis<\/em>\u201d, ULB Mu\u0308nster (miami.uni-muenster.de), 161\u2013185. DOI: 10.17879\/95189425134<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walters, W. 2018. \u2018Aviation as Deportation Infrastructure: Airports, Planes, and Expulsion<\/a>\u2019, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies<\/em>. 44(16): 2796-2817. [Published in Italian as: \u2018Aeri, aeroporti ed espulsioni: Le infrastrutture aeree come strumento di deportazione\u2019, in L. Navone (ed.) Confini, Mobilit\u00e0 e Migrazioni: Una cartografia dello spazio Europeo<\/em>, (Milan: Agenzia X, 2020), 49-80 (trans. by L. Navone).]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walters, W. and A. Luscombe. 2017. \u2018Hannah Arendt and the Art of Secrecy; Or, The Fog of Cobra Mist<\/a>\u2019, International Political Sociology<\/em> 11(1): 5-20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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