"The proposed research addresses themes of current social relevance, such as the politics of migration and its governance, and their relation to emerging forms of engaged citizenship and sovereignty. The researcher shall investigate ethnographically modes of protest and solidarity that seek to contrast states' regulation of migrant movement (with a special focus on detention and deportation), and labour regimes based on the disposability of migrant bodies in contemporary Europe. Forms of resistance and flight are widespread across different EU countries, and take the form of attempted escapes from detention centres, hunger strikes, dirty protests, the sowing of one's lips, and episodes of self-harming, as well as labour strikes and dramatic acts that capture media attention, such as the occupation of rooftops and the climbing of cranes. Anti-racist solidarity networks are also active in supporting undocumented migrants, through demonstrations, boycotts, and the provision of alternative media coverage on the issue.
The research will take Italy as the main research location, but a comparative perspective will be brought into the project by creating an interdisciplinary research network gathering scholars who work on related issues across Europe. The project will investigate the relationship between subjective experiences of migration, detention, protest and solidarity, in the light of multiple historical trajectories and personal narratives. Affective and intimate relations will be explored together with the workings of institutions and structures of power, their limitations and possible alternative modes of sociality."