UNESCO Chair: new project about migrants’ experiences of securitisation

The ongoing dramatic changes in the security landscape in the Baltic Sea region have resulted in national membership being increasingly securitised, meaning that it is perceived as a security issue rather than as part of regular politics.

To gain a more nuanced understanding of the implications of securitised membership policies in the Baltic Sea region, the UNESCO Chair on Applied Studies of Intangible Cultural Heritage has launched an international research project in collaboration with colleagues from Sweden and the Department of Folklore Studies. The aim is to compare the securitisation experiences of migrants across Estonia, Finland and Sweden.

The project proposes the concept of ‘ambivalent securitization’ to describe situations where migrants are viewed as deserving of membership for economic, humanitarian or other reasons, yet simultaneously perceived as a potential threat.

Drawing on interviews, policy analysis, and theoretical insights from anthropology, political science, and folklore studies, the project will examine the experiences of refugees, family migrants, and work and student migrants.

The project team in Tartu comprises

• Elo-Hanna Seljamaa (PI), Professor of Cultural Heritage
• Pihla Siim, Research Fellow in Folkloristics
• Timothy R. Anderson, who joined the UNESCO Chair as a Research Fellow in Political Anthropology for this project.

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The three-year project is funded by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies (Östersjöstiftelsen/ÖSS) and led by Karin Borevi, Professor of Political Science at Södertörn University. Taking part form Uppsala University is the postdoctoral researcher Nina Carlsson.

See also Estonian Research Information System.

See also the homepage and Facebook page of the UNESCO Chair on Applied Studies of Intangible Cultural Heritage.