Abstract:In migration studies, there is an increasing interest in understanding how migration processes are shaped by different forms of brokerage and mediation. We relate these debates to the everyday struggles of migrants in the city of Athens. In so doing, we propose a shift from the all-encompassing view on infrastructures, that is, as systematic entities of facilitation/control to the infrastructuring practices of migrants. This implies a focus on how migrants create dynamic social platforms, and how these platfor… Show more
“…He went to Switzerland, where he stayed with some friend he met en route in Morocco. The travel connections people create produce a floating topography (Simone, 2019) or alternative migration infrastructure (Wajsberg and Schapendonk, 2021) that facilitates peoples movements within (or rather beyond) stringent mobility regimes. Some “try their luck” elsewhere in terms of labour opportunities or institutional protection, others try to fulfil a social script of seeing places.…”
Section: Counter Narratives Of Onward Migration and Secondary Movementsmentioning
European migration scholars are increasingly interested in people's onward migrations and secondary movements. This paper takes a critical look at the conceptual underpinnings of this subfield by indicating how the lexicon of onward migration frames migratory processes as a staged process, involving a South–North directionality and hinting at a gradual progress for the migrants in question. This “grand narrative” of onward migration is anchored and reproduced by EU’s overarching policy frameworks. Based on an ethnographic project that followed African trajectories inside Europe, I present some dynamic im/mobility trajectories that can be considered counter narratives of onward migration. The detailed outlining of these trajectories show how mobility itself is a shifting ground without one major vector directing the movements. These counter narratives result in a discussion on the migranticization of mobility. More specifically, I plea for research approaches that free migratory movements from prepossessed directions.
“…He went to Switzerland, where he stayed with some friend he met en route in Morocco. The travel connections people create produce a floating topography (Simone, 2019) or alternative migration infrastructure (Wajsberg and Schapendonk, 2021) that facilitates peoples movements within (or rather beyond) stringent mobility regimes. Some “try their luck” elsewhere in terms of labour opportunities or institutional protection, others try to fulfil a social script of seeing places.…”
Section: Counter Narratives Of Onward Migration and Secondary Movementsmentioning
European migration scholars are increasingly interested in people's onward migrations and secondary movements. This paper takes a critical look at the conceptual underpinnings of this subfield by indicating how the lexicon of onward migration frames migratory processes as a staged process, involving a South–North directionality and hinting at a gradual progress for the migrants in question. This “grand narrative” of onward migration is anchored and reproduced by EU’s overarching policy frameworks. Based on an ethnographic project that followed African trajectories inside Europe, I present some dynamic im/mobility trajectories that can be considered counter narratives of onward migration. The detailed outlining of these trajectories show how mobility itself is a shifting ground without one major vector directing the movements. These counter narratives result in a discussion on the migranticization of mobility. More specifically, I plea for research approaches that free migratory movements from prepossessed directions.
“…al. 2015) and alternative infrastructures (Wajsberg and Schapendonk 2021) that transgress the controlling power of migration apparatuses. Following this line of thought, it is argued that despite the hard border walls, the deathly necropolitics (Mbembe 2003), humanitarian dramas and the billions spent on securitization, irregular migratory movements continue to reflect an unruly "stubbornness" (Stierl 2017).…”
Section: The Production Of Irregular Migrationmentioning
“…It shows the coming-togetherness of these actors with their overlapping roles, possibly conflicting objectives and opaque boundaries. Given its potential to introduce insights from a wide range of academic disciplines that focus on (the inner workings of) these infrastructural dimensions, the migration-infrastructures approach is considered promising (Collins 2021, Wajsberg andSchapendonk 2021). As there is an increasing number of empirical studies that draw upon this perspective to explain unauthorized migrants' clandestine journeys (e.g.…”
Section: Drawing On "Migration Infrastructures"mentioning
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