PhD Thesis: The ambivalence of nature in displacement: an ethnography of relations to the living on Afghan migration journeys
Expected Completion Date: Fall 2026
This research looks at the migration journeys of Afghans towards Western Europe through ethnographic methods, examining specifically what kinds of perceptions of nature and relations with the non-human emerge in contexts of migration.
The meanings associated with the non-human living on these journeys are ambivalent, between experiences of border violence in non-urban landscapes, and strategies of survival and feelings of hope and serenity anchored in resistant relations with non-human actors. By bridging transnational studies of displacement with anthropological enquiries on nature, the project aims to show how the boundaries of concepts such as “nature” and the “human” are constituted and contested in displacement. By extension, the project questions whether relations to nature in displacement exemplify the ways these relations emerge in broader contexts of exploitation and violence, in times of climate change, social struggle and repression.
Profile
Théo Lefort has an academic background in political sciences and international relations. Through his academic curriculum in France, Iran, Turkey and Switzerland, learning Persian and Turkish, he developed research interests on mobility and migrations. In parallel, Théo Lefort has ongoing personal photography and videography visual anthropology projects.
Relevant Publications and Works
- Théo Lefort, “Les Nouvelles routes de la soie au prisme des parcours migratoires afghans”, Hommes & migrations, 1343 | 2023, 87-93. https://journals.openedition.org/hommesmigrations/16319
Fellowships, Grant and Awards
- Doc.CH Research grant (2024-2026)
- Fonds Louis Dumont (2022)
- Aide au terrain Institut Français d’Etudes en Asie centrale (IFEAC, 2022)