Mountains and refugees

In its latest issue, Réfugié-es et montagne, the Journal of Alpine Research/Revuede géographie alpine asks: what do refugees do to mountains and mountain dwellers and, in mirror image, what do mountains and mountain dwellers do to refugees? The issue, co-edited by Cristina Del Biaggio (Pacte), Leila Giannetto and Camille Noûs, looks at the history and contemporary issues of border crossing, focusing on the Hautes-Alpes, and the reception of people seeking refuge in Valais (Switzerland) and Ariège in the Pyrenees.

In the preface, the authors ask: ” If migrants can contribute to the economic and social development of the mountains, and the mountains can be a place of integration for migrants, why do European and national policies continue to create vicious systems that turn the mountains into a place hostile to migrants, and migrants into people hostile to the mountains ?

Following on from these questions, Cristina Del Biaggio and Karine Gatelier will be co-hosting an educational workshop in January in the Matheysin region, where the Carm collective has been set up. A further opportunity to question the concept of the “refuge mountain”.