Quando a guadagnarci non sono solo gli scafisti

The Italy team published an article on NaspRead - the brainchild of Nasp, the most important social and political science network in Northern Italy.

In recent years, scholarly literature has increasingly focused on the crucial role of non-state actors in facilitating international migration and shaping migration policies. The delegation of key public functions to private entities, alongside the growing restrictiveness, selectivity, and bureaucratization of migration policies in receiving states, has contributed to the emergence of full-fledged industries. Research on the migration industry has often explored the role of brokers and intermediaries - both formal and informal, often with ethnic ties - commonly referred to in journalistic and political discourse as “scafisti.” These actors, along with brokerage agencies, play a significant role in departure, transit, and border contexts. However, profit-driven intermediaries operating within destination countries have received comparatively less attention.

The article (in Italian) stems from the publication of Fabio de Blasis and Paola Bonizzoni titled "High Stakes and Hidden Traps. Migration Industry, Risks of Deception, and Legal Status Precarity in the Lottery of the Decreto Flussi" and published in Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa, 2/2024, 237-262, (Special Issue “Intermediating access. Migrants, rights and statuses”, edited by Paola Bonizzoni & Laura Odasso).

Read more about this HERE.