Francesca Esposito | University of Oxford (original) (raw)

Papers by Francesca Esposito

Inspired by a community psychology ecological perspective, this chapter addresses migration-relat... more Inspired by a community psychology ecological perspective, this chapter addresses migration-related detention as part of that set of practices implemented by the EU and the Schengen Area to ensure internal security by strengthening external borders control. In particular, it focuses on the Italian context. Starting from a historical overview of the Italian legal and policy framework on migration, a critical analysis of the rationale for migrant detention and deportation is developed, highlighting the business interests at stake. In this regard, the concept of immigration industrial complex is utilized, emphasizing its similarities with the military and prison industrial complexes. Finally, the case of an Italian migration-related detention center is illustrated. We argue for the use of ecological multilevel analysis to grasp the complexity of these sites of confinement, and shed light on the forces and interests that revolve around them. Alternatives are advocated based on freedom a...

International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 2020

This paper examines immigration detention by looking at women’s experiences of confinement in a P... more This paper examines immigration detention by looking at women’s experiences of confinement in a Portuguese detention facility. The empirical data—comprising participant observations, informal conversations and interviews with detained women—are read through an intersectional lens. This approach illuminates constructions of gender and sexuality in their mutual and contextualised articulation with other power relations (e.g., processes of racialisation and ethnicisation stemming from colonial histories), as well as the reconfiguration of these constructions by women themselves. Doing so also focuses on the intertwinement between power and resistance in daily life in detention. The women we met did not passively accept their situation, but rather struggled to make sense of, navigate and challenge the detention system. To this effect, they deployed multiple forms of agency, which also passed through the rejection, acceptance and reappropriation of hegemonic gendered constructions and th...

International Migration Review, 2020

Although migration-related detention has proliferated around the world, little is known about lif... more Although migration-related detention has proliferated around the world, little is known about life inside these sites of confinement for illegalized non-citizens. Building on 34 months of fieldwork, this article examines the lived experiences of center staff and external civil-society actors engaged within Rome’s detention center. We discuss the emotional, ethical, and political challenges faced by these professional actors in their everyday work and their relationship with detainees. Our aim is to shed light on psychosocial life in detention and the intersections between humanitarian and security logics in this setting. In doing so, we problematize the idea that “humanizing detention” can be a solution for change.

American Journal of Community Psychology, 2019

Highlights In spite of concerns about migration‐related detention, research inside these sites of... more Highlights In spite of concerns about migration‐related detention, research inside these sites of confinement is scarce. We present an ethnographic exploration into the detention of illegalized non‐citizens in Italy. Transcending individual‐centered analysis, we adopt an ecological framework with a focus on justice. We contribute to create knowledge on the psychosocial and cultural world behind the walls of detention. We discuss the oppressive qualities of detention and avenues for research and action for community psychologists.

American Journal of Community Psychology

This article explores the magnifying lenses of the COVID‐19 syndemic to highlight how people raci... more This article explores the magnifying lenses of the COVID‐19 syndemic to highlight how people racialized as migrants and refugees have been—and continue to be—disproportionally harmed. We use empirical evidence collected in our scholarly/activist work in Europe, Africa, South Asia, and the United States to examine migrant injustice as being produced by a combination of power structures and relations working to maintain colonial global orders and inequalities. This is what has been defined as “border imperialism.” Our data, complemented by evidence from transnational solidarity groups, show that border imperialism has further intersected with the hygienic‐sanitary logics of social control at play during the COVID‐19 period. This intersection has resulted in increasingly coercive methods of restraining people on the move, as well as in increased—and new—forms of degradation of their lives, that is, an overall multiplication of border violences. At the same time, however, COVID‐19 has p...

