Extraction, Logistics, Infrastructures: New Perspectives on Border and Migration Management

Extraction, Logistics, Infrastructures

New Perspectives on Border and Migration Management

23/24 October 2025, Aula Gambi, San Giovanni in Monte - Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna

DAY 1 – THURSDAY 23 OCTOBER 2025

09:30-10:00            Arrival and Registration

10:00-10:30            Introduction: Lorenzo Vianelli (PI EXBO - University of Bologna)

10:30-12:30            Session I: Economies of Displacement, Detention, and Encampment

Chair: Andrea Rizzi (University of Bologna)

Marthe Achtnich (University of Cambridge): “Bioeconomies and migrant life”

Deirdre Conlon (University of Leeds): “Immigration Detention Inc.: Dissecting the Inner Workings of the Expanding U.S. Detention System”

Olga Lafazani (Humboldt University of Berlin): “Political Economies of Refugee Camps: Greece in the Aftermath of the 2015 Refugee Crisis”

Discussant: Paolo Gaibazzi (University of Bologna)

12:30-14:00            Lunch

14:00-16:00            Session II: Logistics and Managerialism in Migration Governance

Chair: Lorenzo Vianelli (University of Bologna)

Elisa Pascucci (Tampere University): “Frontiers of Managerialism: The Consulting Industry in Migration Governance”

Nick Gill (University of Exeter): “Incompetence as Resource, Stupidity as Skill: Dumb Borders in Authoritarian Times”

Francesco Marchi (University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’): “Asylum Seekers as ‘Logistical Populations’? Asylum and the Making of Unfree Labour”

Discussant: Giorgio Grappi (University of Bologna)

16:00-16:30            Coffee break

16:30-17:30            Group discussion

DAY 2 – FRIDAY 24 OCTOBER 2025

09:00-11:00            Session III: Frontiers and Circuits of Value in Refugee Governance

Chair: Andrea Rizzi (University of Bologna)

Lauren Martin (University of Durham): “Humanitarian Frontiers: Cash, Markets and Salvage Economies in Refugee Cash and Voucher Assistance”

Danai Avgeri (University of Wien): “The Humanitarian Fix: Extractive Hospitality and Humanitarian Exploitation in Greece”

René Kreichauf (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): “Reception, Crisis, Profit: Multiplied Displacement under Racial Capitalism in Berlin and New York City”

Discussant: Martina Tazzioli (University of Bologna)

11:00-11:30            Coffee break

11:30-13:30            Session IV: Placing Asylum Accommodation: Law, Politics, and Infrastructures

Chair: Francesco Marchi (University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’):

Anna Pearce (University of Stirling): “‘A Finer Science of Invisibilities’: Tracing Real Abstractions of Law and Capital in Extractive Economies of Migration Management”

Jonathan Darling (University of Durham): “Celebrating the End of ‘Hotel Britain’: Resentment and the Populist Capture of Asylum Accommodation”

Paolo Novak (SOAS University of London): “The Grounds of Extraction”

Discussant: Timothy Raeymaekers (University of Bologna)

13:30-15:00            Lunch

15:00-17:00            Concluding remarks and steps forward

This event is an output of the project Extractive Borders: Profiting from Migrants Forced Im/mobility (EXBO). The project is funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU; National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) – Mission 4 “Education and Research” – Component 2 “From Research to Business” – Investment line 1.2 “Funding projects presented by young researchers” – Scheme Young Researchers, Action MSCA – project n. MSCA_0000021 – CUP J33C22003720006.