Transnational Mobility and Externalization of EU Borders: Social Work, Migration Management and Resistance addresses the topics of social work and international migration, with specific focus on the consequences of EU border externalization policies. The increasingly authoritarian character of EU border management raises a number of issues related to the role of social work within a context that is heavily charged, both ideologically and politically. After theoretically and historically contextualizing externalization with explicit attention to (neo)colonial genealogies of the current migration regimes, this book examines the complex inter-relations of social workers with key actors, namely mobile people, policy makers or funders. Particular attention is paid to the socio-economic and political impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic on social work with variously categorized people moving across borders or immobilized incamps. Finally, the book explores how social workers and refugees resist violent migration controls and increasing criminalization of cross-border movements. This volume brings together contributions located in the so-called countries of origin and transit targeted by EU externalization interventions, as well as EU countries, in which social workers deal with the effects of border externalization and internalization.
Author(s): Petra Daňková, Robel Afeworki Abay, Nikos Xypolytas, Tanja Kleibl (eds.)
Publisher: Lexington Books
Year: 2024
Language: English
Pages: 314
Preface
Dedication
Contents
Introduction
Overview Structure
Part I: Theoretical Engagements and Historical Contexts
Part II: Entanglements of Social Work and Externalization of EU Migration Regimes
Part III: Covid-19, Migration Management, and Social Work
Part IV: Resistance and Collective Action
Note
References
Part I: Theoretical Engagements and Historical Contexts
Chapter 1: The Role of Social Work in Context of Displacement and Forced Migration: A Critical Analysis
Project 1: Educational Justice and Educational Participation for Refugee Minors
Background, Objectives, and Methodology
Main Results
Project 2: Flight–Diversity–Cultural Education
Background, Objectives, and Methodology
Main Results
Project 3: Social and Political Participation in the Context of Displacement
Background, Objectives, and Methodology
Main Results
Consequences for a Discrimination-Critical and Diversity-Sensitive Social Work
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 2: Socialist Yugoslavia and Circuits of Decolonial Affinity: Social Policy, Migration, and the Non-Aligned Movement
The Political Economy of Socialist Yugoslavia
Non-Alignment and the Creation of New Circuits of Decolonial Affinity
Migration and the New International Economic Order
Oil Crises, the NIEO, and Migration
Migration Afterlives
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 3: Depoliticizing Refugees: How a Western World’s Favorite Intellectual and Political Game Takes Place and Its Alternatives
Theoretical Discussion
What Is Politics and What Is Depoliticization?
Refugee Depoliticization as a Subjugation Strategy
Macro-Level
Micro-Level
Refugee Resistance
Theoretical Tools for Explaining Refugees’ Agency
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 4: Who Is Responsible for Whom in the Age of Globalization?: An Analysis of the Normative Dimension of the Problematization of Migration of Brazilian Women
Theoretical Foundations
Methodology
An Analysis of the Normative Dimension of Problematization (of the Facts) of the Migration of Brazilian Women
Final Considerations
Notes
Bibliography
Part II: Entanglements of Social Work and Externalization of EU Migration Regimes
Chapter 5: Working Categories: Categorization Dilemmas at the Intersection of Social Work and Mobility in Nigeria
Categorization and Externalization of Migration Control
Genealogies of Social Work in Nigeria
Human Trafficking—Making Mobility into a Problem
Categories That Get Funding
Working Categories
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 6: Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration in The Gambia: Aid Workers and Returnees as Implementers and Contesters of Humanitarian Borderwork
Gambians Obstructed Trajectories in the Mobility Regime and the Role of AVRR Programs
Colonial Legacies, Neoliberalism, and Involuntary Immobility as “Root Causes of Migration”
What Happened to the Young Gambians Who Decided to Leave?
The Recipients of AVRR Programs
Contested Narratives and Counter-Narratives Around Voluntariness and Development
Reintegration and the Return of the Paradigm of Deservingness
The Political Reading of EUTF by Local Aid Workers
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 7: Social Work and the Challenge of Promoting Human Rights: Reflections on the Situation of Migrants and Refugees in the Western Mediterranean and West African Routes
Why at the Borders?
