Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Berliner Institut für empirische Integrations- und Migrationsforschung (BIM)

Workshop: Transforming European Border Infrastructures

The borders of the European Union are increasingly contested. Not only do they decisively shape the possibilities of migrating to Europe and thus give rise to a multiplicity of mobility and border conflicts. They are also contested as part of a political conflict over the future of the European project and its political and social order. Yet, in order to understand the present and future of Europe’s borders, we can learn from turning to their history. What gave rise to the borders of Europe as we know them? How were they transformed and turned into complex socio-technical formations? And what do their techno-politics tell us about the future of the European project and migration?

In order to approach and discuss these questions, we have invited two authors of recent monographs on the politics of borders. In “Borders as Infrastructure. The Technopolitics of Border Control” (MIT Press 2021) Huub Dijstelbloem traces the transformations of Europe’s borders from
the perspective of science and technology studies in order to unpack shifts in our notions of territory, authority, sovereignty, and jurisdiction. And in “Europa als Grenze. Eine Ethnographie der
Grenzschutzagentur Frontex” [Europe as Border. An Ethnography of the Border Agency Frontex] (transcript 2021) Bernd Kasparek reconstructs the dual history of Europe and its borders through a genealogy and ethnography of the European border agency Frontex.

The workshop will be moderated by Manuela Bojadzijev and Robin Celikates.

If you are interested in participating, please send a short email to register@transformingsolidarities.net.
You will then receive the zoom link and the preparatory readings from the monographs. For updates on this workshop, please see our website:
https://transformingsolidarities.net/en/activities/workshop-transforming-european-border-infrastructures/