MIGRATION AND BELONGING IN TIMES OF CRISIS: Troubling Transnationalism and Home-Making in Latin American Trajectories to/from Europe Workshop
On September 13 th and 14 th, eleven distinguished researchers from across Latin America and Europe convened in-person at the Maison de la paix to consider salient questions related to migration and mobility practices between the two continents.
Titled ‘Migration and Belonging in Times of Crisis: Troubling Transnationalism and Home- Making in Latin American Trajectories to/from Europe’, the workshop was organized by Drs. Valerio Simoni and Jérémie Voirol together with PhD Candidate Elise Hjalmarson.
It took place under the framework of the European Research Council-funded project 'Returning to a Better Place: The (Re)assessment of the "Good Life" in Times of Crisis' (BETLIV), led by Valerio Simoni.
Open to the public, the workshop was hosted by the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Global Migration Centre and Department of Anthropology and Sociology.
Individual interventions ranged from Mélissa Blanchard’s examination of the mobility practices and experiences of Italian emigrants’ descendants returning to Trentino from Chile, to Anastasia Bermudez’s interrogation of political belonging among Colombian migrants and refugees to Europe.
Both members of the BETLIV project’s advisory board, Gioconda Herrera presented her research among Ecuadorian migrants on the transnational care-taking practices provoked by the pandemic and Adriana Piscitelli introduced her multi-sited project exploring Brazilian migrant women’s experiences of stereotyping and discrimination across Europe.
Participants’ rich empirical material gathered across diverse geographies and communities gave rise to debates over the many frameworks, approaches, and concepts frequently employed within migration research.
In his presentation, Paolo Boccagni interrogated the conventional ‘migrant/non-migrant’ divide and its consequences for the study of homemaking, while Claudio Bolzman questioned the parameters of ‘exile’ and its implications for Chilean migrants’ ‘return’. Utilizing a feminist geopolitical approach, Yvonne Riaño examined clandestine mobility practices along the Colombian-Venezuelan border.
The event also provided an forum in which to share findings and receive invaluable feedback for the BETLIV project team. Presentations were given by each member: Jérémie Voirol explored Ecuadorian returnees’ practices to cultivate belonging across various scales and temporalities; Elise Hjalmarson attended to the affective dimensions of homemaking among the Cubans diaspora in Spain; and Valerio Simoni considered efforts by returnees to Cuba to cultivate alternative meaning and value from their migration experiences.
The workshop concluded with Ninna Nyberg Sørensen’s call to continue challenging classical concepts as we strive to remain close to our interlocutors’ lived experiences in ‘times defined as crisis’.
Following productive discussions, critical debate, and fruitful dialogue, the workshop promises to be the start of long-term collaboration among participants, with plans for a collective publication already underway.
The organizing committee gratefully acknowledges funding and support received from the European Research Council, Swiss Academy for Humanities and Social Sciences, Swiss Society for Americanists, Latino Lab, and Université de Genève.
