Borders and Bordering since 2015: Refugees, Civil Society and Transnational Mobility from Turkey to Germany

The research explores the extent to which civil society actors (CSAs) are intervening against, challenging and transforming borders/bordering at multiple scales since the 2015 refugee movements. With this aim in mind, the research builds on critical migration and border studies and understands borders/bordering as spaces, processes, and institutions. Acknowledging the multiple spaces and selectivity of bordering, the research focuses on CSAs’ actions against deportation mechanisms, which hinder refugee mobility within and across territorial spaces, with particular attention to Afghan refugees. This framework is applied by taking Turkey and Germany (national spaces) and Istanbul and Berlin (local spaces) as research contexts that are connected to each other (transitional space). The data are collected using qualitative methods, including documentary and internet research, participant observations, and semi-structured interviews. Finally, the research aims to raise broader normative and political questions regarding both emerging forms of inequality and exclusion but also new forms of political activism and solidarity in the face of growing geopolitical turbulence and instability.