Nicola Montagna | University of Salerno Italy (original) (raw)

Papers by Nicola Montagna

Veredas: Revista del Piensamento Sociologico, 2010

This paper addresses the transnational collective action, focusing on Tute Bianche and Disobbedie... more This paper addresses the transnational collective action, focusing on Tute Bianche and Disobbedienti –White Monkeys and Disobedients–, and their participation in three multinational cycles of protest that occurred at various geographical scales –local, regional and global– from late 1990 decade and early 2000 decade. The first part focuses on the origins of the “white monkeys” and “disobedients”; the second part analyzes their political discourse, while the third describes their analysis of globalization and discusses how it has changed the scale of action. The analysis of these three cycles of protest, shows that the farewell of nation-state as the main opponent and target of social movements, has been only partial and temporary. Global change has not replaced other scales of action, instead of this, has been intertwined with them as a result of the cracks of politics offered by the international context. It is also argued that the space for action, is partially global, and the actions of social movement activists, are stratified. Finally it is shown how both opponents, institutions and movements have contributed to the changing of the dynamic in an external political environment.

Gendering Nationalism Intersections of Nation, Gender and Sexuality, 2018

In recent years, particularly since EU enlargement in 2005 and the start of the economic and fina... more In recent years, particularly since EU enlargement in 2005 and the start of the economic and financial crisis in 2008, immigration has increasingly become a main source of concern within the wider population and a political cleavage. It was the second most important concern for voters in the 2010 general election, after the economy but above unemployment, and a key point in the Brexit referendum, while in the 2017 election, it featured high in the electoral debates. Similarly, immigration is a key topic in right-wing nationalist parties, contributing to the framing of their political agenda and their success. These parties prioritize immigration as a pressing political issue, regarding it as a cause of economic competition and a threat to national identity and security. Based on 36 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with female members and supporters of UKIP, the BNP, and the EDL carried out between September 2013 and December 2014, this chapter examines how women on the nationalist right frame migration and turn it into a political issue. In particular, it looks at the perception of migration in terms of “mass migration”; the perception of its impact on the labour market and the welfare state; and how migration is linked to the EU. These dimensions are examined with an emphasis on the gender perspective, that is, on the ways nationalist women activists assess the implications of migration for women in these three areas.

Gendering Nationalism. Intersections of Nation, Gender and Sexuality, 2018

By focusing on female activists in movements of the nationalist right, this chapter examines how ... more By focusing on female activists in movements of the nationalist right, this chapter examines how such women frame migration and turn it into a political issue. In particular, it looks at four dimensions: the perception of migration in terms of “mass migration”, and the associated threat to national identity; the pressure on the welfare system; the impact of migrants on the labour market; and migration in relation to the EU. These dimensions are examined with an emphasis on the gender perspective, that is, on the ways nationalist women activists assess the implications of migration for women in these areas.

Gendering Nationalism. Intersections of Nation, Gender and Sexuality, 2018

Gendering Nationalism "The impressive range of case studies included in this collection highlight... more Gendering Nationalism "The impressive range of case studies included in this collection highlight the complex but intimate relationships that exist, in variable ways, in different nationalist political projects. The book points out how notions of masculinity and femininity, and sexuality and belonging, construct-in shifting and contested ways which vary temporarily and spatially-the boundaries of these nationalisms. An important contribution to the field of nationalism studies.

Italian Sociological Review, 2024

The Northwestern French-Italian border is an important cross point for people coming from the Bal... more The Northwestern French-Italian border is an important cross point for people coming from the Balkans and the Central Mediterranean routes aiming to reach Northern-continental European countries and the United Kingdom. According to the data we collected, in 2021 some 10,369 people, including 400 unaccompanied minors and 412 families, arrived at the Alpine border-twice the 2020 numbers, when around 4,700 stopped at the two shelters. Although in 2022 the figure had dropped to about 8,500 it remains high, confirming this border as highly relevant. Based on data collected between 2021 and 2022 in Oulx, a village in the upper Susa Valley, Northwestern Italy, this article aims to investigate the impact of borders on migrants' temporalities among people who cross the border with France wanting to reach Europe. Borders as a spatial mechanism for controlling people's movement are bound up with time: the time of displacement in camps, the time migrants spend attempting to cross the borders, the overall time their movement takes, which is also affected by mobility policies. This does not happen in a vacuum of migrant agency. People on the move respond to the constraints of border regimes in a variety of ways, including resorting to smugglers and changing family and household figurations. However, as this article aims to show, the kinds of responses adopted are not always freely chosen, but they are forms of adaptation to the circumstances and constraints imposed by the border regime.

