Anthem Press has recently published Mexico-US, Serbia-EU Border Lives and Works. Learn more.
Current Research Projects
These are current projects I work on independently as well as through the Center on Forced Displacement at Boston University.
Research Interests—
Displacement; borderlands; border regimes and migration management; social inequalities; civil society organizing; solidarity; nationalism and extremism; intersectional justice; interdisciplinary, multimethod research.
IN-PROGRESS DISSERTATION
“Migration Crisis” and Civil Society Response in the Borderlands
My dissertation considers the impact of securitization, broadly conceived, on the response of a wide range of civil society actors to migration-related challenges in the borderlands. Since the “long summer of migration” of 2015, when a large number of migrants reached EU borders seeking asylum, migration has been labeled as a crisis, especially in the European Union and the United States. The arrival of a large number of people at the US and the EU borders has been treated as a security threat, allowing for the legalization and institutionalization of actors such as Frontex and practices that were previously considered inhumane, such as family separation at the border, increased, unlimited detention and deportation, violent push-backs at the borders, outsourcing migration management to other countries or private security companies, etc. The evolution of these practices has been studied well, especially as related to the evolution of restrictive government policies and increased militarization of border control. However, far less attention has been given to the civil society actors also involved in this “crisis management.” Therefore, this study aims to closely analyze the impact of “crisis labeling” on the civil society response to migration. This dissertation draws on a wide range of literature focusing on humanitarianism, as well as social movements and civil society to understand if and how the "migration crisis" impacted civil society response in the US and the EU borderlands.
COLLABORATIVE PROJECT
Forced Displacement in the Time of Migration Securitization and
Climate Change
With Carrie J. Preston, Associate Director,
Center on Forced Displacement, Boston University
This completed research project investigates the intersections of climate change, migration, and security, critically examining how dominant narratives linking environmental change to large-scale migration have influenced global governance and border regimes. In recent years, academic research, policy reports, and media discourse have increasingly emphasized climate-related migration as a major security concern, often framing it as a potential driver of instability and mass cross-border movement. Such framings have contributed to the securitization of migration and the implementation of restrictive mobility policies.
The study conducts a systematic review of academic literature on climate-related migration and displacement published over the past decade. It provides a critical assessment of current research trends, methodological approaches, and conceptual frameworks, highlighting the growing importance of climate-induced immobility and the complex relationship between environmental pressures, governance responses, and population movement.
Findings challenge the dominant assumption that climate-related events drive large-scale international migration. Instead, the research demonstrates that existing migration and security policies exacerbate vulnerabilities and reinforce immobility among the most affected populations. The project underscores the need for population-centered, context-sensitive approaches to both research and policymaking that account for the lived realities, coping strategies, and agency of impacted communities.
Two papers based on this project are currently under peer review:
Lažetić, Marina, Hussein A. Rana, and Carrie J. Preston. “Climate and (Im)mobility Research: A Systematic Review of Current Trends and Future Directions,” under review at Population and Environment.
Lažetić, Marina, Hussein A. Rana, and Carrie J. Preston. “Between Evidence and Alarm: Climate Mobility Narratives and the Gap Between Research and Policy,” under review at Mobilities.
COLLABORATIVE PROJECT
Learning Through Engagement
With Complex Systems:
Iterations Across Programs Created by BU’s Center on Forced Displacement
With Carrie J. Preston, Associate Director,
Center on Forced Displacement, Boston University
Through this project, Boston University’s Center on Forced Displacement assesses the impact of two new experiential learning programs through surveys and semi-structured interviews with students and university and NGO partners. Our Border Studies Program introduces students to US migration with partners at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, and NGOs such as Team Brownsville and Catholic Charities. Students attend a semester-long weekly class at BU and participate in a 9-day intensive program in Texas during Spring Break. Similarly, our two-week Summer School on Forced Displacement in Belgrade, Serbia, is organized with the University of Belgrade as well as local NGOs such as Grupa 484, KlikAktiv, Atina, and Belgrade Center for Human Rights. Through these educational programs and our related research, we de-emphasize frameworks like “fieldwork” and “engagement with refugees” and center conversations around ethical complexity and voluntourism/disaster tourism. Preliminary analysis of the data we gathered indicates that students are learning while local universities and NGOs benefit from their engagement through our programs. We believe our findings can help others seeking to provide students with learning opportunities beyond the classroom and engagement with complex, evolving, social, political, and human rights issues. We presented this preliminary research at the ISA 2024 conference and will participate in the panels and conversations focusing on pedagogy and teaching in complex environments in ISA 2025, where we will introduce our new paper focusing on this topic.
New Publication
An interdisciplinary, accessible study of Mexico–US and Serbia-EU border practices and policies that brings insights of critical border and forced displacement studies to examine histories, policies, violence, models of care, activism, and creativity within these border regimes.
Anthem Press has published Mexico-US, Serbia-EU Border Lives and Works, a book I’ve coedited with Dr. Carrie Preston and Dr. Muhammad Zaman in connection with our work at the Center on Forced Displacement at Boston University.
One of the goals of this project is to share information about books and research on borders, nationalism, environmental displacement, and community resilience and organizing as well as spark discussions in and outside of academia.
“I am building my career on the loss of a man named Stojan Sokolović, and on the loss of many millions of others, who may or may not resemble him. And one night he told me…” - the book ends with the same sentence it begins with. It’s way past midnight and I drop it down on the floor of my living room as I stare at the ceiling from the comfort of my sofa. What are we doing and whom is this for? A question Dauphinee poses to the writers, researchers, academics - all those claiming to be trying to “understand” and “unpack” and “explain” human tragedy.
Imagining the Balkans is truly an iconic book, and one that should be read by anyone interested in the Balkans. However, I must say right away that this book is an academic piece of work, making it hard to understand by those who are unfamiliar with the theories discussed and the terminology used, and by those who simply do not like reading densely packed theoretical writing. It is intended to be a scholarly piece and, as such, is truly a great one!
THE MINISTRY OF PAIN...
is a meditation on getting lost in the streets of what once used to be your own hometown; on self-invention; on cutting and pasting a collage of memories that we eventually call a narrative of the past; on trying to find a home in language...but what if that language no longer exists?