Roaming the City of Illusions: understanding migrant trajectories through the use of Information and Communication Technologies

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

In 2014/2015, the EU faced one of the most severe border crises in its contemporary history, profoundly reshaping its governance structures and democratic values. Migrants crossing its land and maritime frontiers provoked a number of reactions from its institutions, politicians and citizens. Over the course of the following six years, the EU territory was re/formed through spatial contestations, severe border violence and xenophobic discourses. At the same time, the continent has witnessed unprecedented and decentralised solidarity actions toward these newcomers. In these ways, the continent's 'refugee crisis' involved multiple dynamics between a range of actors and stakeholders, which were not always picked up by mainstream media. Today, a localised and largely invisible humanitarian crisis still unfolds as a result of hostile EU policies aiming to restrict migrant mobility by deploying militarised technology and personnel at its internal and external borders. These developments have created new complexities in the study of migrant mobility, border control, and resistance. Questions are raised around the impact that the EU's emerging border regime has on migrants' well-being on an everyday personal, and a more collective level.In 2017-2018, I conducted original field research in three sites: a refugee camp, an occupied public building and an immigration detention centre in Athens, Greece. I looked at the ways in which (forced) migrants would navigate everyday life, as they were in a long term mode of waiting to restart their life. In particular, I explored the role that smartphones and other ICTs (also known as Information and Communication Technologies) played in their life circumstances at the time. Securing this Fellowship will permit my return to the field for a month to document and investigate in depth the lived experiences and perspectives of migrants faced with a double challenge: the increasingly exclusionary EU policies perpetuating the lack of financial, housing, legal and medical security; the intensification of surveillance and mobility restrictions in the context, and often under the pretext, of the pandemic. I intend to do research with migrants using techniques such as observation, casual chats and digital communication through chatting applications, when possible, to understand migrant's perspectives into these subject and explore the ways in which they navigated the above-mentioned challenges.Finally, as part of the Fellowship, I will co-organise certain activities, such as the production of a digital magazine (also known as zine) and a series of podcasts, with the collaboration of migrants, activists and artists. These activities will allow us (myself as a research and the aforementioned people/groups) to communicate these issues to wider parts of the Greek and UK society, and spark meaningful discussions.