Humanitarka and Distro: Reflexive Contributions from the Regime of Irregular Migration Cover Image

Humanitarka i distro: refleksivno iz režima iregulariziranih migracija
Humanitarka and Distro: Reflexive Contributions from the Regime of Irregular Migration

Author(s): Bojan Mucko
Subject(s): Studies in violence and power, Family and social welfare, Migration Studies
Published by: Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku
Keywords: regime of irregular migration; reflexivity; positioning; criminalization of solidarity; the humanitarian underground;

Summary/Abstract: This article presents a reflection on the research into the European irregular migration regime based on my humanitarian and activist work in a context where violence is normalized on the periphery of the European Union. My approach to vernacular humanitarianism from below is ethnographic in nature, combining my (artistic, non-institutional) work in a ghettoized Zagreb Roma settlement with my pro-migrant volunteer engagement in the Una-Sana Canton in Bosnia and Herzegovina (within a scholarly, institutional framework). I adopt a critical approach to humanitarianism, seeing it as both a moment of desubjectivization and an essential step in broader socially inclusive processes. The context of criminalizing solidarity meant that the research practice included navigating through methodologically unpredictable situations, such as fluid, slippery, layered positioning, identity gray zones, disciplinary and normative liminality. I see the resulting ambivalences as part of an open research process indistinguishable from my own everyday life penetrated by the migration regime.

  • Issue Year: 60/2023
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 163-187
  • Page Count: 25
  • Language: Croatian