Critical humanitarian and reflexive migration studies: solidarities in times of turmoil

In the 2000s, scholars in Europe were puzzled by the persistence of a shared sense of humanity in societies that were otherwise openly hostile to migranticized people. Despite exclusionary practices, European societies continued to collectively acknowledge and respond to human needs and suffering. Twenty years later, this puzzle must be reconsidered: Academic engagement with migration now faces de-democratizing governance and an authoritarian consensus in an increasing number of nation-states, with a particularly focus on migration, sexual identity and gender as their main targets. Recent academic debates have brought the anti-migration, anti-queer and anti-gender politics of (il/liberal) democracies to the forefront. Simultaneously in Europe and beyond, asylum seekers and other migranticized people are criminalized and confronted with fiercely repressive discourses on ‘integration’, deportation, anti-asylum, and the end of family reunification. In addition, migration and refugee studies have been criticized for reproducing hegemonic power relations and concomitant forms of social and political exclusion. Amidst this ongoing turmoil of political, economic, and humanitarian upheavals, migration studies is critically reassessing its own role in shaping these challenges, calling for greater reflexivity and a rethinking of its theoretical and methodological approaches.

Facing these challenges, this course aims to critically examine current debates in humanitarian and migration studies. It does so by looking at the flipside of these developments. Concretely, we will focus on political solidarity as a concept and movement that seek to combat deterrence, deportation, and the criminalization of migration, while advocating for justice, equality, and inclusion. We will reflect on consequences and practices of implicated subjects, be it NGOS, migranticized people, individuals, state actors and so on.