Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MigSol (Migration Solidarity and Acts of Citizenship along the Balkan Route)
Reporting period: 2017-08-01 to 2019-09-30
MigSol examined practices of citizenship and political mobilisation with and by migrants and refugees along the Balkan Route, and explored how they participated in the formation of political subjectivities that subvert the dominant political architecture of the European Union.
The dominant political order organised around the nation-state, or blocks of nation-states such as the EU, presumes that the sole subject of political action is the citizen. In any given context, the actual capacity for action of citizens intersects with and is modulated by factors such as race, gender, class, which organise the social world of the nation-state and its hierarchies. Displaced people, however, tend to be seen as all together outside of the realm of the political. Their hegemonic modes of interpellation as objects of suspicion as part of security-oriented approaches to migration, or of compassion in humanitarian responses to displacement, obscure their political condition. This depoliticising process does not only invisibilise the political reasons that led to their displacement in the first place, which may be linked to long histories of power and domination involving the very Western societies that in turn de-politicise mobilities. It also denies people’s capacity to become autonomous political subjects and to act in defense of their interests and those of others in their countries of transit or residence.
There exists however many practices and communities in which political action towards a range of goals and values is enacted by displaced people, who may be newly-arrived or longer-term residents. Through in-depth ethnographic fieldwork, MigSol investigated refugee solidarity spaces along the Balkan Route. Its primary objective was to observe and reflect on informal reception and hosting practices, but the scope of the activities under study turned out to be broader and to engage with a range of political and social issues. In turn, MigSol attempted to assess the ways in which politics are exercised and created in these sites, and what this means for our understanding of political community and subjectivity.
In alternative accommodation projects in Athens, displaced people and local activists, often themselves deprived of their ability for effective political participation due to their economic marginalisation following the Greek crisis, have lived together and created new models of political community. In Serbia, the memory of previous episodes of conflict has mobilised locals in solidarity with people on the move. They have developed practices of support that may disrupt the official policy of the state and its politics of separation by acting on the basis of a sense of shared identity from common experience of displacement. In Belgrade, people who find themselves marginalised through recent neoliberal urban developments face state violence in the form of evictions and dispossession in ways that have much in common with the expulsion from public space experienced by migrants. These connections are starting to be noticed and analysed by people engaged in struggles against the various segregating aspects of neoliberal capitalism and conservative nationalisms. At a time when the far-right is on the rise in Europe, MigSol addresses pressing issues about the meanings and future of politics and community. It argues that practices of migration solidarity are one of the sites in which new and essential forms of political subjectivities are being sketched out and experimented.
In conclusion, MigSol considers that these alternative practices of the political should be fostered and addressed as sites that could provide crucial answers to the crisis of politics and democracy we are witnessing in Europe. The very first step towards this would be that member states and the EU stop the ongoing criminalisation of both migrants and their supporters: this means, first, halting the encampment, detention and deportation on non-citizens residents and, second, providing legitimacy and space to solidarity communities where new socialities and subjectivities are being produced.
The dominant political order organised around the nation-state, or blocks of nation-states such as the EU, presumes that the sole subject of political action is the citizen. In any given context, the actual capacity for action of citizens intersects with and is modulated by factors such as race, gender, class, which organise the social world of the nation-state and its hierarchies. Displaced people, however, tend to be seen as all together outside of the realm of the political. Their hegemonic modes of interpellation as objects of suspicion as part of security-oriented approaches to migration, or of compassion in humanitarian responses to displacement, obscure their political condition. This depoliticising process does not only invisibilise the political reasons that led to their displacement in the first place, which may be linked to long histories of power and domination involving the very Western societies that in turn de-politicise mobilities. It also denies people’s capacity to become autonomous political subjects and to act in defense of their interests and those of others in their countries of transit or residence.
There exists however many practices and communities in which political action towards a range of goals and values is enacted by displaced people, who may be newly-arrived or longer-term residents. Through in-depth ethnographic fieldwork, MigSol investigated refugee solidarity spaces along the Balkan Route. Its primary objective was to observe and reflect on informal reception and hosting practices, but the scope of the activities under study turned out to be broader and to engage with a range of political and social issues. In turn, MigSol attempted to assess the ways in which politics are exercised and created in these sites, and what this means for our understanding of political community and subjectivity.
