Enacting Citizenship and Solidarity in Europe “From Below”: Local Initiatives, Intersectional Strategies and Transnational Networks [ECSEuro]

The research project takes up the question of how new approaches can be identified at the local scale vis-à-vis the longstanding challenges for Europe to establish cross-border cooperation in particular regarding the social fields of migrant rights, housing and care work. The project team conducts case studies in European cities in Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark, and focuses on two aspects that have not yet been sufficiently explored: First, we analyze how initiatives by local civil society actors and municipalities re-negotiate and enact citizenship and solidarity – concepts most often associated with nation-states. Second, we examine how local initiatives develop intersectional strategies and networks beyond borders in connecting different social fields and places. The project contributes to debates on urban social movements, civic initiatives and municipal politics, European studies and social theory, and further develops concepts of citizenship, solidarity and democracy in a practice-theoretical, intersectional and transnational perspective.

Web site: https://europefrombelow.net/

Partners:

• Universität Hamburg (coordinator)
• Aalborg University
• Scuola Normale Superiore (Florence)
• Universität Bern

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