Migration Policies and Migratory Routes
A Brief Overview of Spain’s Migration Policy
Building Up an Anti-Oppressive Perspective in Social Work with Migration and Asylum
Case Studies: Situations in Which Conflicts of Interest Arise between Social Work Aspirations and Reality’s Policies and Interests
Spain’s Southern Border
Case 1. Canary Islands. The Arguineguín Dock Crisis (2020)
Case Description
The Role of Social Workers in the Dock Crisis
Case 2. Ceuta: The Crisis of Minors (2021)
Case Description
The Role of Social Workers in the Crisis of Ceuta
Discussion and Conclusions
Notes
Bibliography
Part III: Covid-19, Migration Management, and Social Work
Chapter 8: The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Migrants’ Integration Paths in Italy
Pandemic Professional Experiences of Social Workers in the Reception System for Unaccompanied Minors: A Case Study
Working Conditions: The Normality of Extraordinariness
Personal and Relational Dimensions
Transmission of Information
Rethinking Ordinary Activities
From Critical Issues to Achievements for the Future
Reorganization of Practices and Services
Training Needs
Support and Supervision
Rediscovering Social Work as a Form of Social Resistance
Bibliography
Chapter 9: Social Work in a Berlin Shelter for Mobile People during the Outbreak of the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Crisis for Professionalism?
Migration Policies and the Structural Conditions of Social Work in German “Refugee Camps”
Social Work Professionalism and the Antinomy of “Uncertainty and Duty to Action”
Covid-19 and the Ambiguities of the New Camp Order
Discomfort and Moral Distress
Reflection and Change in Attitudes
Professionalism in Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic—A Movement between Automation and Autonomy
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 10: Overview on the Human Rights of International Migrants in Mexico during the “Fourth Transformation”: The Case of Puebla
Transit Migration in the State of Puebla
Diasporas from Puebla: Emigration and (Forced) Return(s)
Coronavirus and Migratory Vulnerability in Mexico
Conclusion: Walls, Cages, Viacrucis, Caravans, and Pandemic
Notes
Bibliography
Part IV: Resistance and Collective Action
Chapter 11: A Critical View of Humanitarian Aid in the Context of the Refugee Camp on Lesvos and Possibilities of a Liberating Practice
SocioPolitical Background in the Context of Forced Migration on Lesvos
A Critical Reflection on Humanitarian Aid in the Working Field of Forced Migration
Liberation Theories
Self-Organization on Lesvos
Meaning of Self-Organizing for the Individual and for the Community
Barriers to Self-Organization
Principles for the Cooperation of Aid Agencies with the Refugee Community
Self-Agency
Bottom-Up Approaches
The Need for a Resource-Oriented Attitude of Humanitarian Workers
Importance of the Collaboration of Different Actors in the Refugee Camp on Lesvos
Anti-Oppressive Approach
Learning to Critically Question One’s Own Privileges and Role
A Concluding Call to Rethink Social Work Praxis
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 12: Human Rights Overboard: Shrinking Spaces for Civil Sea Rescue in the Central Mediterranean Sea
Background Knowledge
Methods
Impacts of Political Decisions on the Agency of Civil Sea Rescue
Legal Basis
Moral
Impact on the Death Rate
Finance
Crew
Motivation
Discussions
Summary
Notes
Bibliography
Chapter 13: Exploration of Refugee Resistance in the Light of Asymmetrical Power Relations: Examples of Refugee Resistance in Europe
Relevant Terms
Resistance
Resistance and Power
Forms of Resistance
Refugee Resistance
Analyzing Power: The Powercube
Levels of Power
Forms of Power
Visible Forms of Power
Hidden Forms of Power
Invisible Forms of Power
Spaces of Power
Closed Spaces of Power
Invited Spaces of Power
Claimed/Created Spaces of Power
Methodology of Data Collection and Data Evaluation
Research Results: Analyzing Refugee Resistance in Europe
Research Participants’ Understanding of Resistance
Determining Factors for Refugee Resistance
Forms of Refugee Resistance
Visible Refugee Resistance
Invisible Refugee Resistance
Solidarity
Challenges
Struggles within Refugee Resistance Practices
Unstable Living Conditions and Victimizations of Refugees
Unsupportive Civil Society
Struggles with the Supporting System
Governments’ Power Over, Criminalization, and Political Repressions
Chances
Revealing Unjust Policies and Practices
Deconstructing Power
Self-Empowerment and Gaining Power through Joining Forces
Just Production of Knowledge and Achieving Objectives
Conclusion and Implications for Social Work
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Editors and Contributors