In alternative accommodation projects in Athens, displaced people and local activists, often themselves deprived of their ability for effective political participation due to their economic marginalisation following the Greek crisis, have lived together and created new models of political community. In Serbia, the memory of previous episodes of conflict has mobilised locals in solidarity with people on the move. They have developed practices of support that may disrupt the official policy of the state and its politics of separation by acting on the basis of a sense of shared identity from common experience of displacement. In Belgrade, people who find themselves marginalised through recent neoliberal urban developments face state violence in the form of evictions and dispossession in ways that have much in common with the expulsion from public space experienced by migrants. These connections are starting to be noticed and analysed by people engaged in struggles against the various segregating aspects of neoliberal capitalism and conservative nationalisms. At a time when the far-right is on the rise in Europe, MigSol addresses pressing issues about the meanings and future of politics and community. It argues that practices of migration solidarity are one of the sites in which new and essential forms of political subjectivities are being sketched out and experimented.
In conclusion, MigSol considers that these alternative practices of the political should be fostered and addressed as sites that could provide crucial answers to the crisis of politics and democracy we are witnessing in Europe. The very first step towards this would be that member states and the EU stop the ongoing criminalisation of both migrants and their supporters: this means, first, halting the encampment, detention and deportation on non-citizens residents and, second, providing legitimacy and space to solidarity communities where new socialities and subjectivities are being produced.
The project was organised around three phases: a desk-based and literature review phase; a fieldwork-focused phase centred around in-depth ethnography; and an analysis and dissemination phase. A key achievement was the in-depth data collection and analysis in a range of solidarity spaces. From occupied buildings and alternative accommodation spaces in Greece, to activist networks providing street level support and facing disqualification in Belgrade, the Fellow spent over a year taking part in and trying to understand the way in which solidarity is imagined and exercised along the Balkan Route. Based on data analysis, the Fellow produced a range of publications, including several journal articles, book chapters and two co-edited volumes. She presented her work at over twenty international conferences and seminars and organised public events, such as conferences, film-screenings and roundtables, bringing together research participants, scholars and CEU’s student community. She also co-directed a summer school bringing together 26 students and nine faculties with a focus on approaching the field in migration studies.
The project had five key types of impact:
-Scientific impact: Through the many publications and presentations she conducted as part of MigSol, the Fellow was able to make her research available to the international scientific community and to engage in cutting-edge academic debates regarding the pressing issues of migration, social mobilisation and solidarity in Europe and beyond.
-Societal impact: During MigSol, the Fellow developed strong connections with various civil society groups, including solidarity networks in Greece, NGOs and civil organisations in Belgrade and a range of engaged scholars, activists and NGO workers in Hungary. Through these connections, she had the opportunity to discuss her findings and research conclusions with broad and engaged publics. In a similar vein, MigSol research findings were published in platforms destined to a larger audience in the goal of informing public and societal reflections on migration and solidarity.
-Networking: through MigSol, the Fellow developed important scholarly connections in her field sites, which she further institutionalised by inviting colleagues to events organised at CEU and by taking part in scholarly activities in a range of institutions. In Budapest, she was a member of research networks and developed contacts between CEU and her previous academic environments.
-Career impact: Thanks to the activities developed in the project and the mentoring received at CPS, the Fellow developed new skills and furthered existing ones. All together, these skills and experiences allowed her to secure her next position in a H2020 project (MAGYC) at Sciences Po Paris.
-Mentoring: The Fellow shared her experience and knowledge with students by organising events and workshops, and taking part in student-led seminars During the summer school, as part of small groupwork sessions she provided support and guidance to participants. She also extended advice and comments on doctoral and masters students’ theses focusing on issues of displacement and exile.
-Scientific impact: Through the many publications and presentations she conducted as part of MigSol, the Fellow was able to make her research available to the international scientific community and to engage in cutting-edge academic debates regarding the pressing issues of migration, social mobilisation and solidarity in Europe and beyond.
-Societal impact: During MigSol, the Fellow developed strong connections with various civil society groups, including solidarity networks in Greece, NGOs and civil organisations in Belgrade and a range of engaged scholars, activists and NGO workers in Hungary. Through these connections, she had the opportunity to discuss her findings and research conclusions with broad and engaged publics. In a similar vein, MigSol research findings were published in platforms destined to a larger audience in the goal of informing public and societal reflections on migration and solidarity.
-Networking: through MigSol, the Fellow developed important scholarly connections in her field sites, which she further institutionalised by inviting colleagues to events organised at CEU and by taking part in scholarly activities in a range of institutions. In Budapest, she was a member of research networks and developed contacts between CEU and her previous academic environments.
-Career impact: Thanks to the activities developed in the project and the mentoring received at CPS, the Fellow developed new skills and furthered existing ones. All together, these skills and experiences allowed her to secure her next position in a H2020 project (MAGYC) at Sciences Po Paris.
-Mentoring: The Fellow shared her experience and knowledge with students by organising events and workshops, and taking part in student-led seminars During the summer school, as part of small groupwork sessions she provided support and guidance to participants. She also extended advice and comments on doctoral and masters students’ theses focusing on issues of displacement and exile.