McGraw-Hill Education eBooks, 2014

The 21st century has witnessed, to date, a dramatic resurgence in the forces of nationalism, but ... more The 21st century has witnessed, to date, a dramatic resurgence in the forces of nationalism, but nationalisms taking new forms, and engaging gender and sexuality in innovative and transformational ways. This book explores the shifting and complex relations between nation/alism, gender and sexuality, with a particular focus on contemporary case study analyses. Drawing on examples from Europe, North and South America, South and South-Eastern Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East, the book offers empirically grounded, theoretical informed explorations of the variable intersections of nation/alism, gender and sexuality. In their different ways, each case study serves to trouble conventional understandings, opening up new avenues for future empirical research and theoretical enquiry.

This timely Reader plays an important role in the field of social movements. It fills a significa... more This timely Reader plays an important role in the field of social movements. It fills a significant gap by covering a number of connected areas within social studies. Responding to growing demand for interpretation and analysis of re-emerging social conflicts in the developed, as well as the developing world, this timely collection is the outcome of the recent boost received by social movement studies since the spread of contention and collective action at international level and the growth of the 'anti-globalization’ movement. Intended not only as a comprehensive introduction for undergraduates and postgraduates studying social movements, this volume also provides a truly global perspective, combining classic sociological thought and contemporary concerns. This book provides an essential guide to ‘who is who’ in the field of social movement studies and includes reflective and documentary material on contemporary conflicts. This volume is also an incredibly valuable resource for more general modules on sociological theory, global sociology, the history of sociological thought, contemporary social theory, and international and globalization studies.

Polis, 2023

The Covid-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for bordering and to further securitise migration ... more The Covid-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for bordering and to further
securitise migration policy. New border controls have been introduced, stringent new international regulations applied, hundreds of thousands of flights have been cancelled, resulting in millions of travellers – including migrant workers and transnational commuters – being stranded. Among the areas affected by these bordering and re-bordering practices is the central Mediterranean migratory route to Italy. In spring 2020, the Italian government introduced two measures aimed to block arrivals by sea: the closure of ports to search and rescue (SAR) operations and the use of vessels to quarantine migrants arriving on SAR ships. While the former was only partially implemented and then lifted in the summer, the latter, though presented as an emergency measure, has become a cornerstone of current securitisation policies. This article – relying on 27 semi-structured and open-ended interviews with activists, NGO volunteers, human rights lawyers, journalists and members of parliament, within the framework of the literature on bordering – interrogates the use of quarantine vessels during the pandemic as a means of stopping the spread of Covid-19 by irregular migrants arriving along the central Mediterranean route. We will see how this measure, presented as a humanitarian mission to preserve public health, has been an opportunity to tighten and securitise national and EU borders, and how quarantine vessels have been turned into hotspot-like spaces of bordering aimed at the filtering and containment of arriving migrants.

Journal of International Migration and Integration

Italy was the first European country touched by COVID-19 and one of the most severely affected, w... more Italy was the first European country touched by COVID-19 and one of the most severely affected, with a death toll that overtook China’s by mid-March 2020. As a result, lockdown measures aiming to mitigate — and eventually interrupt — the spread of COVID-19 proliferated during the first wave of the pandemic. The vast majority of these concerned the resident population, regardless of their status or country of origin, and mainly involved the closure of public offices and proscription of private activities with the aim of reducing mobility and social and physical contacts. Only a few concerned the foreign population and arriving irregular migrants. This article analyses migrant-related policy measures taken by the Italian government during the first wave of the pandemic that aimed to prevent infection and reduce the impact of COVID-19 among the population. These measures addressed two emergencies: the spread of COVID-19 that hit the resident population hard, regardless of origin or nat...