American Journal of Community Psychology, 2023

This article explores the magnifying lenses of the COVID-19 syndemic to highlight how people raci... more This article explores the magnifying lenses of the COVID-19 syndemic to highlight how people racialized as migrants and refugees have been—and continue to be—disproportionally harmed. We use empirical evidence collected in our scholarly/activist work in Europe, Africa, South Asia, and the United States to examine migrant injustice as being produced by a combination of power structures and relations working to maintain colonial global orders and inequalities. This is what has been defined as “border imperialism.” Our data, complemented by evidence from transnational solidarity groups, show that border imperialism has further intersected with the hygienic-sanitary logics of social control at play during the COVID-19 period. This intersection has resulted in increasingly coercive methods of restraining people on the move, as well as in increased—and new—forms of degradation of their lives, that is, an overall multiplication of border violences. At the same time, however, COVID-19 has provided a unique opportunity for grassroot solidarity initiatives and resistance led by people on the move to be amplified and extended. We conclude by emphasizing the need for community psychologists to take a more vigorous stance against oppressive border imperialist regimes and the related forms of violence they re/enact.

Contents Overview Acknowledgments Migration-related detention in Italy Migrant Detention in times... more Contents Overview Acknowledgments Migration-related detention in Italy Migrant Detention in times of Covid-19 Turin's Corso Brunelleschi detention centre Overview During the Covid-19 outbreak Gradisca d'Isonzo detention centre Overview During the Covid-19 outbreak Rome's Ponte Galeria detention centre Overview During the Covid-19 outbreak Macomer detention centre Overview During the Covid-19 outbreak Palazzo San Gervasio detention centre Overview During the Covid-19 outbreak Bari detention centre Overview During the Covid-19 outbreak Brindisi-Restinco detention centre Overview During the Covid-19 outbreak Caltanissetta Pian del Lago detention centre Overview During the Covid-19 outbreak Conclusions These considerations and the urgency to 'do something' from our 'privileged' sites of lockdown, motivated and guided the drafting of this Report, which focuses on the period Detention and Covid-19 in Italy 8 between 9 th March and th May, i.e., the period of the first national lockdown in Italy. And like almost everything that has been produced during the pandemic, this Report too was developed through online meetings and conversations-in this case across borders. While Francesca was based in the UK for most of the time, Giacomo was in Italy, and Emilio found himself, at different times, in Germany, the UK or Italy. Notwithstanding our geographical locations, all of us were driven by the belief that sites like CPRs (Centri di Permanenza per il Rimpatrio-Holding Centres for Removal), and the people confined inside them, could be forgotten during the pandemic and become more invisible than what they usually are. Therefore, we deemed it extremely important and necessary to keep monitoring what was happening behind the gates of these institutions. This Report is also part of a larger project, 'Immigration Detention in Italy and Greece: Safeguarding Human Rights at Europe's Southern Frontier' led by Mary Bosworth in collaboration with Andriani Fili and Francesca Esposito and funded by Open Society Foundation (grant number: OR2018-44698). This project was designed to assist civil society organisations, activists, and solidarity groups that work to safeguard migrant rights in Italy and Greece, and to collaboratively provide much-needed narratives to challenge the growing xenophobia that is corroding political discourse and practice in both countries. In particular, the main aim of the project is to ensure that what happens in sites of border control is not hidden from public scrutiny, that migrant voices are heard, and that activists and human rights defenders are given information and support to disseminate their evidence to a wider audience which is not limited to their national contexts but reaches out globally. To achieve this aim, an interactive map-the Landscapes of Border Control-was launched in the beginning of 2020. This map depicts Italy and Greece as they are experienced and shaped by migrants' presence and their struggles. We hope this initiative will challenge states' attempts to invisibilise and spatially isolate migrants, while supporting local partners who are engaged in advocacy and strategic litigation. Initiatives like this one, which seek to provoke critical witnessing, are especially important within exceptional political contexts such as the ongoing global pandemic. Locking people up for immigration matters is a relatively recent practice. We don't need to detain; this is a political choice. Given the robust evidence so many people have produced about its harms, inefficiency and financial costs, it is one that we should be working together to draw to a close. his report has been possible thanks to the support of many people. First, we would like to thank Mary Bosworth and Andriani Fili, who reviewed a draft of this work and provided meaningful insights throughout its development. Without their support and encouragement this project would not have been possible. We would also like to thank Samuel Singler, who has meticulously revised and edited all the sections of the report, as they were written by us. His work has been of inestimable value. We would also like to thank the many people who have contributed to this work by providing first-hand information, as well as by sharing contacts and data. In alphabetical order: Carla Quinto (Be Free), Emanuela Roman (Human Rights and Migration Law Clinic,

