ABSTRACT
This chapter draws attention onto the Mediterranean area as a place of contested mobilities where the struggles and power relations around migration processes are deployed. A brief history of the Mediterranean Sea as a crossroad of migrant routes is given in order to contextualize the stories of the research protagonists of this book. This chapter gives insights on the two social contexts, Italy and Germany, in which the biographies of the research protagonists were embedded after their landing in Europe. First, the events of the Arab Spring and the Libyan war in 2011 are exposed, highlighting their role as a turning point in the history of international migration across Africa and Europe. The reaction of the Italian government through the imposition of an emergency regime is here presented through the experiences of the research protagonists. Second, the German asylum system and its restrictions are presented, together with the experience of the refugees’ political protest in Berlin during the autumn of 2012. The two contexts of Italy and Germany highlight how the intertwining of the humanitarian and securitarian regimes works on the ground. Despite the national and cultural differences, Italy and Germany are intimately connected by the trajectories of refugees on the move across Europe.
