I am the Principal Investigator for the ESRC-funded project “Acts/Crimes of solidarity: an ethnographic study of illegalisation and criminalisation amongst pro-migration activists and other citizens” (2021-2024)
The study – conducted in collaboration with Dr Maria Hagan – explores how NGO practitioners, activists, and other solidarity actors in France and Morocco increasingly face intimidation, repression, and prosecution from state authorities amidst hostile and violent policies aimed at curbing migration. Whilst high-profile court cases (especially regarding sea rescue operations) have gained some attention in public debates, there has been little exploration of more ordinary, insidious forms of criminalisation and repression targeting solidarity actors, especially beyond European countries. In collaboration with advocacy organisations and artists, the study addresses this gap through ethnographic research carried out in northern France and Morocco. Several academic and creative outputs for the wider public are in gestation– watch this space.
PROJECT REPORT (with M. Hagan. October 2023):
"Nous savons qui vous êtes”: politiques de migration hostiles et criminalisation des personnes solidaires en France et au Maroc.
BLOGPOSTS (with M. Hagan):
10-05-2023. The Criminalisation of Migrant Solidarity Actors in the British Tabloid Press. Border Criminologies Blog.
12-02-2024. 'Traitors to Morocco': a campaign of harassment and racist abuse targets a human rights association. Border Criminologies Blog.
14-02-2024. How solidarity with migrant people is stifled at the France-UK border? Allegra Lab.
PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES (with M. Hagan):
2023 . Migration, race, and gender: the policing of subversive solidarity actors in Morocco . L'Annee du Maghreb (30)
2023. Insidious Harrassment: Criminalisation, Solidarity, and Migration in France and Morocco. Antipode: a Radical Journal of Geography.
2023. Migration, Race, and Gender: the Policing of Subversive solidarity actors in Morocco. Année du Maghreb. (In Press)
CREATIVE OUTPUTS
Exhibition: "Hors-Champs / خارج المجال" (Dar N'bta, Tangier, 16/12/2023-16/02/2024). A series of eleven photographs by Amine Oulmakki, commissioned for the project. (exhibition catalogue/poster and photographs below)
A series of illustrations for the report by Calais-based artist Loup Blaster – see below.
