Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I argue that not only can stuff be amassed but also deprivations. I will delineate how accumulated dispossessions frame people's capabilities to act, result in social exclusions yet too how they urge and incite new tactics and ways of living.

Paper long abstract:

Migration anthropologists, from a material culture perspective, have unearthed the relevance of the materialities that people keep, bring along, and consume (Levin, 2019; Dudley, 2010; Basu & Coleman 2008). In this paper, I will broaden these perspectives on things by drawing on works about the immaterial (Bille, Hastrup & Sørensen, 2010; Buchli 2016). The focal point is the sheer amount of discarded and lost items of individuals who were forced to leave their homes.

As people move away from devastated places, they leave tons of debris of their former properties behind. As one crosses borders without paper, it might be necessary to leave further personal items behind. As people are kept in protracted limbos by border regimes, this regularly causes a series of material and temporal dispossessions (Hicks & Mallet, 2019; Khosravi, 2018).

By reconstituting 'critical events' (Das 1997) as well as by drawing on the concept of hexis (Hage, 2013) the im-/material entanglements and furthermore the long-term effects of cumulative loss can be unearthed. Such a perspective enables anthropologists to understand how references to absent, destroyed, missing, and yet co-present belongings 'take place.' By drawing on ethnographic case studies, I seek to show how accumulated dispossessions impact people's everyday life and biographies, respective of the settings and intersections of dearth. These circumstances do not only hamper capabilities to act, but they can also prompt creative appropriations and lead people to establish broad networks in situations of a shortage of means (see Kiddey, 2017).

Paper short abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this paper looks at Syrian refugees' relationship with the state in Denmark via documents and the absence or potential non-renewability of some, namely residence permits.

Paper long abstract:

Denmark was one of the European countries that received Syrian refugees when the "refugee crisis" was at its peak in the years 2015-2016. As the refugee influx continued, the Danish government started to gradually amend residence requirements and limit refugees' access to its social welfare system. In two parts, and drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this paper looks at Syrian refugees' relationship with the state via documents and the absence or potential non-renewability of some, namely residence permits.

The first part provides a brief overview of the legal context of the Danish protection system prior to 2015 and some notable changes introduced since, especially pertaining to residence. It examines the attitudes Syrian refugees exhibit and experience in their interactions with the Danish state bureaucracy. The second part examines Syrian refugees' dealings with the state through documents, particularly those pertaining to their legal status in the country. Drawing on a rich anthropological literature on the agency of things and affectivity of bureaucracy (Miller 2005; Navaro-Yashin 2007, 2012; Hull 2012), this paper shows how the increasingly ephemeral nature of documents materializes and reproduces Syrian refugees' experiences of displacement and belonging.

Paper short abstract:

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Switzerland and in Belgium, this paper describes how evidence is constructed by civil servants and by migrants who ask for social assistance to the state, exploring how such requests can both threaten and help advance migrants' residency status.

Paper long abstract:

Asylum seekers have been critically ogled due to their possession of mobile phones and their "suspicious" loss of papers, and forced to substantiate often hetero and chrononormative stories of flight with a range of documents. Materiality also plays a crucial role for those who arrived in Europe and based their claim to a legal immigration status on different grounds: to reunite with their families, in order to work, or get medical treatment. While materiality matters for those who make it through the doors of "fortress Europe", its relevance does not stop once a legal status has been granted. This paper analyses how asking for social assistance can both threaten or help advance migrants' legal status in their host countries. Based on ethnographic fieldwork within welfare offices in Switzerland and in Belgium, we explore how reports from welfare administrations can both contribute to contesting the right to remain of migrant individuals who possess a residence permit but have fallen on social assistance, or help those with a precarious legal status to obtain such a permit based on medical, or family reasons. We reflect on the way evidence is constructed by civil servants and by the migrants themselves, and explore how these reports are used by and beyond the administration that produced them in order to show how welfare and immigration policies are intertwined in the daily practices of street-level bureaucrats.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how,in the context of the 'migration crisis',young refugees living in a Danish asylum centre transformed money granted by the state into social interactions.The socialising of the money shows how they organised their lives around interdependencies experienced as forms of kinship.

