The turn of the century

The turn of the century curbed the overall enthusiasm of the last decade of the twentieth century. The attack on the Twin Towers, the coming to terms with climate change and the financial meltdown, followed by the refugee crisis and the rise of extreme nationalisms, put ice on the 90s marked by peace, globalisation, belief in liberalism and economic growth. The economic crisis paved the way to the (re)emergence of old essentialisms in Europe, most vividly between the north and the south, leading to a systematic challenging of the euro currency, the space of free mobility offered by Schengen and, ultimately, the European project as a whole. Academia accompanied this trajectory. Since the turn of the century, mobility has been thought of and conceived differently. Once a symbol for freedom, progress and modernity, mobility commenced to be perceived as part of a society marked by disruptions, turbulence, inequalities, differential access, walls and borders. The emergent field of mobility studies contributed to this chiefly. Mobility has been less about liquidity or fluidity, and instead a tool that allows scholars to further analyse dynamics of inequality, immobility and the formation of capitals. The onset of the crisis, with all that it has brought, spurred new perceptions of movement and mobility.