Project description
Boat refugees’ experiences and their reception across time and space
Boat refugees generally escaped persecution or fled some kind of political or humanitarian crisis. They used boats as it was often the only way to access states that were otherwise closed off to them because of immigration restrictions. Funded by the European Research Council, the SOS project focuses on the experience of boat refugees and their reception across time and space since the 1940s. It also examines who hindered and who helped boat refugees on their journeys and why. Of particular interest is what happened at sea. The main sources that the project will rely upon will be interviews with boat refugees, non-state and state actors, oral history, state archives, NGO archival collections, legal cases and contemporary media coverage.
Objective
In 2015, over one million boat refugees sailed across the Mediterranean. This was not the first time that people took to the seas in search of asylum. During the 1940s, Jewish boat refugees voyaged across the Mediterranean; in the 1970s and 1980s, Vietnamese boat people traversed the South China Sea; in the 198In 2015, over one million boat refugees sailed across the Mediterranean. This was not the first time that people took to the seas in search of asylum. During the 1940s, Jewish boat refugees voyaged across the Mediterranean; in the 1970s and 1980s, Vietnamese boat people traversed the South China Sea; in the 1980s and 1990s, Cubans and Haitians tried to navigate the Caribbean to reach the US; and in the 1990s and 2000s, boat refugees sailed across the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden and the Mediterranean in an attempt to reach Australia, Yemen, and Europe respectively. The central research question framing this project is: how did notions of solidarity, sovereignty and sanctuary influence the experience and reception of boat refugees across time and space? The research team will be guided by the related sub-question: who hindered and who helped boat refugees on their journeys, and why?
Each of the sub-projects will examine a) whether there was solidarity onboard between boat refugees, b) whether boat refugees encountered solidarity from non-state actors, such as merchant vessels, fishing boats and NGO search and rescue missions, c) how states responded to boat refugees at sea, and d) whether boat refugees attained sanctuary after their journey.
This project’s ground-breaking character lies in three aspects: 1) thinking through seas, 2) going beyond the state, and 3) comparing the experience and reception of boat refugees across time and space. The main sources that the project will rely upon will be interviews with boat refugees, non-state and state actors, oral history, state archives, NGO archival collections, legal cases, and contemporary media coverage.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
- social sciences political sciences political policies civil society civil society organisations nongovernmental organizations
- humanities history and archaeology history modern history
- social sciences law human rights international protection of human rights
- social sciences sociology demography human migrations
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2022-COG
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4 DUBLIN
Ireland
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