International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 2020

This paper examines immigration detention by looking at women's experiences of confinement in a P... more This paper examines immigration detention by looking at women's experiences of confinement in a Portuguese detention facility. The empirical data-comprising participant observations, informal conversations and interviews with detained women-are read through an intersectional lens. This approach illuminates constructions of gender and sexuality in their mutual and contextualised articulation with other power relations (e.g., processes of racialisation and ethnicisation stemming from colonial histories), as well as the reconfiguration of these constructions by women themselves. Doing so also focuses on the intertwinement between power and resistance in daily life in detention. The women we met did not passively accept their situation, but rather struggled to make sense of, navigate and challenge the detention system. To this effect, they deployed multiple forms of agency, which also passed through the rejection, acceptance and reappropriation of hegemonic gendered constructions and their use in strategic ways to negotiate their positions visa -vis the system.

Citizenship Studies, 2020

Several authors have contended recently that the rationality of contemporary migration control ca... more Several authors have contended recently that the rationality of contemporary migration control can be most adequately grasped
by the notion of ‘containment’, conceived as the redirection of
people’s autonomous movement into restricted and defined pathways. Following this idea, this article proceeds in three steps. First, it
proposes an analysis of the ‘infrastructures’ through which containment is enforced, showing the plural dimensions (regulatory, humanitarian, commercial, social) of which they are composed. Second,
analysing two cases of transnational mobility towards (and across)
the EU, it shows the eﬀect of containment on people’s spatial and
existential trajectories. And third, through the analysis of such
cases, it contends that the ultimate eﬀect of containment is the
fragmentation of citizenship into a variety of intermediate ‘latitudinal’ positions characterised by partial and conditional access to
rights, which are functional to several forms of exploitation, including labour but also profit extraction through the operations of
containment infrastructures themselves.

Journal Article, 2020

In a global scenario of increasing criminalisation of transnational human mobility, this special ... more In a global scenario of increasing criminalisation of transnational human mobility, this special issue brings into dialogue different voices and experiences of migration, borders and border crossing. It does so by examining the present and historical socio-political structures of inequality in home, transit, and host societies. As we argue in this introduction, these structural realities shape individual and collective decisions and experiences of migration. At the same time, the relation between people and the power matrices that affect their lives is not smooth, but rather marked by shades of opposition. In taking this dual perspective, on both violence and resistance, the contributions in this special issue offer original insights to challenge individual-centred perspectives that have largely dominated psychological research on migration. These perspectives have ultimately contributed to de-historicise, de-contextualize and de-politicise people's experiences. In this introduction, we provide a brief history of how this special issue was developed and illustrate the main takeaways lessons from each paper. We conclude by providing some reflections on how community psychology scholars, and overall psychology as a discipline, can support the struggles of those who are confronting border violence and contribute to a transformative change in this field.

Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics

Introduction: since the nineteenth century the hospital has been the central node of the Western ... more Introduction: since the nineteenth century the hospital has been the central node of the Western society healthcare system, a privileged place for diagnosis and treatment activities of physicians. The gradual emancipation of users from a position of passivity, the humanization process started within healthcare services, and the importance of adopting integrated models of care stressed by World Health Organization led to the opening to humanistic-oriented professionals in the hospitals. The promotion of multi-professionals teams and inter-disciplinary integration are increasingly identified as fundamental factors in order to evolve from a welfare healthcareintervention model towards a biopsychosocial one. However, integrated mind-body interventions in Italian hospitals are still used with few patients and physicians continue to have greater power than other professional groups. Based on these considerations, the aim of this study was to explore the representations of Italian hospital...

International Journal of Psychology

Despite the international claim of a biopsychosocial paradigm and the increase of psychological i... more Despite the international claim of a biopsychosocial paradigm and the increase of psychological interventions in hospitals, evidence suggests that psychological factors continue to be neglected in medical practice and that integrated mind-body interventions are used with few patients. In Italy, there is a current lack of legislation that makes it mandatory for hospitals to integrate psychologists, and to regulate their roles and functions. In the few italian hospitals where there are psychologists, their professional role is unclear and underestimated. To address this challenge, this contribution presents a research aimed at comprehending italian hospital physicians’ knowledge, representations and demands of psychological intervention in hospital settings. Being the first study of this kind in Italy and with so little international literature, a semistructured pilot interview was created and administered to a sample of twenty hospital physicians differing in gender, age, professiona...

