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

2014/2015年度，欧盟面临当代历史上最严重的边境危机之一，深刻重塑了其治理结构和民主价值观。跨越其陆地和海洋边界的移民引发了该国机构、政界人士和公民的一系列反应。在接下来的六年里，通过空间竞争、严重的边境暴力和仇外言论，欧盟领土得到了重组。与此同时，非洲大陆对这些新来者采取了史无前例的、分散的团结行动。在这些方面，非洲大陆的“难民危机”涉及一系列行为者和利益攸关方之间的多重动态，主流媒体并不总是注意到这一点。如今，一场地方性的、基本上看不见的人道主义危机仍在上演，原因是欧盟的敌意政策旨在通过在内外边境部署军事化的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。人们对欧盟新兴边境制度对移民福祉的影响提出了质疑。2017-2018年间，我在希腊雅典的一个难民营、一座被占领的公共建筑和一个移民拘留中心进行了原创的实地调研。我观察了(被迫的)移民在日常生活中的方式，因为他们处于等待重新开始生活的长期模式。特别是，我探索了智能手机和其他信通技术(也称为信息和通信技术)在当时的生活环境中所起的作用。获得这一奖学金将使我有机会返回实地一个月，深入记录和调查面临双重挑战的移民的生活经历和观点：欧盟日益排他性的政策使缺乏财政、住房、法律和医疗保障的情况长期存在；在大流行病的背景下并往往以此为借口加强监测和流动限制。我打算在可能的情况下，使用观察、随意聊天和通过聊天应用程序进行数字交流等技术与移民进行研究，以了解移民对这些主题的看法，并探索他们如何应对上述挑战。最后，作为联谊会的一部分，我将与移民、活动家和艺术家合作，共同组织某些活动，如制作数字杂志(也称为zine)和一系列播客。这些活动将使我们(我作为研究人员和前述个人/团体)能够将这些问题传达给希腊和英国社会的更广泛部分，并引发有意义的讨论。

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.