Europe and the migrant’s gaze: three approaches to migration in research and film

ABSTRACT

This article explores questions of positionality in relation to the gaze towards migrants; it is centred on an analysis of three films produced in Europe in the wake of public discussions on migration. It argues that each of these films shows an affinity with one of three possible theoretical approaches in migration research: Fuocoammare is interpreted as corresponding to the mainstream scientific gaze and the humanitarian gesture; Les Sauteurs is considered in relation to the ‘autonomy of migration’ paradigm followed in much critical migration research; and Those who feel the fire burning is analysed through the haunting paradigm or ‘spectral turn’ that has been incipiently explored with regards to migration. I develop parallels between the films’ conceptual and visual positioning and these research approaches, formulating questions of relationality towards migrants before European audiences. Rather than presenting an analysis of the films for their formal or aesthetic qualities, they are taken as a point of entry to reflect on our own positionality and choices as scholars.

KEYWORDS:

• Migration
• film
• Europe
• borders
• situated knowledge
• haunting

Acknowledgements

Financial support for this publication was provided by the Institute for European Studies of the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. ‘Migrant’ is used here as an umbrella term in order to refer to all kind of people on the move towards Europe. Although they flee for a diversity of causes, for style reasons they are indistinctly referred to throughout this article as ‘illegalized migrants’, ‘unwanted people’, ‘travellers’, ‘asylum seekers’ or ‘border crossers’. The use of the term ‘illegalized’ aims to highlight the fact that their alleged ‘illegality’ is not inherent but politically produced (Weber and Pickering 2011; Bauder 2013).

2. For an insight into the more complex reality of Lampedusa’s community see (Mazzara 2019).

3. https://www.eninarothe.com/faces/2018/2/10/we-are-facing-a-disaster-berlinale-winner-gianfranco-rosi-talks-fuocoammare. Accessed 17 July 2020.

4. For an analysis of the on and off use of this device, see (Schindel 2018).

5. The film’s gesture can be related to what Esther Peeren considers attempts to refocalize irregular migration, by ‘invoking other perspectives, including those of irregular migrants’ (Peeren 2015, 175). Other works have documented life and survival along the migration route through North Africa, like The land between by (David Fedele, 2014), or offer a similar perspective, as the films analysed by Ponzanesi (2016b) and Kuster (2018).

6. A good overview of this perspective is offered in Casas-Cortes et al. (2014).