Project description
Explaining the nexus between migrants’ routes and solidarity
Migration remains a contentious issue, and the movements of undocumented migrants crossing the border into the EU is at the top of the agenda. However, many of the policies for dealing with arrivals and preventing the movement of migrants and refugees within the EU have proved ineffective. The EU-funded SOLROUTES project will explain the characteristics and developments of unauthorised migration in relation to solidarity networks by applying ethnography, collaborative methods and digital research. The project will explore the nexus between migration routes and solidarity networks by observing 50 pivotal nodes in migration routes crossing Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco and the EU outermost regions (French Guiana and Mayotte). SOLROUTES will develop an innovative theory in migration studies and generate special features offering new narratives for policymakers, local communities and other relevant stakeholders.
Objective
Unauthorized migration has always been a contentious issue in the EU. Yet, many of the policies adopted thus far have proved ineffective in containing arrivals and blocking circulations of migrants and refugees within the EU. Furthermore, unauthorized migration has continued to challenge EU borders even during the pandemic.
SOLROUTES’ core research question is: how can the turbulence, persistence, and intensity of unauthorized movements and of the production of migrants’ routes across “Europe at Large” – originating from the externalization of EU borders to non-EU countries – be understood?
The project addresses this challenge from an innovative angle, through an ethnographic exploration of the nexus between unauthorized movements and the networks of solidarity with migrants in transit, which involve actors and practices that have been addressed just recently in migration studies. This will be achieved by exploring and observing 50 crucial nodes in migration routes within Europe, in selected countries on its fringes (Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco) and in the Outermost Regions of the EU (French Guiana, Mayotte).
SOLROUTES will aim to: a) explore the functioning, articulations, and representations of local and trans-local networks which share shelter, knowledge and resources with migrants in transit; b) assess how routes are continuously reshaped by the encounter between unauthorized movements and solidarity networks; c) develop a large-scale multi-sited ethnographic approach based on live and collaborative methods and digital research; d) develop an innovative theory in migrations studies on the nexus between solidarity with migrants in transit and unauthorized movements, contributing to structure the emerging perspective of solidarities studies; e) generate Special Features – a web series, an art exhibit, a graphic novel – linked to the research, offering new narratives for policy makers, local communities, and other relevant audiences in the spirit of public sociology.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC)Host institution
16126 Genova
Italy