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.
