General Introduction

Abstract

This introduction is devoted to giving some preliminary theoretical references in order to problematize Lampedusa both as a European and Italian border, outside the dichotomy humanitarianism-invasion. Instead of debating on responsibility over time and the normalisation of migration management, this writing is dedicated to presenting a new research path where the relationships between different subjectivities involved in the crossings and the several roles of the border are problematized. Lampedusa is conceived as a metaphor for a dematerialized border whose meaning can be understood thanks to various stories of subjectivity. Thus, border crossing is part of a subjective and “embodied” experience marked by the visibility of the border and its memory for migrants and other actors involved.