The article, “Theorising migrant lives: homing, everyday bordering and the migrant struggle for ontological security,” brings together the concepts of homing and everyday bordering to develop a new framework for understanding how migrants seek continuity, belonging and stability while navigating the borders and uncertainties of everyday life.
The paper forms part of Nikola’s wider doctoral research at Sheffield on migration, home, borders and belonging. It examines two relatively novel concepts in migration – Boccagni’s ‘homing’ and Yuval-Davis, Wemyss and Cassidy’s ‘everyday bordering’ – highlighting their relevance amid rising anti-immigration policies and global mobility. It critiques their conceptual ambiguities and overlapping theoretical ground, arguing for their joint application within a broader framework of the migrant struggle for ontological security. This integrated approach enables a more holistic analysis of the social and political disruptions shaping migrant lives. By bridging micro- and macro-level perspectives, the paper advocates for theoretical synthesis that transcends disciplinary divides, offering a migrant-centred lens for understanding the complexities of twenty-first-century global migration.
Researchers, practitioners and others interested in these themes are warmly invited to engage with the paper, share insights or get in touch with Nikola at nlero1@sheffield.ac.uk.