Dr J. Schapendonk (Joris)

Associate professor - Geography

Contact

joris.schapendonk@ru.nl
024-3613016

Visiting address

Heyendaalseweg 141
6525 AJ NIJMEGEN

Postal address

Postbus 9108
6500 HK NIJMEGEN

Working days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Since my phd my research focuses mainly on the fragmented journeys of African migrants who are heading for the European Union. It takes into account migrants' personal aspirations as well as the ways EU's border politics affect individual journeys.

Next to this trajectory research, I am involved in a project on Welcome Spaces for irregular migrants in small European cities. Together with Kolar Aparna (k.kolaraparna@fm.ru.nl) I investigate how diverse local initiatives support undocumented migrants, but also what the conditions and borders are of these welcome activities.

Tags: Sub-Saharan Africa, migration, borders, mobility, globalisation

Research group

Research group GLOCAL

Publications

Research grants and prizes

Projects

2015 - Veni project: Fortress Europe as a Mobile Space? Intra-EU Mobility of African Migrants While the mobility of many African migrants on their way to the European Union (EU) is blocked by the hard borders of ‘Fortress Europe’, those who have reached the EU find themselves in a relatively open space. As EU’s internal border controls have practically disappeared, migrants may easily find their ways to favoured destinations. While there is much political controversy about the intra-EU mobility of Africans as unwanted migrants (e.g. considering discussions on regularisation policies of southern EU member states and migrants’ asylum applications in multiple countries), we know remarkably little about how, in what directions, and for what reasons, Africans move across borders within the EU. This project will provide in-depth insights into the dynamics of this often unnoticed cross-border mobility in Europe. Thereby I focus on West African migrants as the group that is highly associated wit
2017 - Helping Hands. Research Network on the Everyday Border Work of European Citizens Among European citizens responses to the refugee crisis have differed. Concurrent to various degrees of moral panics as well as outbursts of violence and discrimination, a plethora of counter movements can be observed, either organised in cooperation with refugee organisations and NGO’s, or in the shape of privately based initiatives. This research network, led by the University of Copenhagen, wishes to pursue the different ways in which people of everyday life Europe choose to ‘give a helping hand’, doing their own aiding work in support of refugees coming to Europe.

Dr J. Schapendonk (Joris)

Publications

Research grants and prizes

Projects

Teaching

Ancillary activities