We recently gathered at Refugio Berlin in collaboration with Give Something Back to Berlin for a special event bringing people together to watch documentary shorts from the “Migrant Lives in Pandemic Times” project and discuss how Covid-19 impacted migrants around the world. Created by Migration Matters and CERC Migration at Toronto Metropolitan University, the Migrant Lives project seeks to amplify the voices of migrants, showcasing their resilience and the diverse ways they navigated this unprecedented global crisis.
The evening began with a screening of selected videos from the series, which sparked engaging discussions about the challenges and experiences of migrants living in places ranging from Berlin to Johannesburg to Singapore. The discussions were enriched by the diverse perspectives of our guests, who brought both personal and academic insights and migration experiences to the table.
Present at the event were two participants from the project: The protagonist VaGa_Bon, a migrant from Senegal living in Berlin, and Julia Stier, a research fellow at the Migration and Diversity Department at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and a PhD candidate at Humboldt-Universität in Berlin, Germany. VaGa_Bon is an activist who has first-hand experience of the long and perilous journey many migrants take to reach safety and better opportunities abroad. He now uses his knowledge to help others exercise their right to freedom of movement through his Facebook page. VaGa_Bon tells us about his life as a migrant in Europe and the ways in which Covid-19 has impacted his activism in this video.
Julia Stier is a scholar from the Migrant Lives project whose research focuses on migration aspirations, migratory imaginaries, and the role of new communication technologies for migration decision-making. She is currently working in the TRANSMIT project, a research project investigating migration from West Africa and the MENA region.
Julia Stier and VaGa_Bon
Migrant Lives in Pandemic Times is an international digital storytelling project produced during the summer of 2021. Through a series of compelling videos, viewers gain insight into the celebration, struggle, and intricate lives of migrants, providing a humanizing counter-narrative to often negative portrayals in media. The project incorporates a collection of personal stories and the policy change migrants inspire. While the stories share the lived realities of migrants, they also reveal insights into conditions that are universal. Between work, mental health, and the importance of communities, resilience is demonstrated in an act of celebration, while also critically analyzing the larger structural and policy issues at play.
We are grateful for everyone who attended and contributed to the success of the evening, including several of the team members who made the project possible: Bernadette Klausberger, Sophia Burton, Julian Van Dieken, Valentina De Luca, and Karoline Schulz. For those who couldn’t attend, don’t worry! The entire series, along with detailed analysis and policy recommendations, is available at migrantlives.net.
This event was made possible by the “I Am European” project, funded by the European Commission’s DEAR Programme. At the event we collected donations to support our c-hosts Give Something Back to Berlin’s efforts in welcoming refugees fleeing Ukraine. Thank you again to them and our partners at Refugio Berlin. Your support made this event possible and impactful. And special thanks to Allan Whyte for capturing the evening with brilliant photography.
If you have ideas or would like to collaborate on future screenings or workshops, please reach out to us at team@migrationmatters.me. Together, we can continue to develop a more nuanced framing of migration, fostering a more inclusive society.