This contributed volume analyzes in depth how a border area is constantly reshaped as migration policies harden, and what kind of social, political and economic impacts are produced at local and international level. The study is focused on Ventimiglia, an Italian town located 6 km away from the French-Italian border on the gulf of Genoa with a long story of commerce, custom and smuggling activities related to its proximity to the frontier. While several projects have analyzed other symbolic places of the EU migration crisis such as Lampedusa, Calais and Lesvos, there is a severe empirical gap regarding Ventimiglia, a border town at the very geographic core of the Schengen area. This case study may provide emblematic insights into what European migratory movements are currently revealing in terms of the lack of shared responsibility between EU Member States, the EU common asylum system and respect for human rights, with increasing claims for national sovereignty by some Member States.

Explores the main actors, infrastructures, and processes involved in a paradigmatic borderization process in the very core of the EU, also from an historical perspective Adopts a multidisciplinary approach in bringing together scholars form History, Geography, Sociology, Law, and Anthropology Offers a paradigmatic example of the very nature of any border around the world, whilst at once providing insight on the controversial consequence of the securitization of migration governance

Autorentext

Livio Amigoni is a PhD Candidate in the Social Sciences at the University Genoa, Italy.

Silvia Aru is an Assistant Professor of Political and Economic Geography at the Politecnico di Torino, Italy.

Ivan Bonnin is a PhD Candidate in European Studies at Roma Tre University, Italy.

Gabriele Proglio is an Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, Italy.

Cecilia Vergnano is Marie Slodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Sciences Research, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Inhalt
Introduction.- Part I: Historical reading of Ventimiglia as a border town.- Chapter 2: The path of hope. Illegal border crossing in the last century (1861-2019), Gabriele Proglio.- Chapter 3: The Franco-Italian border at Menton-Ventimiglia: a perennial place of conflict, brotherhood, and media coverage, Sandro Rinauro.- Chapter 4: The Maritime Alps migration chains: from traditional transalpine mobility to international migration, Marina Marengo.- Part II: Borderland infrastructures.- Chapter 5: The infrastructure environment of the Ventimiglia borderland and underground border crossings, Ivan Bonnin.- Chapter 6: The moral economy of a transit camp. Life and control on the Italian-French border, Marta Menghi.- Chapter 7: The irregular border. Theory and praxis the border of Ventimiglia in the Schengen age, Giacomo Donadio.- Part III: Social actors on the ground.- Chapter 8: Smugglers and smuggled migrants: amid Sudanese passeurs in the border regime of Ventimiglia, Livio Amigoni, Chiara Molinero, Cecilia Vergnano.- Chapter 9: Migrants at stake. Agency and autonomy in Ventimiglia, Silvia Aru.- Chapter 10: Opportunities and obstacles in (un)politicizing a European border, Daniela Trucco.- Chapter 11: Crimes of solidarity. The battlefield of the Roja Valley, Luca Giliberti.- Chapter 12: On the French-Italian border. Guards' visions in the landscape, Francesco Migliaccio.