Invisible Lives: a comparative ethnography of undocumented migration

THE PROJECT IS COMPLETED

Project period: 2013-2016

This research project illuminated ‘invisible lives’ through a comparative qualitative study of undocumented and irregular migration into the European Union. The project gathered a group of regional specialists in order to undertake an investigation of the full process of migration – moving from country of origin, to intermediary points en route, to lives within the EU. It focused on the way irregular and undocumented migrants navigate a world that works against them, and in whose shadow they hide and reside. In doing so, it allowed us to illuminate the many factors that underlie undocumented migration; the social and political positions and processes that shape it, and, not least, the networks that such migrants make use of, develop, and are caught up in.

The project, thus, sheded light on new empirical ground as it granted a clear and coherent view from within view to one of the more opaque dimensions of contemporary migration and social life. It was theoretically novel as it illuminated the relation between agents and institutions, figures and formations, via a focus on the structural, social and experiential dimensions of social invisibility: And it was methodologically unique as its research design and methodological setup was attuned to researching illicit formations and vulnerable subjects, adding to our knowledge of how to do qualitative research in difficult circumstance.

The programme was co-financed by The University of Copenhagen, and academically connected to Oxford University, Harvard University and the University of Melbourne.

It gatherd some of the worlds leading scholars and institutions focussing on undocumented and irregular migrants, and used the knowledge and relations gained to globally connect and strengthen the Danish research environment on migration and marginality.

Funded by

The project was co-financed by the University of Copenhagen and academically connected to Oxford University, Harvard University and the University of Melbourne.

Danish PI:
Professor Henrik Vigh
Department of Anthropology, UCPH

Project period: 2013-2016