Journal of International Migration and Integration , 2023

Italy was the first European country touched by COVID-19 and one of the most severely affected, w... more Italy was the first European country touched by COVID-19 and one of the most severely affected, with a death toll that overtook China's by mid-March 2020. As a result, lockdown measures aiming to mitigate-and eventually interrupt-the spread of COVID-19 proliferated during the first wave of the pandemic. The vast majority of these concerned the resident population, regardless of their status or country of origin, and mainly involved the closure of public offices and proscription of private activities with the aim of reducing mobility and social and physical contacts. Only a few concerned the foreign population and arriving irregular migrants. This article analyses migrant-related policy measures taken by the Italian government during the first wave of the pandemic that aimed to prevent infection and reduce the impact of COVID-19 among the population. These measures addressed two emergencies: the spread of COVID-19 that hit the resident population hard, regardless of origin or nationality, and the workforce shortages in some key economic sectors with a high number of irregular migrant workers. The former aimed at containing the spread of the virus (sections 4 and 5) and targeted foreigners already residing in Italy as well as irregular migrants arriving along the Mediterranean route; the latter aimed at addressing workforce shortages (section 6) as a result of borders that were closed to external seasonal migration. This article is a contribution to the debate on changes to migration and migrant policy, and how these impacted on migration and foreign populations during the pandemic.

The American Sociologist

Love is a theme at the centre of all our lives, including those of sociologists and social scient... more Love is a theme at the centre of all our lives, including those of sociologists and social scientists. It has been widely addressed and described in literature and poetry, extensively depicted in the pictorial arts, sung about in music. Even philosophy, from its very beginnings, has devoted beautiful and intense pages to this theme. For reasons difficult to understand, the founding fathers of our discipline have been reluctant to enter the analytical realm of love. They touched this theme, but only marginally. It is only relatively recently that more insightful and focused discussions have come from some key figures of contemporary sociology in works by Niklas Luhmann, Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim, Zygmunt Bauman and, more recently, Eva Illouz that demonstrate the profoundly social nature of our most intimate feelings and convey how the transformation of love and intimacy is related to wider social changes. In this sense, this collection edited by Silvia...

International Migration Review

The COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for bordering, that is, for measures that aim to d... more The COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for bordering, that is, for measures that aim to delineate foreigners’ access to citizenship and membership and to further securitize migration policy. Across the globe, new border controls were introduced, stringent new international regulations applied, and hundreds of thousands of flights cancelled, all of which resulted in millions of travelers, including migrant workers and transnational commuters, being stranded. Among the areas affected by these bordering measures is the central Mediterranean migratory route to Italy. In Spring 2020, the Italian government introduced two measures aimed to block migrant arrivals by sea: the closure of ports to search-and-rescue (SAR) operations and the use of ships to quarantine migrants arriving on SAR ships. While the former was only partially implemented and then lifted in the summer of 2020, the latter has become a cornerstone of current securitization policies in Italy. This article — relying...

CIRMiB MigraREport 2022, 2022

Not just the Mediterranean: Border crossings and migration policy along the English Channel I... more Not just the Mediterranean:
Border crossings and migration policy along the English Channel

In recent years, an increasing number of migrants have been risking their lives every day as they attempt to cross the waters of the English Channel from northern France to reach Britain. It is a growing phenomenon as data collected by the Home Office highlight. In 2018 only 300 people crossed the channel, 4.8 per cent of all irregular migrants detected at the point of entry in the UK. In 2021, the number of people trying to reach England in inflatable boats, dinghies and kayaks was by far the largest compared to all other irregular means, including by air with false documents or hiding in trucks or containers. Of the more than 31,000 detected irregular entries, 90 percent were on small boats. This trend is continuing with nearly 13,000 people crossing as of June 2022 compared to 5,917 in the same period last year. The main nationalities are Iranian and Afghan, and recently also Albanian. Many of those crossing the English Channel come from the Balkan route before crossing the northwestern border between Italy and France. In this contribution I try to address some issues related to these new migration flows. I will present some data about their characteristics and highlight the role of migration policies and the migration industry in the growth of these flows. My main argument is that the development of this new route has been driven by a combination of policies, networks, and agency.

The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

This paper will look at Chinatown’s incorporation in Milan, its transformations in the years foll... more This paper will look at Chinatown’s incorporation in Milan, its transformations in the years following the April 2007 riots and how these have been affecting by conflicting interests. More specifically, I look at the political economy of the urban space and the role of Chinatown in the dynamics of urban restructuring in Milan. Milan’s Chinatown today is neither a Chinese residential area, nor a tourist district: rather, it is an ethnic economic and commercial enclave in a semi-gentrified area near the citycentre, where businesses owned by Italians and foreign nationals coexist. Since the riot, Chinatown has become an increasingly contested space characterised by the presence of conflicting agendas. On the one hand, the Italian businesses, the autochthonous population and local authorities who, although from different angles, regard Chinatown as a ‘problem’ and claim the area back. On the other hand, the Chinese retailers and workers who claim the right to use this urban space and ca...

