Research

Primary fields of research

Major research interests and field studies


Somali migrants and refugees in the Horn of Africa, en route and in Europe, focusing on topics such as migration, social invisibility, mobility, Somalis, future prospects, temporality, uncertainty, clan- and family relations within and across borders, diaspora humanitarianism, European Search & Rescue operations and biometric technologies. Extended experience with multi-sited fieldwork in Ethiopia, Somaliland, Turkey, Greece and Italy.

Current research projects:

The Criminalisation of Humanitarianism: From Volunteers to Human Smugglers in Italy

 

The aim of this postdoctoral project is to explore the criminalisation of humanitarianism, that is the effects of the recent criminalization of women and men who volunteer to conduct rescue operations at the Italian borders to save the lives of migrants trying to enter Europe. This will for an example be done by following everyday practices of volunteers from NGOs and civil society organisations active in Search and Rescue operations in Sicily, Italy and their interactions with each other, local Italians, migrants and Italian state representatives. I will analyse these data through an interdisciplinary perspective, combining migration studies, criminology and peace and conflict studies. This has not been done before and will innovate the academic field and will enable me to explore how the fight against illegal migrants entering Europe has become a fight against the work of human smugglers, legitimizing a new legal and moral order: https://www.carlsbergfondet.dk/da/Forskningsaktiviteter/Bevillingsstatistik/Bevillingsoversigt/CF18_0569_Anja-Simonsen
Grant: Carlsberg Fonden’s internationaliserings stipendium – Start: Aug.2021.

Previous research projects:

"Did you get your fingers taken?“: The Experiences of Biometrics among Somali migrants and refugees in Italy

 

During fieldwork among Somali migrants in countries such as Greece or Italy, one often hears the question, ’Did you get your fingers taken?’ This question points to migrants’ worries about having their fingerprints registered biometrically and thus being stuck in particular geographical places, with extreme consequences for future livelihood possibilities. People on the move that are recognized as refugees according to the 1951 Refugee Convention have to stay in the first EU country of entry as a consequence of biometric registration and the Dublin Regulations. Due to its geographical location, Italy is often one of the first countries that migrants enter. For many refugees, getting ‘stuck’ in Italy however, means surviving by sleeping on the streets and eating free meals from Churches or other organizations providing food. This subproject asks how Somali refugees navigate in the biometric landscape of fingerprint- and other biometric modalities, and on what actually happens if they get their fingers taken?
The subproject is part of the collaborative research project Biometric Border Worlds: http://biometricborderworlds.dk/

Grant: VELUX Foundation (Jul. 2016 – May 2019).


PhD: Tahriib: The Journey into the Unknown. An Ethnography of mobility, insecurities and uncertainties among Somalis en route (Feb. 2013-Feb. 2017).

The aim of this subproject is to understand the social dynamics between the expectations of a life in Europe as an investment in the future (Somaliland & Turkey) and the actual experience of a life there (Greece) as an undocumented Somali migrant. I am particularly interested in the following three research questions:

  • Which networks do undocumented Somali migrants make use of when navigating from Somaliland to Turkey and Greece and how? (Practice)
  • How do undocumented Somali migrants’ hopes and expectations as investments in a future in Greece match or not match the lived reality? (Prospects)
  • How does the family constitution of the Somalis across borders affect or not affect the expectations and the lived reality of the undocumented Somali migrants in Europe? (Position)

Part of the comparative project: Invisible Lives - A Comparative ethnography of undocumented migration, at the Department of anthropology, University of Copenhagen: https://anthropology.ku.dk/research/research-projects/completed_projects/invisible_lives/