Political participation of undocumented migrants in the city (of Liège) as means of informal cultural citizenship, by Elsa Mescoli; and Unpacking narratives and policies of belonging: stories and representation of migration by Tina Magazzini
Political participation of undocumented migrants in the city (of Liège) as means of informal cultural citizenship
Elsa Mescoli is an anthropologist with a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the University of Liège and in Anthropology of Contemporary Worlds from the University of Milan-Bicocca. Her thesis focused on the culinary practices and eating habits of Moroccan women in the context of migration. I am now a lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences, within the CEDEM - Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Migration, and the
LASC - Social and Cultural Anthropology Laboratory. I teach anthropology of food, urban socio-anthropology, socio-anthropology of interculturality, refugee studies and studies of gender, intersectionality and migration. My most recent research projects deal with public opinion and citizen initiatives concerning migrants, cultural and artistic practices related to migration, integration policies and discrimination against Muslims.
Abstract: This presentation is based on ethnographic research carried out in 2017-2019 in Liège as part of a research project targeting public opinion on refugees and asylum seekers, as well as initiatives to support them. More specifically, Elsa Mescoli took part inactivities organised by a collective of undocumented migrants living in Liège aimed at raising local awareness of their situation and claiming their rights. In this talk, she will analyse a number of artistic and cultural initiatives and show how they function as a means of asserting citizenship in a context that denies it to the people concerned. The opportunities and constraints encountered by undocumented migrants in this process will be discussed, as well as the (intersectional) dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in which they are involved.
Unpacking narratives and policies of belonging: stories and representation of migration
Tina Magazzini is a Maria Zambrano Postdoctoral fellowship recipient at the University of A Coruña and a founding member of INTEGRIM Lab, a non-profit organisation providing research on migration, integration and social justice.
Abstract: This talk explores what kind of narratives of migration exist, who they are told by, and what role they play in shaping migration policies and access to citizenship. The central questions will be (1) Who has a right to move around freely in different countries, and how has this changed over time (and place)? (2) How are the concepts of citizenship and migration connected, and why do some immigrants acquire citizenship while others do not? (3) What does dual citizenship mean, and do, in different settings? By comparing and contrasting different models of immigration policies and citizenship acquisition, this lecture will look at how stories of migration and membership are told, for whom they are told, and of who does the storytelling.