The Central Mediterranean as a battleground: ethnographic diary of a shipment with the Civil Fleet
Journal title MONDI MIGRANTI
Author/s Roberta Derosas, Luca Queirolo Palmas
Publishing Year 2025 Issue 2025/3
Language Italian Pages 21 P. 119-139 File size 216 KB
DOI 10.3280/MM2025-003006
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Through the format of the ethnographic diary, two voices – a researcher and a social worker – embarked on two vessels of the civil fleet in the Central Mediterranean document the conflicts surrounding sea rescue, the war on mobility, and practices of resistance. They explore the relational dynamics both on board and on land, interactions with authorities, and what it means to be part of a crew in the world of search and rescue. This contribution seeks to convey the complexity of a context marked by tensions: between mobility and control, solidarity and legality, operational protocols and personal experiences. The two ships of the civil fleet, here renamed Raissa and Despina in homage to Italo Calvino, emerge as heterotopic spaces: liminal places in liminal times where new forms of relationship, care, and presence are generated. Positioning oneself at sea and within civil rescue operations not only offers a privileged vantage point to investigate the evolving landscape of border policies, but also affirms the joint role of research and action in producing knowledge within the politically charged and violent setting of the Central Mediterranean.
Keywords: solidarity; maritime ethnography; Mediterranean; border; Frontex.
Roberta Derosas, Luca Queirolo Palmas, Il Mediterraneo Centrale come campo di battaglia: diario etnografico di un imbarco con la Civil Fleet in "MONDI MIGRANTI" 3/2025, pp 119-139, DOI: 10.3280/MM2025-003006