SAGE Publications, Jun 1, 2018

Abstract of the Foreword Commencing with some recent examples drawn from Anglophone media, this i... more Abstract of the Foreword Commencing with some recent examples drawn from Anglophone media, this introductory article reflects on the multiple ways in which crisis and migration have been interconnected over the last decade in public discourse, political debates and academic research. It underlines how crisis has not simply become a key descriptor of specific events, but continues to operate as a powerful narrative device that structures knowledge of migration and shapes policy decisions and governance structures. It explains the rationale for choosing Europe as a multidimensional setting for investigating the diverse links between migration and crisis. It ends with a summary of the contributions that are divided into four thematic strands: relationships between the economic crisis and migrant workers and their families; the Mediterranean in crisis; political and public discourses about the post-2015 ‘migration crisis’; and ethnographies of everyday experiences of the ‘refugee crisis’ on the part of migrants, activists and local people

Veredas: Revista del Piensamento Sociologico, 2010

This paper addresses the transnational collective action, focusing on Tute Bianche and Disobbedie... more This paper addresses the transnational collective action, focusing on Tute Bianche and Disobbedienti –White Monkeys and Disobedients–, and their participation in three multinational cycles of protest that occurred at various geographical scales –local, regional and global– from late 1990 decade and early 2000 decade. The first part focuses on the origins of the “white monkeys” and “disobedients”; the second part analyzes their political discourse, while the third describes their analysis of globalization and discusses how it has changed the scale of action. The analysis of these three cycles of protest, shows that the farewell of nation-state as the main opponent and target of social movements, has been only partial and temporary. Global change has not replaced other scales of action, instead of this, has been intertwined with them as a result of the cracks of politics offered by the international context. It is also argued that the space for action, is partially global, and the actions of social movement activists, are stratified. Finally it is shown how both opponents, institutions and movements have contributed to the changing of the dynamic in an external political environment.

Gendering Nationalism Intersections of Nation, Gender and Sexuality, 2018

In recent years, particularly since EU enlargement in 2005 and the start of the economic and fina... more In recent years, particularly since EU enlargement in 2005 and the start of the economic and financial crisis in 2008, immigration has increasingly become a main source of concern within the wider population and a political cleavage. It was the second most important concern for voters in the 2010 general election, after the economy but above unemployment, and a key point in the Brexit referendum, while in the 2017 election, it featured high in the electoral debates. Similarly, immigration is a key topic in right-wing nationalist parties, contributing to the framing of their political agenda and their success. These parties prioritize immigration as a pressing political issue, regarding it as a cause of economic competition and a threat to national identity and security. Based on 36 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with female members and supporters of UKIP, the BNP, and the EDL carried out between September 2013 and December 2014, this chapter examines how women on the nationalist right frame migration and turn it into a political issue. In particular, it looks at the perception of migration in terms of “mass migration”; the perception of its impact on the labour market and the welfare state; and how migration is linked to the EU. These dimensions are examined with an emphasis on the gender perspective, that is, on the ways nationalist women activists assess the implications of migration for women in these three areas.

Gendering Nationalism. Intersections of Nation, Gender and Sexuality, 2018

By focusing on female activists in movements of the nationalist right, this chapter examines how ... more By focusing on female activists in movements of the nationalist right, this chapter examines how such women frame migration and turn it into a political issue. In particular, it looks at four dimensions: the perception of migration in terms of “mass migration”, and the associated threat to national identity; the pressure on the welfare system; the impact of migrants on the labour market; and migration in relation to the EU. These dimensions are examined with an emphasis on the gender perspective, that is, on the ways nationalist women activists assess the implications of migration for women in these areas.

Gendering Nationalism. Intersections of Nation, Gender and Sexuality, 2018

Gendering Nationalism "The impressive range of case studies included in this collection highlight... more Gendering Nationalism "The impressive range of case studies included in this collection highlight the complex but intimate relationships that exist, in variable ways, in different nationalist political projects. The book points out how notions of masculinity and femininity, and sexuality and belonging, construct-in shifting and contested ways which vary temporarily and spatially-the boundaries of these nationalisms. An important contribution to the field of nationalism studies.