Paper long abstract:

In 2015, when the 'refugee crisis' escalated with a surge of refugees seeking asylum, European states introduced a wealth of restrictive policies to deter asylum-seekers and refugees from entering their countries. Denmark, historically held up as a frontrunner in refugee protection, was no exception. It introduced a broad range of measures including mandatory detention, cuts in social benefits and limitations on family reunification. It also became international news with its controversial 'jewelry law' where refugees were to be dispossessed of their material 'things' by Danish authorities. This paper will explore how young refugees who arrived in the Scandinavian nation during 'the crisis' as unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors transformed the materiality of 'pocket money' - a small allowance granted by the Danish state to cover their basic needs - into social practices. By following the money, I suggest that a process of de-individualising (cf. Carsten 1989) took place when the welfare state-sponsored pocket money left the individual envelopes and became a shared resource of the community of friends at the asylum centres. The paper will explore how 'things' granted by the state are transformed and how the money that was initially an individual transaction between the state and the asylum-seeker was socialised providing a stronger sense of belonging.

Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the efficacy of fake and authentic documents among asylum seekers. Based on multi-sited ethnography, It looks at how refugees perceive, differentiate and manage travel documents on their journey, as well as the performative strategies they employ for their papers to work.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I examine the efficacy of fake and authentic travel documents among asylum seekers in the EU. Based on ethnography carried out between Izmir, Chios (Greece), Athens and Berlin with asylum seekers from different backgrounds, I look at the fickle purchase that these documents have in the lives of migrants on the move and how they figure in their strategies to achieve movement and legal status in Europe. By scrutinizing how licit and illicit travel documents are perceived, differentiated and managed, as well as the kind of work that they do or fail to do for their holders, this paper tackles a series of misconceptions undergirding popular and scholarly views regarding the interrelation between statecraft and the counterfeit in the EU. In studying the effects that licit and illicit documents elicit among individual migrants I examine how both are perceived as belonging in a shared economy of things, as commodities whose value is unstable and whose efficacy requires a constant refashioning of the document holder's entrepreneurial skills as well as her self-presentation. Rather than being preoccupied with whether a paper is legal or illegal, migrants on the move evaluate papers on the scale of strong/not strong or dangerous/safe, asking what is more likely to work or pose less threat, and in what circumstances. At the same time, I show how for both types of paper to work, migrants have to rely on a series of performative strategies in order to cultivate the 'spirit' of the paper.

Paper short abstract:

Based on ethnographic research carried out in Berlin, Lisbon, Luanda and Sidney, this paper addresses the positioning strategies of migrant families through the lens of material culture. the paper argues that things hold great potencial to (re)create and/or reproduce identity and belonging.

Paper long abstract:

The relationship between people and objects is today, as in the past, a significant site for identity making and negotiating. As anthropology and archaeology have showed us, things are not just tools to understand the original aspects of each culture, but also means to produce collective life, identity and social relationships. Objects hold a great potential to express relations of power, alliance, submission, respect, and are, therefore, key to objectify and stabilise identity and position, has well as to regulate social life.

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in four cities (Berlin, Lisbon, Luanda and Sidney) with diverse present-day migrant communities, this paper aims contributing to the debate about the impacts of movement and displacement in people and their things, as well as the significance of materiality as setting for the production, negotiation and stabilization of social identity. By examining migrant's daily material culture and consumption practices, as well as their aspirations, positioning strategies and networks of belonging, the paper will address the following questions: does movement affect the value, significance and use of stuff brought/sent from home? To what extent are migrant private and public consumption practices submitted to scrutiny and which strategies structure these processes? How does one deal with a new material reality?

