| Project Detail |
Indigenous peoples as migration law-makers All over the world, indigenous peoples engage in de facto migration governance daily. However, little is known about this experience and their laws remain unaccounted. The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions project IMi-Vision will design a legal framework governing migration that acknowledges the relevance of both indigenous and state laws in contexts where indigenous peoples’ territories overlap with and span beyond state borders. To date, there is legal uncertainty in the bordering areas. While they have been de jure ruled by national laws, they are de facto managed by indigenous laws. The project will collect and co-construct data through interviews and engage in participant observation. The findings will shrink the widening gap between state narratives, migration policies and empirical evidence. Indigenous Peoples engage in de facto migration governance on a daily basis all over the world. Yet, their perspective and experiences are mostly unheard, and their laws unaccounted for. Adopting an innovative bottom-up approach, IMi-Vision aims to design an overarching legal framework governing migration that acknowledges the relevance of both Indigenous and States laws in contexts where Indigenous Peoples’ territories overlap with and span beyond the borders of States. This is fundamental to explore bordering areas that have, so far, been de jure ruled by national laws but de facto managed by Indigenous laws thereby creating legal uncertainty and contrasting praxis. Two case-studies have been selected: one in Europe (Saami communities) and another in Latin America (Cofán communities). They offer a fertile sample to assess the first exploration of the topic. In my project, I adopt a socio-legal methodology that envisions a contextualized exploration of legal phenomena, and that is underpinned by the following two entangled approaches: legal pluralism and participatory approach. Data are collected (and co-constructed) through anthropology of law’s methods. More specifically, I will conduct interviews and engage in participant-observation during two- to three-month-long field “immersion”, and then engage in a legal and content analysis of the data to capture inter-normativity and contribute theoretically to migration (law) studies. Investigating Indigenous Peoples’ legal answers to migration will prevent the widening of the existing gap between State narratives, migration policies and empirical evidence that currently affects the relevance of responses to migration within Europe and beyond. IMi-Vision thus not only contributes to changing ways migration law and governance are envisioned, but also empowers Indigenous Peoples as migration law-makers and has a direct policy implication on States’ and Europe’s external migration programs. |