Italian Sociological Review, 2024

The Northwestern French-Italian border is an important cross point for people coming from the Bal... more The Northwestern French-Italian border is an important cross point for people coming from the Balkans and the Central Mediterranean routes aiming to reach Northern-continental European countries and the United Kingdom. According to the data we collected, in 2021 some 10,369 people, including 400 unaccompanied minors and 412 families, arrived at the Alpine border-twice the 2020 numbers, when around 4,700 stopped at the two shelters. Although in 2022 the figure had dropped to about 8,500 it remains high, confirming this border as highly relevant. Based on data collected between 2021 and 2022 in Oulx, a village in the upper Susa Valley, Northwestern Italy, this article aims to investigate the impact of borders on migrants' temporalities among people who cross the border with France wanting to reach Europe. Borders as a spatial mechanism for controlling people's movement are bound up with time: the time of displacement in camps, the time migrants spend attempting to cross the borders, the overall time their movement takes, which is also affected by mobility policies. This does not happen in a vacuum of migrant agency. People on the move respond to the constraints of border regimes in a variety of ways, including resorting to smugglers and changing family and household figurations. However, as this article aims to show, the kinds of responses adopted are not always freely chosen, but they are forms of adaptation to the circumstances and constraints imposed by the border regime.

McGraw-Hill Education eBooks, 2014

The 21st century has witnessed, to date, a dramatic resurgence in the forces of nationalism, but ... more The 21st century has witnessed, to date, a dramatic resurgence in the forces of nationalism, but nationalisms taking new forms, and engaging gender and sexuality in innovative and transformational ways. This book explores the shifting and complex relations between nation/alism, gender and sexuality, with a particular focus on contemporary case study analyses. Drawing on examples from Europe, North and South America, South and South-Eastern Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East, the book offers empirically grounded, theoretical informed explorations of the variable intersections of nation/alism, gender and sexuality. In their different ways, each case study serves to trouble conventional understandings, opening up new avenues for future empirical research and theoretical enquiry.

This timely Reader plays an important role in the field of social movements. It fills a significa... more This timely Reader plays an important role in the field of social movements. It fills a significant gap by covering a number of connected areas within social studies. Responding to growing demand for interpretation and analysis of re-emerging social conflicts in the developed, as well as the developing world, this timely collection is the outcome of the recent boost received by social movement studies since the spread of contention and collective action at international level and the growth of the 'anti-globalization’ movement. Intended not only as a comprehensive introduction for undergraduates and postgraduates studying social movements, this volume also provides a truly global perspective, combining classic sociological thought and contemporary concerns. This book provides an essential guide to ‘who is who’ in the field of social movement studies and includes reflective and documentary material on contemporary conflicts. This volume is also an incredibly valuable resource for more general modules on sociological theory, global sociology, the history of sociological thought, contemporary social theory, and international and globalization studies.

Polis, 2023

The Covid-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for bordering and to further securitise migration ... more The Covid-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for bordering and to further
securitise migration policy. New border controls have been introduced, stringent new international regulations applied, hundreds of thousands of flights have been cancelled, resulting in millions of travellers – including migrant workers and transnational commuters – being stranded. Among the areas affected by these bordering and re-bordering practices is the central Mediterranean migratory route to Italy. In spring 2020, the Italian government introduced two measures aimed to block arrivals by sea: the closure of ports to search and rescue (SAR) operations and the use of vessels to quarantine migrants arriving on SAR ships. While the former was only partially implemented and then lifted in the summer, the latter, though presented as an emergency measure, has become a cornerstone of current securitisation policies. This article – relying on 27 semi-structured and open-ended interviews with activists, NGO volunteers, human rights lawyers, journalists and members of parliament, within the framework of the literature on bordering – interrogates the use of quarantine vessels during the pandemic as a means of stopping the spread of Covid-19 by irregular migrants arriving along the central Mediterranean route. We will see how this measure, presented as a humanitarian mission to preserve public health, has been an opportunity to tighten and securitise national and EU borders, and how quarantine vessels have been turned into hotspot-like spaces of bordering aimed at the filtering and containment of arriving migrants.

