At the core of this session is the argument that hauntings in these films are not merely narrative devices but deeply embedded critiques of systemic inequities. The ghosts, demons, and supernatural disturbances in these stories function as manifestations of unresolved grief, contested identities, and enduring histories of racial and colonial violence. By bringing together distinct yet interrelated theoretical approaches—ranging from hauntology and migration studies to Black geographies and racial capitalism—this panel cultivates a critical dialogue on how horror cinema reconfigures dominant discourses of familial migration and belonging.

Each presentation contributes to this central inquiry by offering a unique analytical lens on the spectral dimensions of familial migration. Ibrahim Williams mobilizes Senayon Olaoluwa’s concept of “extalgia” to explore how His House (2020) complicates dominant migration discourses by foregrounding the suffering of family members left behind. Williams situates the haunted house in the film as a space where extalgic pain materializes—where the unseen grief of those who remain in the homeland manifests in spectral form, demanding recognition. While nostalgia centers the migrant’s longing for home, extalgia accounts for the grief of the "left behind," whose absence and unresolved emotions permeate the film’s ghostly spaces. By analyzing how the film’s supernatural hauntings reflect this often-overlooked dimension of migration, Williams reveals how horror cinema encodes the spectral burdens of departure and absence for migrating families.

Complementarily, Dr. Aliya Alsaber examines The Night (2021) through the lens of hauntology and Edward Said’s reflections on exile, positioning the film’s central antagonist—the Jinn—as a force of contamination that destabilizes boundaries. By analyzing how the Jinn dissolves distinctions between self and other, human and monster, Alsaber argues that the film allegorizes the fractured identities of displaced families. Her analysis also considers how the logic of capitalism and state surveillance render diasporic belonging inherently precarious, reinforcing the horror of perpetual liminality.

Laura Evers extends this discussion of precarity to university hauntings in Master. She engages Katherine McKittrick’s theory of "Black geographies" and Christina Sharpe’s notion of "residence time" to examine how academic spaces function as sites of exclusion and racialized haunting. Her analysis foregrounds how the film’s supernatural elements—from spectral manifestations of anti-Black violence to the architectural suffocation of academic institutions—critique the enduring barriers faced by Black students and scholars who migrate to predominantly white spaces. This paper situates horror as a mode of racial meditation, revealing how Master transforms the university into a Gothic landscape of genealogical reckoning and familial reconsideration.

This panel advances critical conversations in horror studies, migration studies, and racial capitalism by illustrating how horror cinema provides a potent framework for interrogating diasporic experience. Unlike traditional migration narratives that emphasize resilience and assimilation, these films expose migration as a site of unresolved spectral entanglements. Beyond the individual presentations, this session fosters a generative discussion on the broader implications of horror as a lens for understanding migration. The conversation will explore not only how these films depict hauntings but also why horror, as a genre, remains particularly attuned to the spectral dimensions of migratory life. How do horror aesthetics give form to the invisible structures of familial displacement and exclusion? By addressing this question, this panel seeks to open new pathways for understanding the horror genre in studies of migration.

The session will be structured to ensure a balanced and engaging discussion within the 1-hour and 15-minute time frame. Each panelist will present for approximately 16 minutes, totaling 48 minutes of presentation time. This will leave ample time for introduction, setup, pauses, and the required 15 minutes of unstructured discussion intended to accommodate dynamic exchanges between panelists and audience members.

Additionally, this panel embodies a commitment to diversity in both its subject matter and its presenters. The selected scholars engage with postcolonial, African American, and Middle Eastern diaspora studies, ensuring a range of critical perspectives. Moreover, the films themselves center on marginalized voices—Black, Middle Eastern, and refugee experiences—altogether offering a rich, intersectional engagement with the genre’s potential to illuminate the unseen yet persistent hauntings of migration.