Global citizenship in the making? Generating an inventory of migratory claims

ABSTRACT

This article reflects on the potential and limitations of global citizenship as a concept by which to analyse the politics of precarious migration and develops a novel methodology by which to generate an inventory of migratory claims. It focuses specifically on migratory claims-making in the context of externalisation, whereby proliferating actants and complex practices of cross-border control render accountability for harm increasingly obscure. Emphasising the importance of centring the claims of people with lived experiences of precarious migration in the analysis of the politics of migration, the article develops an analytical framework that includes implicit and indirect as well as explicit and direct claims to rights, belonging and accountability. The significance of such a framework is explored through an engagement with the testimonies of people crossing the Mediterranean from the Middle East and Africa during 2015–2016. Reflecting on the value as well as the problems of interpreting migratory claims through the lens of global citizenship, the article suggests that the concept should neither be disregarded nor reified in analyses of the politics of precarious migration.

KEYWORDS:

• Precarious migration
• claims-making
• global citizenship
• externalisation

Acknowledgments

This article draws on the findings of a research project funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by Boat: Mapping and Documenting Migratory Journeys and Experiences, grant number ES/N013646/1. This was a large collaborative project, and sincere thanks are extended to the whole research team including Co-I’s, Angeliki Dimitriadi, Maria Pisani, Dallal Stevens, Nick Vaughan-Williams and the project Research Fellow Nina Perkowski; research assistants supporting with interviews, Saleh Ahmed, Skerlida Agoli, Alba Cauchi, Sarah Mallia, Mario Gerada, Vasiliki Touhouliotis and Emanuela dal Zotto. Sincere thanks are also extended to our translators and transcribers and, not least, to the many research participants involved in the project. I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and the editors of the journal for their very helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Difficulties in recruiting research participants in Malta due to reduced arrivals resulting from an ‘agreement’ with Italy during the time-period of our research led to some of the interviews being carried out at this site between December 2015 and March 2016.

2. Interviews were directly undertaken in English where possible, with the working languages of our research team (Arabic, German, Italian and French) also used as appropriate. However, we also worked directly with translators for a large number of our interviews. All interviews were transcribed into English in full prior to the process of analysis, with the majority of interviews recorded directly. The transcripts of those that were not recorded were based on extensive notes that were written up in full by the interviewer. The use of translators of course raises important questions about the accuracy of translating claims and particularly about the feasibility of interpreting claims that were less explicit and direct. This remains an aspect of the analysis that cannot be addressed in retrospect here, but such considerations clearly require careful thinking for future work in this area.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/N013646/1].