Solidarities and migrants' routes across Europe at large

Project Information

SOLROUTES

Grant agreement ID: 101053836

DOI

10.3030/101053836

EC signature date 10 August 2022

Start date 1 February 2023

End date 31 January 2028

Funded under

• European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 2 498 653,75

EU contribution

€ 2 498 653,75

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI GENOVA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SOLROUTES (Solidarities and migrants' routes across Europe at large)

Reporting period: 2023-02-01 to 2025-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The management of unauthorized migration movements—referring to irregularized circulations inside, across, and to Europe—has consistently been a contentious issue in the European Union. Despite numerous policy approaches, including border externalization agreements, surveillance technologies, and relocation plans, unauthorized movements continue to challenge European border policies. According to Frontex data, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 125,000 irregular border crossings into the EU were detected in 2020, with nearly 50,000 in the first five months of 2021 alone.
SOLROUTES aims to address a critical gap in migration research by investigating how unauthorized migration routes are shaped through interactions with solidarity networks—civil society groups, NGOs, and individuals who provide support to migrants in transit. While migration scholars have extensively studied push-pull factors, border control mechanisms, and migrants' agency, the role of solidarity networks in reshaping migration routes remains understudied.
The project's core research question is: how can we make sense of the routes of unauthorized movements, their emergence, transformations, and the social spaces they create by looking at Europe from its margins? To answer this, SOLROUTES examines four key areas:
• Understanding solidarity networks: The functioning and cultural imaginaries of networks supporting migrants in transit by analyzing their actors, practices, and impacts on migration routes.
• Innovative methodologies: The development of innovative ethnographic methodologies for studying migration by employing multi-sited ethnography, digital tools, and art-based approaches.
• Theoretical advancements: The potential for new theoretical frameworks in migration studies by developing new frameworks that integrate intersectional and decolonial perspectives.
• Public engagement: Creating accessible outputs like exhibitions, documentaries, and graphic novels to inform policy debates and public discourse.

Rather than focusing solely on traditional EU territory, SOLROUTES adopts a broader "Europe at large" perspective, including countries on the EU's Mediterranean fringes (Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey), the Mediterranean Sea itself, internal EU borders, and the overlooked Outermost Regions of the EU (French Guiana and Mayotte) in South America and the Indian Ocean. This expanded geographical scope allows for a more comprehensive understanding of how migration routes operate and transform across diverse contexts.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

SOLROUTES implements an innovative multi-method approach combining four methodological perspectives: multi-sited ethnography, public sociology, digital ethnography, and live methods.

The project's fieldwork centers around mapping and exploring 50 crucial "nodes" along migration corridors—social and temporal spaces where migrants and solidarity networks interact. These nodes include border towns, islands, mountain passes, encampments, and urban centers. The research will pay particular attention to how solidarity networks transform forced migration "corridors" into lived "routes" by providing care, hospitality, and support.

A distinctive feature of SOLROUTES is the deployment of "Ethnographic Caravans" (ECs)—mobile research teams that follow migration pathways from the EU's fringes to its inner regions. Additionally, the project establishes six "Ethnographic Antennae" (EAs) in strategic locations (Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Belgium, French Guiana, and Mayotte) where researchers will engage with local communities and maintain a continuous field presence.

The primary research tool is the Generative Narrative Workshop (GNW), which brings together researchers, artists, and participants from both solidarity networks and migrant communities. These workshops create collaborative spaces where participants produce maps, videos, photographs, and other materials that document their experiences and perceptions of Europe, journeys, care, and solidarity. This approach not only generates rich research data but also empowers participants by providing skills in visual storytelling and digital media.

Digital ethnography complements the physical fieldwork by tracking how information flows through digital networks used by migrants and solidarity actors. This approach allows researchers to follow movements and interactions even when physical presence is impossible.

The project examines four key dimensions of solidarity networks: (1) the actors involved and their backgrounds, (2) their practices of care and support, (3) the meanings and discourses they produce, and (4) their interactions with other actors such as border officials, settled migrants, and local authorities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

SOLROUTES advances migration studies beyond current theoretical frameworks in several ways:

First, it overcomes the traditional opposition between state governance and migrants' agency by introducing solidarity networks as a third significant actor reshaping migration patterns. This perspective provides a more nuanced understanding of how migration routes develop through complex interactions between multiple stakeholders.

Second, the project reconceptualizes migration routes as social infrastructures rather than mere geographical pathways. By exploring how solidarity networks transform forced "corridors" into lived "routes," SOLROUTES reveals the social dimensions of migration spaces that often remain invisible in policy discussions and academic literature.

Third, the research challenges simplistic humanitarian frameworks that position migrants solely as beneficiaries and solidarity actors as providers. Instead, it examines how these interactions can contest and transform social boundaries based on ethnicity, class, gender, generation, and legal status.

Fourth, by expanding the geographical scope to include EU border countries and Outermost Regions, SOLROUTES decolonizes migration research, which has predominantly focused on Western European receiving contexts. This approach recognizes that European borders extend far beyond the geographical continent and include testing grounds for migration management in regions like the Caribbean and Indian Ocean.

The project's findings have potential implications for policy development, offering insights into how humane migration governance might acknowledge the role of civil society in supporting mobile populations. The collaborative methodologies developed through SOLROUTES also provide innovative tools for future migration research that centers migrant voices and experiences.

The creative outputs—including audio-visual materials, art exhibitions, and a graphic novel—will contribute to reshaping public discourse around migration by highlighting solidarity practices often criminalized or overlooked in mainstream narratives. These materials aim to foster more nuanced understandings of migration processes among wider audiences.

The (Good) Bridge, the (Bad) containers, and the (Ugly) Brutalism, Harmanli, Emanuela Zampa

CROSSING BASMANE is a visual journey into the inner world of the protagonist, Michele Cinque

The solidarity refuge. "The Jacket." G. Seimandi, S. Spensieri (Screenplay) S. Greco (Drawings)

Postcard from Arinaga, Andrea Ferraris

The gold, still covered with mercury, in the hand of the expert Sudanese worker, Jose Gonzalez Moran