International Journal of Psychology, 2012

ABSTRACT Intimate Partner Violence is currently recognised as a serious and complex public health... more ABSTRACT Intimate Partner Violence is currently recognised as a serious and complex public health issue that affects physical, sexual and emotional health. Identifying women victims of intimate partner violence to offer them adequate support has become a serious concern for surgical and hospital emergency room professionals. According to this need, hospital-based and emergency room-based advocacy programmes to screen and support women victims of I.P.V. have become a part of a growing international trend. In Italy, however, it is only in the last few years that this trend started and it is only available in major cities and hospitals. With these considerations, the present contribution reports on the experience of the sportelloDonna H24 (WomanHelpdesk h24), an advocacy counselling service located in the Emergency Room of the San Camillo Forlanini Hospital of Rome. Provided by BeFree Social Cooperative against trafficking, violence, and discrimination , an association of feminist advocates founded in 2009, this service adopts a community intervention and gender-oriented approach aimed at offering psychosocial and legal counselling to women victims of physical, psychological, economic and/or sexual violence from their partners, 24 hours a day. Data from this innovative service were collected through participant observation and professional cases’ narratives, and highlight routine intervention aspects as the general organisation of the service, professionals’ roles and attitudes toward victims of intimate partner violence so as to promote a reflection on the possible ways to implement these new services.

PSICOLOGIA DI …, 2010

Presentazione: In questo articolo si discuteranno i contributi dei paradigmi della psicologia di ... more Presentazione: In questo articolo si discuteranno i contributi dei paradigmi della psicologia di comunità, tra i quali l'analisi contestuale ed ecologica incentrata sull'ampliamento delle reti e delle risorse individuali; l'applicabilità della filosofia di empowerment; e il riconoscimento ...

Feminist scholars, as well as community psychologists, have advocated the role of reflexive engag... more Feminist scholars, as well as community psychologists, have advocated the role of reflexive engagement in the research process in order to challenge power relations. Moreover, the liberating potential of storytelling, especially when working with issues of diversity and marginalization, has been stressed. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on an ethnographic work underway in the Identification and Expulsion Center-CIE of Ponte Galeria, Rome. How the researcher's identities, values, and experiences, alongside power and privilege, have influenced her positioning in the research setting and the relationships formed with the different setting members is the subject of discussion. In sharing the story of this work, the final intent is to contribute to the joint effort to foster a reflexive community psychology practice, incorporating feminist goals, and a dialogue about ethnography in community psychology.

Background: In recent years, border control and migration-related detention have become increasin... more Background: In recent years, border control and migration-related detention have become increasingly widespread practices affecting the lives of undocumented migrants, their families, and communities at large. In spite of the concern within academia, few studies have directly witnessed the life and experiences of people confined to migration-related detention centers. In the medical and psychological fields, a considerable body of research has demonstrated the pathogenic nature of detention in terms of mental health, showing an association between length of detention and severity of distress. Nevertheless, it was limited to the assessment of individuals' clinical consequences, mainly focusing on asylum seekers. There currently exists a need to adopt an ecological perspective from which to study detained migrants' experiences as context-dependent, and influenced by power inequalities. This paper addresses this gap. Discussion: Drawing upon advances in community psychology, we illustrate an ecological framework for the study of migration-related detention contexts, and their effects on the lives of detained migrants and all people exposed to them. Making use of existing literature, Kelly's four principles (interdependence, cycling of resources, adaptation, succession) are analyzed at multiple ecological levels (personal, interpersonal, organizational, communal), highlighting implications for future research in this field. A focus on justice, as a key-dimension of analysis, is also discussed. Wellbeing is acknowledged as a multilevel, dynamic, and value-dependent phenomenon.

