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

漫游幻想之城：通过使用信息和通信技术了解移民轨迹

• 批准号: ES/W006278/1
• 负责人: Maria Boursinou
• 金额: $ 11.37万
• 依托单位: University of St Andrews
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FW006278%2F1
• 关键词: Roaming; City; Illusions; understanding; migrant

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.

2014年至2015年，欧盟面临着其现代史上最严重的边境危机之一，深刻地重塑了其治理结构和民主价值观。跨越陆地和海上边界的移民引发了其机构、政治家和公民的一系列反应。在接下来的六年里，欧盟领土通过空间争端、严重的边境暴力和仇外言论进行了重组。与此同时，非洲大陆对这些新来者采取了前所未有和分散的团结行动。在这些方面，非洲大陆的“难民危机”涉及一系列行动者和利益相关者之间的多重动态，而这些并不总是被主流媒体所关注。如今，一场局部的、基本上看不见的人道主义危机仍在上演，这是欧盟敌对政策的结果，这些政策旨在通过在内部和外部边境部署军事化技术和人员来限制移民流动。这些发展给移民流动、边境控制和抵抗的研究带来了新的复杂性。人们提出的问题是，欧盟正在形成的边境制度对移民的日常个人福利和更集体的福利产生了影响。2017-2018年，我在希腊雅典的难民营、被占领的公共建筑和移民拘留中心三个地点进行了原创性的实地研究。我观察了（被迫）移民在日常生活中所采取的方式，因为他们处于等待重新开始生活的长期模式中。我特别探讨了智能手机和其他信息通信技术（也被称为信息和通信技术）在他们当时的生活环境中所扮演的角色。获得这项奖学金将使我能够回到实地一个月，深入记录和调查面临双重挑战的移民的生活经历和观点：日益排外的欧盟政策使经济、住房、法律和医疗保障的缺乏永久化；在大流行的背景下，往往以大流行为借口，加强监测和限制流动。在可能的情况下，我打算使用观察、随意聊天和通过聊天应用程序进行数字通信等技术对移民进行研究，以了解移民对这些主题的看法，并探索他们应对上述挑战的方式。最后，作为奖学金的一部分，我将与移民、活动家和艺术家合作，共同组织一些活动，例如制作一份数字杂志（也称为zine）和一系列播客。这些活动将使我们（我本人作为研究人员和上述人员/团体）能够将这些问题与希腊和英国社会的更广泛部分进行交流，并引发有意义的讨论。