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iCal calendarAll researchers interested are welcomed to join a seminar hosted by the TLU Border Lab, featuring recent research by TLU scholars on migration, refugees, and asylum seekers and their relationship to borders. The event will include presentations followed by a discussion with practitioners working on these issues. The seminar will explore the hardening of political and societal borders in response to recent migration policies and the perception of migration as a threat. Drawing on empirical research on Russian migrants in Estonia fleeing conscription, as well as the implications of the recently introduced EU Pact on Migration and Asylum on Estonia, the seminar will discuss how border scholars and practitioners can work together to address some of the consequences of bordering.
This seminar is part of Tallinn University’s Eur-Asian Border Lab Forum that brings together research and pressing border issues.
Pre-registration is needed – please register HERE by January 22th.
Refreshments provided after the event!
Core questions to be explored:
- What are the implications of the recently adopted EU Pact on Migration and Asylum for Estonia?
- How do recent Russian migrants see and negotiate Estonian government policies towards the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia?
- How could researchers and practitioners collaborate in seeking to address these problems?
SYNOPSIS:
Movement is an intrinsic part of people’s lives. Mobilities continue to drive human development and economic growth, with 281 million international migrants worldwide in 2024. However, 117 million of these migrants were displaced by conflict, violence or disaster, reaching the highest level according to modern-day records.
The state borders crossed by migrants are a recent phenomenon – as is the division of the world into sovereign units with varying governance systems and levels of development. Increasingly, states use borders as tools to address and solve a wide range of concerns, including those constructed as crises. Recent policies and sophisticated technologies have produced a shift in bordering beyond actual borders to other – sometimes multiple – locations, engaging more actors in the ‘business’ of bordering.
By scrutinizing new policy tools, such as the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, and the complexities of bordering in Estonia, the seminar critiques the bordering processes that have produced both privileged and disadvantaged subjects and differential inclusion. Discussion will focus on how border scholars and practitioners can work towards alleviating some of the violence the borders create.
Presentations:
1. The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum: Implications for Estonia and Refugee Support
Timothy Anderson, Researcher, TLU School of Humanities / Eur-Asian Border Lab, an anthropologist specializing in refugees and asylum policies in Europe and North America
This presentation explores the newly adopted EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and its implications for Estonia. It will analyze key components of the pact, including shared responsibility mechanisms, enhanced border management procedures, and integration measures, while contextualizing Estonia's role within these EU-wide reforms. Special focus will be given to how these changes intersect with national rhetoric framing migration as a security concern and the potential challenges and opportunities for organizations like the Estonian Refugee Council. By connecting broader EU trends to local contexts, the talk aims to provide practical insights for budgeting, advocacy, and programming to support refugees and asylum seekers in Estonia.
2. Russian war migrants - a secret weapon?
Raili Nugin, Senior Researcher, TLU School of Humanities / Eur-Asian Border Lab, an interdisciplinary scholar studying urban/rural mobilities
After the war in Ukraine, Estonia has been the most vocal advocator for sanctions against Russia. It has called for sanctions against so-called ordinary Russian citizens, in order to increase their discontent with the regime and pressure for civic action against it. Due to these sanctions, Estonia has not received that much war/mobilisation migrants as many other countries in Europe or among other post-soviet republics. Yet, the number of Russians who have migrated to the country, has risen compared to the years before. These migrants have arrived into a society where approximately 30% of its inhabitants are Russian-speakers with heterogeneous ethnic and social background. The Russian-speaking community in Estonia is divided in terms of taking sides in this war, and perhaps more so than the Estonian-speaking one. The presentation is based on the fieldwork conducted in Estonia in 2023 with the focus of finding Russian war/mobilisation migrants. It explores specifically in what ways the ones who migrated relate to the local Russian community and what are their dispositions about the sanctions, particularly the ones that make it hard for them to cope with their everyday lives in Estonia. How do they see and negotiate the policies that have been directed against them? How do they see the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia, who often see themselves as discriminated?
3. Comments from the perspective of Border Studies
Karin Dean, TLU School of Humanities / Head of Eur-Asian Border Lab, a political geographer studying borders
The comments offer most recent critical perspectives from border studies on how bordering and borderwork are embedded in the contemporary regulation and governance of movement. These try to tease out agendas for research and ways of collaboration between academics and practitioners that contribute to the alleviation of some of the violence the borders are seen to create.
Moderator: John Buchanan (Researcher, School of Humanities / Eur-Asian Border Lab)