Cartography of fear: mapping the epidermal border of black (im)mobility
Abstract
This essay theorizes running as a Black bodily and psychic condition governed by a cartography of fear. Drawing on Lisa Flores' concept of stoppage and Kent Ono's moving borders, it proposes the epidermal border as the central site of danger. Triangulating Benyam Tesfai's outward checklist, my autoethnography of interior borders, and Ahmaud Arbery's fatal jog, the essay reveals how this border, fusing skin with space, forces Black mobility to navigate both visible choreography and internalized geographies of anticipatory fear. The ultimate freedom from this constant cartographic labor is marked by the exclusive threshold of first class citizenship.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Race
History
and American Society
Spatial and Cultural Studies
Cultural Identity and Representation
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 108–117
- Publication date
- 2 January 2026
- Language
- EN