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C2 ›Unmaking Migrants?‹ The Production of the EU’s Internal and External Borders and their Effects in Historical-Postcolonial Perspective
Frederik Doktor
Doctoral Researcher
History
Europa-Universität Flensburg
Office in Osnabrück: 03/318
Details
This project examines how the distinction between Europe’s external and internal borders was produced and how mobile groups came to be categorized at these borders. Using the example of three border spaces between France and its neighbouring countries, it explores local practices of ›doing border‹ and analyses how historical actors drew the line between the inside and the outside of society. The project asks how certain groups were categorized as ›intra-European‹ travellers while others retained or newly gained the status of, among others, ›non-Europeans‹, ›foreigners‹ or ›third-country nationals‹.
The project sheds light on the ongoing remodelling of the European border regime in preparation for and as a result of the Schengen Agreement and relates these processes to older bordering practices and categorisations of being ›European› or ›non-European‹ in (post-)colonial France. A particular focus lies on the contradictory status of ›internal migrants‹ in the context of decolonisation and Europeanisation.
Three border areas in particular serve as areas of investigation: the Mediterranean border in/near Marseille between the 1950s and 1990s, the French-German border region of Strasbourg/Kehl between the early 1980s and early 2000s and the French-British border in/near Calais before and after the opening of the Eurotunnel between the early 1980s and early 2000s. Based on archival research, the project analyses from a historical and postcolonial perspective how state borders were made relevant or, on the contrary, irrelevant for certain groups.
Three sets of questions serve as a starting point:
- How were people on the move categorised in different border situations? How were some turned into intra-European travellers, while others kept the status of ›foreigners‹, ›third-country nationals‹, ›immigrants‹, ›asylum seekers‹, ›illegals‹ and ›clandestine immigrants‹ or were assigned these categories in new ways? Who was labelled as ›European‹, in what way and with what effects, how was the line drawn between ›internal‹ mobilities and ›external‹ mobilities, and thus between the ›inside‹ and ›outside‹ of societies?
- To what extent did these categorisations follow the tradition of older (partly colonial) administrative practices and categories and how did they change under the influence of the implementation of the Schengen Agreement between the 1980s and early 2000s?
- How were new mobility options opened up or constrained in different border situations and in the interplay with the strategies and practices of different groups of migrants?
