Before starting my research about the social impacts of the reintroduction of border controls at Northern Italian borders, aimed at impeding asylum seekers’ intra-EU mobility in the aftermath of “the long summer of migration” in 2015, I was expecting to find on the field an increasing upsurge of anti-immigrant movements. Such an upsurge was to … Continue reading Conspiracy and populism at the border
Author: alpineborderconflicts
Cecilia Vergnano is a Social Anthropologist from the University of Barcelona, with a PhD dissertation on forced (im)mobilities of Roma migrants in Europe. She is currently a Marie Slodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Sciences Research (AISSR) of the University of Amsterdam, with a research project about the social and political impacts of the reintroduction of border controls within the Schengen area and the policing of asylum seekers autonomous mobility through pushbacks at internal EU borders. Her research interests are borderization processes, forced (im)mobilities, racialization processes, border-crossing facilitation practices, territorial stigmatization, forced evictions.
Facing anti-immigrant resentments in the outskirts of Ventimiglia
2016. On the one side, the neighbourhood of Le Gianchette; on the other, Ventimiglia's historic town centre. In the middle, the informal settlement of asylum seekers. Credits: The Subway Wall / Radio Frequenza Appennino / Reticolo Zero. Tina is a 62-years woman living in the neighbourhood of Le Gianchette, Ventimiglia (the last Italian city … Continue reading Facing anti-immigrant resentments in the outskirts of Ventimiglia
Space management in a border town: the case of Ventimiglia
It is Sunday evening and in via Tenda, in Ventimiglia, a police operation is taking place. The main goal of the operation is literally to chase black people away. It doesn’t matter their legal status: Italian, EU- and non-EU citizens, regular and irregular migrants, if they are black they are strongly “urged” to give up … Continue reading Space management in a border town: the case of Ventimiglia
The legal frameworks of migrants’ rejections from France, Switzerland, Austria
In bilateral agreements between two EU countries, “readmission” is the technical term used to define the procedure applied to those citizens (both EU and non-EU) who don’t meet the conditions to enter and stay in a country. Conversely, in those cases of temporary suspension of the Schengen agreement – as in the French case – … Continue reading The legal frameworks of migrants’ rejections from France, Switzerland, Austria
Secondary movements towards France, Switzerland and Austria
Italy has been the main country for the number of arrivals since the so-called “refugee crisis” began, approximately in 2014. The Central Mediterranean corridor is the most transited route due to the political instability in Libya. Between 2014 and April 2018, approximately 630.000 migrants landed on Italian coasts, most of them from Sub-Saharan countries. Although … Continue reading Secondary movements towards France, Switzerland and Austria
The route to Briançon
In the last year, the typical Alpine landscape in the touristic area between Bardonecchia, Claviere and Briançon has slightly changed. Alpine villages started to experience the consequences of the closure of the French-Italian border, in a context of increasing mobility of asylum seekers looking for better opportunities in France and other EU-countries. As mobility through … Continue reading The route to Briançon
Social and political conflicts at the Alpine borders
There are many reasons to think that the current "migratory crisis" is actually a political crisis concerning the governance of European Union, reshaping the core of EU agreements, treaties and policies on asylum and mobility. As the chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, recently said, "Europe faces many challenges, but that of migration could become the … Continue reading Social and political conflicts at the Alpine borders
Alpine border conflicts 