Migration and Modernity: Historical and Cultural Challenges

Project Information

MOVES

Grant agreement ID: 812764

DOI

10.3030/812764

Project closed

EC signature date 17 August 2018

Start date 1 March 2019

End date 28 February 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 3 863 211,84

EU contribution

€ 3 863 211,84

Coordinated by

UNIVERZITA KARLOVA
Czechia

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MOVES (Migration and Modernity: Historical and Cultural Challenges)

Reporting period: 2021-03-01 to 2023-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action, an Innovative Training Network, European Joint Doctorate “Migration and Modernity: Historical and Cultural Challenges” (MOVES) is built around the conviction that contemporary migration challenges can only be addressed effectively if migration is understood as a historical and cultural phenomenon stretching back deep into the past, rather than as a present-day threat to security, culture, and the integrity of the nation state.
MOVES has been set up as a team of experienced researchers drawn from the disciplines of history, literature, cultural studies, sociology and political science. Together, the team undertook a comparative research of the social and cultural roots of mass mobility in the past and at present. Most individual research projects as well as the outputs of cooperation with the project partners bring historical and cultural analysis that can address the present problems of migration through an understanding of, and comparison to, the population movements of the past.
The principal objective of the project is a comparative research of social and cultural roots, dynamics and impact of mass population mobility in modernity and the present time. The project’s outputs contribute to the identification of alternative solutions of problems connected with migration and to the avoidance of adopting short-term solutions and violent measures.
The major research and training objectives include
• delivering a historical and cultural analysis of modern European migration since the 17th century, disseminated through PhD theses, open access articles, papers and research reports on human mobility, each linked to aspects of contemporary migration such as class, ethnicity or gender.
• preparing - in conjunction with partners across the sectors, including NGOs and charities working with migrants, and the cultural and creative industries - experts in migration management with historic and cultural erudition inevitable for dealing with contemporary and future challenges of migration.
• contributing to the public understanding of migration processes by explaining the links between their historical roots and present-day cultural dynamics.
• formulating policy advice, shaping future curricula, and influencing popular opinion in order to combat anti-immigrant sentiment across the EU.

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

Individual activities are listed in a chronological order, starting from December 2018 and ending in spring 2023:

• Successful recruitment campaign and selection procedure. The result: 15 highly motivated ESRs from 14 countries at 4 continents.
• High standards of joint supervision. All supervision teams are designed to match the interdisciplinary nature of the project; they meet the standards of gender diversity.
• Timely completion of the Consortium Agreement and efficient performance of administrative activities.
• High standard of training:
(a) induction month.
(b) 7 workshops
(c) summer school
(d) research-led secondments of ESRs to the non-academic partners of the Consortium.
(e) end-of-project conference
• Good results of most ESRs’ progress monitoring.
• Regular meetings of MOVES governance bodies: the supervisory and the academic boards.
• Signing an agreement on the layout, printing, signing and shipment of MOVES joint degrees and diploma supplements.
• The aspects of the MOVES Ethics and GDPR rules mentioned in the H2020 Ethics Check document were implemented in their field research with human participants.
• Dissemination of the research outputs:
(a) 29 research deliverables
(b) 4 PhD theses were successfully defended. Remaining 8 PhD theses will be defended during 2023.
(c) Other dissemination outputs: 10 academic articles in open access journals, 39 presentations at international conferences, 3 invited lectures at academic institutions.
(d) Important socio-political aspects: 1. The Lobbying Plan has been prepared and publicized on the project’s website. 2. A set of preliminary policy recommendations has been publicized on the project’s website.
• Public communication and outreach:
(a) The MOVES website (http://projectmoves.eu) includes a Database of Teaching / Learning Materials (http://projectmoves.eu/teaching-materials/) and the lists of individual ESRs’ achievements.
(b) The achievements of individual secondments were presented to the wider public during the Knowledge Transfer Event which was attended by wider public.
(c) The Mobility Festival took place in Berlin under the title “Reaching Out: Mobility and Solidarity”. It responded to the migration from Africa and Ukraine.
• Preparation of joint doctorate awards – the first four joint doctorates awarded in April 2023.

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)

Relevant areas of recent research upon which MOVES drew include the securitisation – policy resulting from the concern of destination countries that migrants may have a potentially negative impact on security – and control of migration. Linked to this field is the question of how such securitisation, in turn, undermines migrants’ rights and/or that a state narrative of protection of human rights ultimately curtails rights still further. The impact of migration upon gender roles was another fruitful area of research, challenging long-held stereotypes about women’s and men’s roles in the process of migration. Finally, an emerging field of research, explored also by MOVES, is that of the aspiration to migrate, or an examination of what factors play a role in an individual’s choice to move.

MOVES has advanced many of these discussions by setting them in the appropriate historical, cultural and literary contexts. The lack of historical awareness in the present debate is perhaps its greatest shortcoming. The historical contexts of migration were explored in all PhD theses.

MOVES has critically analysed prevailing beliefs about migrants and migration in the 21st century, including the absence of migration from historical accounts of the nation, as well as the recent migration problems, including the security issues on the EU-Turkey border, and social and cultural impact of especially recent migration waves.

Through its innovative training programme, carried out in conjunction with eighteen, mostly non-academic, partners, MOVES has enabled a new generation of experts gain the historical knowledge required to respond to future migration crises with innovative solutions. The project has generated new knowledge about the shaping of the modern world and provided possibilities of avoiding short-termism in migration management through its emphasis on enduring cultural patterns, historical context and migration flows over the long term. The links between contemporary and historical migration traced by MOVES can be used to improve educational provision, inform future policy, and counter the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment across the EU.

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