Paper short abstract:

Drawing on extensive fieldwork research in refugee camps in Greece, this paper will examine how objects and possessions are used, circulated and (re-)appropriated by refugees to survive, create a sense of normalcy, and enact and affirm cultural identities.

Paper long abstract:

Refugee camps - the epitome of a state of exception - are conventionally conceived as transitory infrastructures, where refugees live in a state of lasting temporariness and waithood. Within this framework of temporariness, this paper will examine how objects and possessions are used, circulated and (re-)appropriated by refugees to survive, create a sense of normalcy, and enact and affirm cultural identities. Building on extensive fieldwork research in almost all long-term accommodation centers in mainland Greece, the authors will discuss refugees' agency observed in material interventions (expressions of national and ethnic affiliation, constructing shelter extensions and irregular shops, etc.), informal economies based on materials (buying and selling of containers, appropriation and sale of camp infrastructure, etc.), as well as (re-)use of materials (blankets, fire hoses, oil canisters, etc.). Moving beyond a static depiction of materials, the research will highlight the potency of materials in regenerating personal and collective agency in adversity.

Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the following questions: in what ways objects/images store or provoke emotional experiences in the context of migration? How reinforces sensory, bodily and emotive engagement with objects/images personal identity in an unfamiliar cultural setting?

Paper long abstract:

My paper focuses on the complex intertwining of migration, material culture and emotions. Human mobility no matter whether forced or voluntary most often lead to intense emotional and transformative experiences. As the nature of migration is shaped by its materiality, the varied forms of experience and sensation are "both embodied and constituted through the interactions of subjects and objects" (Basu & Coleman). In this process objects and images are "moving" in a double sense: they stir emotions and entail the movement of the people and things. Objects and images contain personal and collective memories, recall loss, activate the sense of belonging, facilitate transnational connectivity and may offer protection in turbulent times. Certain objects and images can trigger affects and emotions such as trauma, fear, despair, or homesickness but also religious sentiments, hope, aspiration and well-being. In host societies public debates on the appropriate quality and amount of material and financial aid (clothes, shoes, food, housing) for refugees and asylum seekers are highly emotional. In social media fierce disputes arise on "illegitimate" possessions of refugees such as iPhones and brand-name clothes. Hereby, it is material culture which provokes affects such as resentment and social envy.

In the first part of my paper I will give a brief overview on the state of the research on the relation between migration, materiality and emotion. In the second part I will present examples from the current research project on "The Materiality of Migration" (Goettingen/Germany) which illustrate various aspects of that relation.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I focus on music as homing practice and the ability of instruments to forge palpable connections. I ask how musical instruments help to navigate lives characterized by temporary migration and how people's temporal horizons affect their homing practices.

Paper long abstract:

For scientists and academics international mobility has evolved into an integral part of career development. In this paper I ask how objects like musical instruments help to navigate lives that are characterized by temporary migration and short term mobilities. My findings are based on an explorative study, which I developed out of my Ph.D. research on Indian postgraduates in Germany. Many of my interlocutors establish leisure activities, like singing, dancing, music-making and playing cricket in their busy schedules. These practices involve objects like the Sitar. I concentrate on two interconnected capacities of these objects: 1) Their ability to forge "palpable connections" (Povrzanović Frykman and Humbracht 2013) to people and places and thus their ability to establish continuities in mobile lives (Povrzanović Frykman 2016). 2) I focus on the objects' connections to music as "homing practice" (Boccagni 2017; Abels 2019). I argue that focusing on music can unfold a specific perspective on the environmental, emotional and relational factors (Boccagni 2017) that shape experiences of home. Music offers a look into the interactive aspects of homing since it often involves activities that are conducted collectively as in the case of rehearsals and performances.

As my data evolved out of a study with young academics in Germany that often do not plan to stay permanently, I will also ask how the knowledge of being somewhere temporary affects people's homing practices.