The Crisis at the Polish-Belarusian Border: Sites and Things

Abstract

The ongoing humanitarian crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border has not attracted mass public attention in Poland or in the world. Rare visuals of asylum seekers and migration conditions are rather provided by activist portals, and thus they circulate among those working to solve the crisis. Consequently, access to knowledge about the experience of undocumented migration across the Polish border and its conditions is limited. Observing the material background and the traces of the route, both in terms of its topography and instrumental equipment, allows us to get closer to the inaccessible information. The authors propose a preliminary typology of migration sites and objects used by people on the move. Such a research strategy not only examines migration processes through secondary symptoms, but it can also be understood as a supportive gesture towards asylum seekers. Material analysis makes it possible to reveal the experience of migration in a way that does not infringe on the precarious security of people on the move.

Keywords

• migration
• border crisis
• humanitarian crisis
• Polish-Belarusian border
• materiality
• asylum seekers