1st Edition

The Balkan Route Hope, Migration and Europeanisation in Liminal Spaces

By Robert Rydzewski Copyright 2024
172 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

172 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

172 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book is an ethnography of the people migrating through the Balkan route and the reaction of the local communities who witnessed their struggle to reach the European Union (EU). Based on extensive fieldwork conducted in North Macedonia and Serbia, it pays special attention to the “refugee crisis” that gave birth to a new border regime based on a permanent suspension of laws, normalisation of... Read more

Introduction

The Movement Before the Border Closure

New Border Regime

Doing Migration Research in Serbia

A Note on Terminology

Understanding Liminality

Book structure

1. Chaos of Liminality

New Beginning

Contradicting Developments

Transformations

Self-Organisation in Disorder

Distrust and Naivety

Re-bordering

Synchronising Gate Closure

Liminal Hotspots

Facing Uncertainty

Conclusions

2. Solidarity in Abandonment

Albanians as the Other

A Sense of Disenfranchisement

Europeanization of the Borders

Paving the Balkan Route

Liminality as a Bonding Experience

The Goldmine

The Weight of Migrant Reception

State Abandonment

An Imperative for Solidarity

Conclusions

3. Europeanisation of Migration

Externalising Border Control

The Balkan Route

Migrations in the Shadow of the EU

Subjugation to the EU

The Migration Control Trade-off

State Exploitation of Welcoming Attitudes

Conclusions

4. Waiting: The Strain of Liminality

Creating Structuralised Waiting

Depicting Waiting Infrastructure

Subordinating Queuing

Delaying

Boredom

The Burden of Waiting

Seeking Asylum in Serbia

Conclusions

5. Migrant Movement as In-betweenness

Defining Migrant Movements

The Reaction to Uncertainty

Violence as Border Deterrence

New Constraints and Opportunities

In Search of Hope in Liminality

Conclusions

Summary: I Must Keep Going

Biography

Robert Rydzewski defended his Ph.D. in Anthropology and Cultural Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, in 2020. Currently he is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Ethnology at the same university.