Journal of International Migration and Integration

Italy was the first European country touched by COVID-19 and one of the most severely affected, w... more Italy was the first European country touched by COVID-19 and one of the most severely affected, with a death toll that overtook China’s by mid-March 2020. As a result, lockdown measures aiming to mitigate — and eventually interrupt — the spread of COVID-19 proliferated during the first wave of the pandemic. The vast majority of these concerned the resident population, regardless of their status or country of origin, and mainly involved the closure of public offices and proscription of private activities with the aim of reducing mobility and social and physical contacts. Only a few concerned the foreign population and arriving irregular migrants. This article analyses migrant-related policy measures taken by the Italian government during the first wave of the pandemic that aimed to prevent infection and reduce the impact of COVID-19 among the population. These measures addressed two emergencies: the spread of COVID-19 that hit the resident population hard, regardless of origin or nat...

Journal of International Migration and Integration , 2023

Italy was the first European country touched by COVID-19 and one of the most severely affected, w... more Italy was the first European country touched by COVID-19 and one of the most severely affected, with a death toll that overtook China's by mid-March 2020. As a result, lockdown measures aiming to mitigate-and eventually interrupt-the spread of COVID-19 proliferated during the first wave of the pandemic. The vast majority of these concerned the resident population, regardless of their status or country of origin, and mainly involved the closure of public offices and proscription of private activities with the aim of reducing mobility and social and physical contacts. Only a few concerned the foreign population and arriving irregular migrants. This article analyses migrant-related policy measures taken by the Italian government during the first wave of the pandemic that aimed to prevent infection and reduce the impact of COVID-19 among the population. These measures addressed two emergencies: the spread of COVID-19 that hit the resident population hard, regardless of origin or nationality, and the workforce shortages in some key economic sectors with a high number of irregular migrant workers. The former aimed at containing the spread of the virus (sections 4 and 5) and targeted foreigners already residing in Italy as well as irregular migrants arriving along the Mediterranean route; the latter aimed at addressing workforce shortages (section 6) as a result of borders that were closed to external seasonal migration. This article is a contribution to the debate on changes to migration and migrant policy, and how these impacted on migration and foreign populations during the pandemic.

The American Sociologist

Love is a theme at the centre of all our lives, including those of sociologists and social scient... more Love is a theme at the centre of all our lives, including those of sociologists and social scientists. It has been widely addressed and described in literature and poetry, extensively depicted in the pictorial arts, sung about in music. Even philosophy, from its very beginnings, has devoted beautiful and intense pages to this theme. For reasons difficult to understand, the founding fathers of our discipline have been reluctant to enter the analytical realm of love. They touched this theme, but only marginally. It is only relatively recently that more insightful and focused discussions have come from some key figures of contemporary sociology in works by Niklas Luhmann, Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim, Zygmunt Bauman and, more recently, Eva Illouz that demonstrate the profoundly social nature of our most intimate feelings and convey how the transformation of love and intimacy is related to wider social changes. In this sense, this collection edited by Silvia...

International Migration Review

The COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for bordering, that is, for measures that aim to d... more The COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for bordering, that is, for measures that aim to delineate foreigners’ access to citizenship and membership and to further securitize migration policy. Across the globe, new border controls were introduced, stringent new international regulations applied, and hundreds of thousands of flights cancelled, all of which resulted in millions of travelers, including migrant workers and transnational commuters, being stranded. Among the areas affected by these bordering measures is the central Mediterranean migratory route to Italy. In Spring 2020, the Italian government introduced two measures aimed to block migrant arrivals by sea: the closure of ports to search-and-rescue (SAR) operations and the use of ships to quarantine migrants arriving on SAR ships. While the former was only partially implemented and then lifted in the summer of 2020, the latter has become a cornerstone of current securitization policies in Italy. This article — relying...

CIRMiB MigraREport 2022, 2022

Not just the Mediterranean: Border crossings and migration policy along the English Channel I... more Not just the Mediterranean:
Border crossings and migration policy along the English Channel

In recent years, an increasing number of migrants have been risking their lives every day as they attempt to cross the waters of the English Channel from northern France to reach Britain. It is a growing phenomenon as data collected by the Home Office highlight. In 2018 only 300 people crossed the channel, 4.8 per cent of all irregular migrants detected at the point of entry in the UK. In 2021, the number of people trying to reach England in inflatable boats, dinghies and kayaks was by far the largest compared to all other irregular means, including by air with false documents or hiding in trucks or containers. Of the more than 31,000 detected irregular entries, 90 percent were on small boats. This trend is continuing with nearly 13,000 people crossing as of June 2022 compared to 5,917 in the same period last year. The main nationalities are Iranian and Afghan, and recently also Albanian. Many of those crossing the English Channel come from the Balkan route before crossing the northwestern border between Italy and France. In this contribution I try to address some issues related to these new migration flows. I will present some data about their characteristics and highlight the role of migration policies and the migration industry in the growth of these flows. My main argument is that the development of this new route has been driven by a combination of policies, networks, and agency.