SouQuaderni, 10, 2014

L'organizzazione promotrice del programma Casas Primeiro é l'Associazione per lo Studio e l'Integ... more L'organizzazione promotrice del programma Casas Primeiro é l'Associazione per lo Studio e l'Integrazione Psicosociale (AEIPS-Associação para o Estudo e Integração Psicossocial) con sede a Lisbona, Portogallo. Si tratta di un'organizzazione non governativa senza fini di lucro fondata nel 1987 con la mission di promuovere l'integrazione sociale e il recovery delle persone che affrontano sfide di salute mentale. Nel corso di questi 27 anni l'AEIPS, grazie anche alla collaborazione con l'Istituto Universitario ISPA di Lisbona (ISPA-IU), ha sviluppato un paradigma di intervento basato sui principi e valori della psicologia di comunità. Tra questi si evidenziano l'approccio contestuale ed ecologico (Kellytutti che mettono in luce l'importanza dell'integrazione e della partecipazione attiva delle persone con esperienza di malattia mentale nelle comunità locali e nei contesti naturali accessibili a tutta la popolazione. Grazie alle evidenze prodotte dalla ricerca scientifica nazionale e internazionale e dalle ricerche di valutazione svolte dall'AEIPS in partenariato con l'Istituto Universitario ISPA, nel corso degli anni l'associazione ha messo a punto pratiche di intervento sempre più efficaci al fine di promuovere sia l'integrazione effettiva dei singoli partecipanti, che un più ampio cambiamento a livello sociale e politico. In questo senso, ispirandosi al modello Patways to Housing proposto da Sam Tsemberis e colleghi (2004) negli USA, nel 2009 l'AEIPS ha avviato un progetto pilota rivolto a 50 persone senza dimora nella città di Lisbona. Di seguito verrà presentato il resoconto di questa esperienza, descrivendo il modello di intervento adottato e i principali risultati raggiunti.

Rivista di Psicologia Clinica, 1, 220-239, 2014

Questo contributo presenta come una organizzazione su base comunitaria, l’AEIPS (Associação para ... more Questo contributo presenta come una organizzazione su base comunitaria, l’AEIPS (Associação para o Estudo e a Integração Psicossocial), fondata nel 1987 a Lisbona da persone con esperienza
personale di malattia mentale, insieme a familiari e professionisti del settore, abbia influenzato in modo trasformativo il sistema di salute mentale in Portogallo. Ispirandosi ai principi e valori della psicologia di comunità, fin dalle sue origini l’AEIPS ha come obiettivo quello di promuovere il processo di de-istituzionalizzazione e lo sviluppo di un sistema di servizi su base comunitaria atto a integrare le persone con esperienza di malattia mentale nella comunità. L’adozione di una prospettiva contestuale ed ecologica, che assume il recovery come mission principale, ha contribuito allo sviluppo dell' AEIPS come centro che promuove legami tra gli individui e le loro comunità di appartenenza. In particolare, nel presente contributo viene descritto come l’AEIPS ha organizzato i propri servizi in termini di abitazione, educazione e impiego, favorendo l’accesso delle persone alle risorse presenti nei contesti naturali, quali ad esempio scuole, imprese ed altri servizi disponibili per tutta la popolazione.
Prima di illustrare come l’intervento di questa organizzazione si esplica a livello operativo nelle diverse aree, sarà presentato il quadro concettuale che orienta la sua prassi professionale: il recovery e
l’empowerment, la prospettiva contestuale-ecologica e l’approccio delle capacità per lo sviluppo umano. L’articolo si concluderà con alcune riflessioni circa questa esperienza di lavoro più che
ventennale e gli impatti trasformativi del paradigma di intervento proposto a livello professionale, organizzativo, sociale e politico.

International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 2020

International Migration Review, 2020

American Journal of Community Psychology, 2019

American Journal of Community Psychology

American Journal of Community Psychology, 2023

International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 2020

Citizenship Studies, 2020

Journal Article, 2020

Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics

International Journal of Psychology

International Journal of Psychology, 2012

PSICOLOGIA DI …, 2010

SouQuaderni, 10, 2014

Rivista di Psicologia Clinica, 1, 220-239, 2014