Paper short abstract:

This paper draws on an ethnographic account of everyday life in the North African border enclave of Melilla to explore the moral economy of illegality in remote crossroad areas such as exclaves, offshore territories and other forms of buffer-zones and spaces-in-between.

Paper long abstract:

Building on an ethnographic account of everyday life in one of the most "remote" and

controversial borders of the EU, the Spanish enclave of Melilla in North Eastern Morocco, this

paper explores a framework to think about enclaves, offshore territories, buffer zones and

other forms of spaces-in-between that are politically and often economically dependent on a "central" location somewhere else. These are spaces of exception that have been carved out within or in the interstices between different political, economic and social orders, and where transit, trade and travel are organised and managed in particular ways. In these places, the legal and the illegal intertwine in peculiar ways and money moves constantly between a visible, licit domain and an invisible and illicit one, establishing continuities and discontinuities between different people and locations.

The paper will draw on ethnographic fieldwork in Melilla to explore the different fictional narratives and spaces of performance that emerge in this uncertain and morally ambiguous economy, and show how the circulation of rumours, gossip, hearsay and conspiracy theories is socially productive, creating simultaneously a theatrical space where social, religious and moral identities are publicly performed, and a parallel but invisible "underworld" of riches and criminality where persons, locations, relations and activities are connected in unexpected ways.

Paper short abstract:

The paper explores how flows, interruptions and (dis)connections in the circulation of carpets and kilims in Istanbul's Grand Bazaar area articulate notions of the city as crossroads.

Paper long abstract:

Throughout history, Istanbul has been represented as one of the Mediterranean's most significant crossroads, connecting and disconnecting places, peoples and ideas. With its construction dating back to the 15th century, Istanbul's Grand Bazaar is situated within Istanbul's historical quarters. As the world's largest and oldest covered market of its kind, the Grand Bazaar currently counts with more than 3500 shops, selling a variety of goods ranging from small souvenirs up to leather goods, jewelry and expensive kilims and carpets.

Drawing on everyday practices associated with the carpet and kilim trade within the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, the paper explores how flows, interruptions and (dis)connections in the circulation of those specific goods articulate notions of Istanbul/Turkey as crossroads.

Paper short abstract:

The process through which crossroads generate borders, with particular attention to attempts to control disease across the Mediterranean, will be the focus of this paper.

Paper long abstract:

Mediterranean means 'middle earth,' a sea in between lands, both connecting and separating Europe, Africa and the Arab World . For centuries, that sea has acted as a crossroads, making trade, travel and transit possible. It also made trouble possible: wars and disease in particular have regularly travelled across this middle earth, wreaking havoc with people's lives. It is no surprise that there have been attempts to control them both: with walls, with arms, with rules and laws and procedures. Attempts to protect places, to inoculate them from perceived harm, has also created some of the strongest border regimes. The process through which crossroads generate borders, with particular attention to attempts to control disease across the Mediterranean, will be the focus of this paper.

Paper short abstract:

Based on research on the 35+ hours long bus journeys between Armenia and Turkey via Georgia, this paper provides narratives of mobility in a zone of political fragmentation.

Paper long abstract:

The road between Armenia and Turkey is marked with paradoxical images for the first time traveler: closed borders and travelers of various sorts, surveillance and smuggling, political hostility and companionship among passengers. Buses transporting migrants, shuttle-traders and tourists between the two neighbouring countries have to take a long detour via Georgia - which has emerged as a 'crossroad' in a region of 'frozen and forgotten conflicts' (Gerald 2011) with autonomous regions, de facto independent states and invaded territories. Especially for passengers from Armenia, their northern neighbour is often the only possible place to reach out the wider world. On the 35+ hours detoured bus journeys en route Turkey via Georgia, Armenian passengers deal with multiplicity of nation-states and their legal frameworks of migration, as well as tangible and imagined borders between them. Based on research among Armenian travelers (in the widest sense of the term) en route Turkey, this paper examines the various ways through which political fragmentation produces a particular regime of mobility at particular crossroads. It also suggests to look at this particular regime of mobility within the fragmented political landscape of the South Caucasus through an analysis of people who have different experiences of these border crossings and zones as dwellers-in-traveling (i.e. shuttle-traders and bus crews) and travelers-in-dwelling (i.e. inhabitants of border towns) (a la Clifford 1997).

Paper short abstract:

The 2015-16 refugee “crisis” has seen neo-nationalists in Italy advance a vision of isolationism and cultural homogeneity. This paper examines Sicily, a place of transit for refugees, a buffer zone between North and South, and the rise of far-right sentiment that reacts to current circumstances.

Paper long abstract:

Neo-nationalist parties throughout Europe are deriving considerable mileage from the current refugee "crisis," seeing within it an opportunity to shore up support from a disaffected electorate reeling from the consequences of economic stagnation and high unemployment. In Italy, a range of political and economic anxieties is spurring the rise of parochial sensibilities based on a homogeneous vision of society, further driven by an inhospitable view of newcomers as undeserving beneficiaries of public resources and "invaders" who pose a demographic and cultural threat to local communities.

This paper considers the rise of far-right populism within Sicily, and examines the foundations upon which grassroots actors advance their ideology, which, in broad terms, is characterized by a belief that Sicily is at the mercy of global interests over which local people have no control. As an emergent, broad-based movement, far-right populism in Sicily is digitally networked, animated by a rejection of mainstream party politics and news media, and driven by a faith in conspiracy theories about the true nature of political liberalism and global capitalism. Their ultimate vision is the restoration of the social arrangements of an earlier era. It is also defined by a nostalgic longing for homogeneity of culture and society that explicitly rejects any definition of Sicily as a crossroads of the Mediterranean, or zone of encounter between North and South, Europe and Africa, Christian and Muslim, understandings that are central to humanitarian discourse on the island today.

Paper short abstract:

It is often assumed that national identities are what matter most in the Polish-German border region. This paper challenges this assumption, showing that at least for some people what matters is change, challenge, opportunities and movement.

Paper long abstract:

Polish-German relations are usually seen as especially arduous because of persisting negative stereotypes as well as cultural and communicative memories that are assumed to focus on mutual grievances and historical antagonisms. Do such approaches however correspond to the main concerns of people living, leaving and settling in the Polish-German border region? Are the questions of German and Polish identity important for people's decision making? On the basis of on-going ethnographic research conducted in the area 20-40 kilometers south of Szczecin (Stettin) on both sides of the Polish-German state border, we present an alternative approach to studying this region. The main focus of this paper will be on Polish citizens, for whom movement and change form threads that run through their biographical narratives, those concerning their lives as well as those of their parents and grandparents. In this context, it is not surprising that their decision to buy a house on the German side, as it often happens in the recent years, is neither equivalent to a decision to move the center of their life to Germany, nor it is necessarily accompanied with struggles over identity and stereotypes. To the contrary, it can be seen as a continuation of generations-long practice of movement and searching for change, where being located somewhere in particular is, at least for some people, of limited value.