The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

This paper will look at Chinatown’s incorporation in Milan, its transformations in the years foll... more This paper will look at Chinatown’s incorporation in Milan, its transformations in the years following the April 2007 riots and how these have been affecting by conflicting interests. More specifically, I look at the political economy of the urban space and the role of Chinatown in the dynamics of urban restructuring in Milan. Milan’s Chinatown today is neither a Chinese residential area, nor a tourist district: rather, it is an ethnic economic and commercial enclave in a semi-gentrified area near the citycentre, where businesses owned by Italians and foreign nationals coexist. Since the riot, Chinatown has become an increasingly contested space characterised by the presence of conflicting agendas. On the one hand, the Italian businesses, the autochthonous population and local authorities who, although from different angles, regard Chinatown as a ‘problem’ and claim the area back. On the other hand, the Chinese retailers and workers who claim the right to use this urban space and ca...

SAGE Publications, Jun 1, 2018

Abstract of the Foreword Commencing with some recent examples drawn from Anglophone media, this i... more Abstract of the Foreword Commencing with some recent examples drawn from Anglophone media, this introductory article reflects on the multiple ways in which crisis and migration have been interconnected over the last decade in public discourse, political debates and academic research. It underlines how crisis has not simply become a key descriptor of specific events, but continues to operate as a powerful narrative device that structures knowledge of migration and shapes policy decisions and governance structures. It explains the rationale for choosing Europe as a multidimensional setting for investigating the diverse links between migration and crisis. It ends with a summary of the contributions that are divided into four thematic strands: relationships between the economic crisis and migrant workers and their families; the Mediterranean in crisis; political and public discourses about the post-2015 ‘migration crisis’; and ethnographies of everyday experiences of the ‘refugee crisis’ on the part of migrants, activists and local people

We invite research manuscripts for inclusion in a special issue entitled 'Migration and Crisis in... more We invite research manuscripts for inclusion in a special issue entitled 'Migration and Crisis in Europe' to be edited by Nick Dines, Nicola Montagna and Elena Vacchelli (all currently based in the Department of Criminology and Sociology at Middlesex University) to be published in Sociology in 2018, the flagship journal of the British Sociological Association. It is generally held that over the last decade Europe has endured and has been reshaped by multiple, overlapping crises. Key defining moments during this period-from the rollout of austerity politics to popular protests in cities across Europe-have been read through the prism of an unfolding global financial crisis, while the European Union has found itself increasingly embroiled in institutional crises that, in the words of a former Greek finance minister, test its very survival. Most recently, in response to the dramatic increase in people crossing (and dying) in the Mediterranean Sea and moving onward to northern Europe, it has become common among politicians, the media and academics to speak of an unprecedented 'refugee' or 'migrant crisis', which highlights as much Europe's capacity and willingness to respond to this human movement as it is about the actual numbers of arrivals. But migrants have also already experienced most acutely the impacts of a decade of crises-often being hit hardest by job losses or welfare cuts-while the ensuing political, economic and legal fallout has given rise to new patterns of mobility into, within and out of the EU. This special issue wants to critically examine how the relationship between migration and different dimensions of crisis has played out in the context of Europe over the last ten years, with a particular focus on borders, labour and social reproduction. Europe is not understood simply as the geographical setting of various crises, but also as a political and cultural entity that has found itself in crisis, including as a result of the challenges posed by migratory movements. Meanwhile, crisis does not simply describe a set of conjunctures, but is specifically understood here to concomitantly operate as a powerful narrative device that, when invoked, produces a set of meanings that structure knowledge of social phenomena and, crucially, shape policy decisions and governance structures. We are thus interested to explore how migration has been differently affected by, and has responded to economic, social and political crises across Europe. But we are also concerned to understand how the proliferation of 'crisis talk' has influenced public and critical perceptions of migratory phenomena, from highlighting particular conspicuous features to obscuring continuities and longer-term developments or rendering structural questions exceptional. How have migrants and migrant organisations