
The Eur-Asian Border Lab Forum: Where research meets pressing border issues
The Eur-Asian Border Lab Forum invites you to an engaging seminar exploring pressing issues around migration, refugees, and asylum seekers, and their complex relationship with borders. This event will feature cutting-edge research from Tallinn University (TLU) scholars, complemented by discussions with practitioners addressing these challenges firsthand.
Details:
- When: Friday, January 31, 14:30–16:00
- Where: Tallinn University, Room M-328 (Mare Building)
- Registration: Pre-registration is required. Please register here by January 24th.
- Refreshments provided after the event!
Overview
The seminar will critically examine the hardening of political and societal borders, driven by migration policies and the perception of migration as a threat. Through case studies on Russian migrants fleeing conscription and the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, discussions will focus on the implications for Estonia and the role of border scholars and practitioners in addressing these challenges.
Core questions:
- What are the implications of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum for Estonia?
- How do Russian migrants perceive and navigate Estonian policies towards the Russian-speaking minority?
- How can researchers and practitioners collaborate to mitigate the challenges posed by migration and bordering processes?
Presentations:
- The EU Pact on migration and asylum: Implications for Estonia and refugee support
Speaker: Timothy Anderson, TLU School of Humanities / Eur-Asian Border Lab
This presentation explores the newly adopted EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and its implications for Estonia. It will analyze key components of the pact, including shared responsibility mechanisms, enhanced border management procedures, and integration measures, while contextualizing Estonia’s role within these EU-wide reforms. Special focus will be given to how these changes intersect with national rhetoric framing migration as a security concern and the potential challenges and opportunities for organizations like the Estonian Refugee Council. By connecting broader EU trends to local contexts, the talk aims to provide practical insights for budgeting, advocacy, and programming to support refugees and asylum seekers in Estonia.
- Russian war migrants – A secret weapon?
Speaker: Raili Nugin, TLU School of Humanities / Eur-Asian Border Lab
After the war in Ukraine, Estonia has been the most vocal advocate for sanctions against Russia. It has called for sanctions against so-called ordinary Russian citizens, in order to increase their discontent with the regime and pressure for civic action against it. Due to these sanctions, Estonia has not received that much war/mobilisation migrants as many other countries in Europe or among other post-soviet republics. Yet, the number of Russians who have migrated to the country has risen compared to the years before. These migrants have arrived into a society where approximately 30% of its inhabitants are Russian-speakers with heterogeneous ethnic and social background. The Russian-speaking community in Estonia is divided in terms of taking sides in this war, and perhaps more so than the Estonian-speaking one. The presentation is based on the fieldwork conducted in Estonia in 2023 with the focus of finding Russian war/mobilisation migrants. It explores specifically in what ways the ones who migrated relate to the local Russian community and what are their dispositions about the sanctions, particularly the ones that make it hard for them to cope with their everyday lives in Estonia. How do they see and negotiate the policies that have been directed against them? How do they see the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia, who often see themselves as discriminated against?
- Comments from the perspective of Border Studies
Speaker: Karin Dean, Head of Eur-Asian Border Lab
The comments offer most recent critical perspectives from border studies on how bordering and borderwork are embedded in the contemporary regulation and governance of movement. These try to tease out agendas for research and ways of collaboration between academics and practitioners that contribute to the alleviation of some of the violence the borders are seen to create.
Why attend?
This seminar is part of the Eur-Asian Border Lab Forum, an initiative dedicated to addressing critical border issues through research and dialogue. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights into the complexities of migration and the role of borders in shaping human mobility.