Trajectories without borders: memory and trauma of refugees in the contemporary world

• Grant number: 23/16222-4
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: May 01, 2024 - April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Ana Carolina de Moura Delfim Maciel
• Grantee: Ana Carolina de Moura Delfim Maciel
• Host Institution: Instituto de Artes (IA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Elena Brugioni ; Márcio Orlando Seligmann-Silva ; Marie Caroline Saglio Yatzimirsky ; Michel Roger Agier ; Natália Neme Carvalhosa

Abstract

The present research project, if approved by FAPESP's Regular Research Support, intends to investigate contemporary forced displacements and one of its main effects, the "refuge", based on the interdisciplinary conceptual debate on memory, testimony and life trajectories. This is a collaborative proposal carried out in partnership between the Cátedra Sérgio Vieira de Mello/ UNICAMP/ UNHCR and the Institut Convergences Migrations/ Paris (ICM) and which will address narratives - notably first-person testimonies - with the aim of capturing, producing, discuss and make available dimensions of traumatic experiences that hover largely invisible and inaccessible to a wider audience. In this perspective, the study aims to contribute to the overflowing of the borders of different fields of knowledge in the production of theoretical perspectives that instrumentalize reflections on the agency of people who experience forced displacement. Proposed by a team of researchers from Brazil and France, active in complementary areas related to the theme of refuge, the research includes the publication of articles, a book, the promotion of national and international academic events, a training course aimed at students, employees of NGOs and public and private power developed by INALCO PARIS to be held at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), the creation and availability of a Data Repository on refuge in addition to capturing interviews with refugees living in Brazil and France, giving the protagonism of speech to this largely invisible population spectrum. Therefore, Trajectories Without Borders will enable a qualified debate based on the lines of research, theoretical and field, undertaken by the researchers involved and with the fruitful engagement of both institutions, UNICAMP and Institut Convergences Migrations (ICM), in migration studies. (AU)