Border Crisis and Migrations

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A research seminar as part of the Borders and Bodies research theme at the School, with visiting scholar Dr Fabiana D’Ascenzo (University of L’Aquila).

Abstract:Over the centuries, the geographical representation of the Mediterranean has moved from a function of division to a region, enabling the conceptual unity of the basin and changing its position from central to marginal. Currently, the area seems to be strongly related to the new configuration of the EU’s southern border that assumes different aspects and modalities of functioning, mostly invisible or not considered as belonging to its order. Some examples illustrate how a border can act – through its official, concealed or informal role – and how some places can be characterized by its ‘functional’ grey areas.

Abstract:Dr Fabiana D’Ascenzo is a contract lecturer in ‘Geography of Power’ and a temporary research fellow at the Department of Human Sciences of the University of L’Aquila (Italy). Her research themes are related to spatialized forms of the power and concern the relationships between individuals, societies and places. In particular, she has worked on the loss of place, Geography and Literature, the urban development of Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), the African migrations, borders and urban marginality.

Her current research is focused on the migrations across the Mediterranean area, seen through some of the ‘threshold places’ that play an essential role in the reconfiguration of space and power.