Preface

Preface Authors: Antonie Schmiz & Sofia Lehmann A chapter from: Schmiz, A., & Lehmann, S. (Eds.) (2025). Geographies of the European Border Regime. How borders shape the everyday lives of refugees and asylum-seekers. Berlin Geographical Papers, 56. https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-48773 Institute of Geographical Sciences Freie Universität Berlin 2025 Contact Freie Universität Berlin Department of Earth Sciences Working Group 'Society, Space and Gender' Malteserstr. 74-100 D-12249 Berlin https://www.geo.fu-berlin.de/geog/fachrichtungen/anthrogeog/index.html This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. DOI: hUps://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17466119 Cita&on sugges&on: Schmiz, A., & Lehmann, S. (2025). Preface. Berlin Geographical Papers, 56, I–VI. hUps://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17466119 Published in: Schmiz, A., & Lehmann, S. (Eds.) (2025). Geographies of the European Border Regime. How borders shape the everyday lives of refugees and asylum-seekers. Berlin Geographical Papers, 56. https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-48773 I Antonie Schmiz & Sofia Lehmann Preface From a human geography perspective, borders and the accompanying phenomena of migration and flight are regarded as essential components of social structures and changes. Critical geographical migration research understands borders as being shaped by complex spatial, temporal, social and cultural processes, and thus as being both constructed and dynamic. This perspective emphasises the role of bordering and boundary-making as social processes rather than conceptualising the border as objective fact (Johnson et al. 2011; Mezzarda/Neilson 2012; Paasi 1998) or as a ‘line in the sand’ (Parker/Vaughan-Williams 2009). Understanding the border not as a research object, but rather as an epistemological viewpoint, allows to more fully comprehend the salient function of borders in creating and shaping new worlds rather than dividing existing ones (Mezzadra/Neilson 2012). To this effect, research within the framework of geographical migration and border studies is shifting its focus from borders and boundaries as objects of study to power relations and actors’ agency in resistance. Such research approaches bring together transnational perspectives, engage with the policies of the European border regime and highlight important socio-political and ideological underpinnings of border regimes and boundary practices (Van Houtum/Van Naerssen 2002). The emphasis on processes of bordering and the concept of the border as method serves as an important theoretical framework for the student research projects and the resulting contributions presented in this issue of the Berlin Geographical Papers. Shifting the focus of border studies away from the border itself to practices and politics of bordering makes the interrelated processes and power relations that uphold and perpetuate border regimes visible. The papers presented in this issue focus specifically on the European border regime and draw on key theories in geographical migration and border studies. This includes the concept of the post-migrant paradigm, which emphasises the significant role of us/them or native/migrant constructions in the creation and ongoing legitimisation of the European border regime (Foroutan 2022). In this context, practices of categorisation and discursive construction that seek to differentiate, discriminate and delineate a distinctive ‘other’ are identified as being deeply interwoven with implicit ideologies about deservingness and belonging (Borelli 2022; Crawley/Skleparis 2018; Foroutan 2022; Ratzmann/Sahraoui 2021) that interact with racialisation and colonial contexts (Gutiérrez Rodríguez 2018; Oliveri 2016; Quijano 2000). The student contributions to this issue connect such conceptualisations of deservingness and belonging to the processes and policies that determine which individuals or groups are welcomed and accepted – to whom access to care and services is extended – II and to whom such inclusion is denied. The powerful and detrimental potential of discriminatory discourse rooted in ‘categorical fetishism’ (Apostolova 2015) and racialised colonial hierarchies (Quijano 2000) is highlighted, as such discourse interacts with and impacts the lived realities of individuals (Borelli 2022; Gutiérrez Rodríguez 2018; Oliveri 2016; Ratzmann/Sahraoui 2021; Saltiel 2021). This perspective on the role of discursive and ideological power emerges as an important contribution to developing a more complete and meaningful understanding of the European border regime and is applied throughout the student research projects that comprise this issue. Aligning with this focus on the role of discursive constructions and definitions of belonging in enacting the European border regime, the concept of belonging is used to conceptualise alternative forms of citizenship, participation and inclusive identification that seek to overcome or upend the exclusive bordering practices described above. Geographical perspectives in migration and border research offer an important contribution by highlighting moments and movements of creative and revolutionary resistance that emphasise the agency of individuals in navigating and counteracting the European border regime while drawing on transnational approaches that interrogate the connections between spatiality and identity. This can be seen in literature which focuses on activist engagement and practices of selforganisation in the socio-political (re)negotiation of roles, identities and histories through collective (counter)action and commemoration (Oliveri 2016; Tufekci 2017). Literature in this context focused especially on the urban scale foregrounds the transformative power of radical solidarity and community (Saltiel 2021), for instance in its place-specific manifestations as urban citizenship (Varsanyi 2006) or solidarity/sanctuary cities (Bauder 2016; Bauder 2021; Darling/Bauder 2019; Kreichauf/Mayer 2021). Applying a geographic lens in focusing on the spatial dimensions of differentiation or solidarity in this context underlines moments, processes and concepts that seek to provide alternative frameworks of belonging within, despite, or even outside of, the European border regime. Highlighting such place-based disruption of, protest against, or alternatives to the geographical and socio-political workings of the European border regime plays a significant role in students’ theoretical and empirical contributions to this issue. Against this theoretical background, students of the master’s programme(s) Geographies of Global Inequalities and Geographical Development Studies (Geographische Entwicklungsforschung) carried out empirical research projects over the period of one year