Mobility, Resonance and Edges: Some Entry Points to Re-view Migrant Positionalities in Europe (and beyond)

Speaker:

• Joris Schapendonk, Radboud University

Chair:

• Katia Pilati, Università di Trento

Presenter:

• Paolo Boccagni, Università di Trento

Discussant:

• Francesca Decimo, Università di Trento

In this contribution, I work around three concepts that help us to unfreeze migrant positionalities in Europe, and beyond: mobility, resonance and mobility edges. Based on a critical trajectory approach, that is designed to follow the (un)expected twists and turns of im/mobility processes, I argue how a mobility lens helps to produce knowledge that moves beyond policy-centric conceptions of migration. With the concept of resonance, I stress the idea of a relational geography of infrastructuring practices that connect people and places across European borders, and hence serve both mobility and emplacement. Thirdly, the idea of mobility edges speaks against imaginaries of closure and boundaries. It creates analytical room to unpack the ways different mobilities encounter in space and influence each other. Moreover, it destabilizes the analytical separation of migration from mobility, in the sense that mobility of migrants do not end upon arrival, they it only turns in terms of meaning and form. With these three concepts, and with empirical underpinnings, this presentation thus portrays a alternative map of migratory Europe.