within the framework of a research seminar on geographies of the European border regime. This issue of the Berlin Geographical Papers presents six student papers emerging from these research projects in 2024 (5) and 2022 (1). These contributions facilitate a meaningful engagement with key academic concepts and draw on fundamental literature from the intersection of human geography and critical border studies. In particular, the differences between borders and processes of bordering are formulated. Related concepts such as racism and racialisation, post-migrant and post-colonial perspectives, social movement research and both the externalisation and internalisation of borders are developed and explored in greater III depth through an examination of several case studies. Five papers highlight everyday negotiations of the border in Berlin and Brandenburg; one paper focuses on the externalisation of the European border regime in Beirut, Lebanon. Beginning with an empirical exploration of bordering practices at the urban scale, Lorena Unger and Lotte van Dijk examine the implications of the legal status of tolerated stay (Duldung) for labour market integration in Berlin. The authors’ analysis highlights relevant political, bureaucratic and legal obstacles and their key impacts on experiences of economic and social exclusion. Through an intersectional lens, the multiple marginalisation of women, individuals with disabilities and their caregivers who hold the legal status of Duldung is emphasised, indicating the salient role of underlying socio-political systems and norms that uphold and perpetuate inequalities in labour market access and participation. Drawing on information gathered from interviews as well as existing knowledge from geographical migration research and labour studies, the authors show the role of both state-funded and independent non-state organisations in negotiating access to safe and sufficient forms of labour for individuals with a Duldung. Along this theme of differential inclusion in everyday manifestations of the European border regime in Berlin, Sofia Lehmann and Elisa Mannes address the topic of unequal access to healthcare for migrants with precarious legal status, focusing especially on structures that aim to counteract these harmful and exclusionary bordering mechanisms. Based on interviews with local organisations that work to establish more inclusive and holistic practices in healthcare provision, the authors highlight key factors and challenges that impact the quality, capacity and sustainability of these healthcare structures, emphasising important inherent connections to underlying socio-political and ideological discourses and norms. In conversations with activists and healthcare providers in this context, the authors identify potential strategies for imagining and enacting more just systems of healthcare that serve all members of a society, regardless of legal status or migration experiences. İdil Gündüz and Marielene Wicke adopt an analytical focus on moments and strategies of resistance against exclusionary practices of the European border regime, exploring how art and culture can function as meaningful tools in this context. Using the NO BORDERS_NO LAGERS festival in Berlin as a case study, the authors emphasise the vital role of artistic and cultural expression in resistance. The authors explore how such spaces can challenge dominant narratives of the European border regime, amplify marginalised voices, celebrate diversity and promote community. Grounded in theoretical frameworks on de-bordering as well as intersectional literature on embodied geographies and art, the authors’ analysis identifies the transformative potential of such practices for counteracting experiences of isolation and marginalisation that are connected to mechanisms of the European border regime. Furthermore, the authors argue that these practices can be used to promoting alternative forms of belonging rooted in community which affirm the possibility for more just futures. IV Centring their analysis on specific spaces and practices of resistance against the European border regime, Per Jannes Spix and Matthias Cano Urbanke examine the organisational and political landscape of activist groups, NGOs and other local stakeholders involved in the grassroots initiative against the planned Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) Deportation Centre. The authors identify the protest camp which took place on-site in 2023 as a starting point for analysing the methods and efficacy of the resistance initiative and its supporting organisations. Applying a theoretical perspective rooted in social movement research, geographies of resistance and abolitionist theory, the authors highlight several important socio-political factors that impact the resistance movements’ success and long-term sustainability, such as a discursive shift away from a so-called ‘welcome culture’ (Willkommenskultur) toward an increasingly populist and right-wing rhetoric of securitisation. The authors develop their empirical arguments from a series of interviews with actors involved in the resistance movement, contributing to an in-depth understanding of the innerworkings of the initiative. Following this focus on resistance and socio-political counteraction, Brenda Rodriguez Serrano and Maddalena Tartarini analyse the role of self-organised refugee and migrant groups in Berlin, developing their arguments through a case study of and with The Voice Forum. The authors employ theoretical frameworks on self-organisation and solidarity practices in their analysis of the initiatives’ role, situating this work within broader theory on the coloniality of power and the coloniality of migration in order to contextualise this and similar forms of refugee and migrant organisation. Self-determination through independent financing and overcoming spatial barriers through digital forms of resistance emerge as key aspects that contribute to the efficacy and identity of The Voice Forum. These aspects are discussed in connection to an underlying commitment of the initiative to counteract the powerful colonial and racialising practices of the European border regime, as the authors expand the scope of their analysis across temporal historical and spatial scales. Shifting the spatial focus away from Berlin-Brandenburg, Iman El Ghoubashy, Nadia Zoë Plönges and Arvid Sprenger focus on the externalisation of the European border regime, basing their analysis on a case study of the European-Union-funded Qudra programme in Lebanon. The authors assess key mechanisms and effects of this programme, as it represents a critical development cooperation effort of the EU aimed at furthering the integration of Syrian refugees into Lebanese society. 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