Public PhD Defense of Rossella Marino, UNU-CRIS PhD Fellow

Abstract: This research focuses on the externalisation of (European) return migration management to The Gambia, with a particular focus on the involvement of local non-state actors and returnees. After shedding more light on the care/control nexus in so-called assisted voluntary return and delving into the discursive legitimisation of the policy objective of so-called sustainable reintegration, the study reconstructs the implications of the enrolment of locally-embedded CSOs in EU-sponsored externalisation in The Gambia, zooms in on the moral economy of voice underpinning assisted returnees’ involvement in the industry of EU-funded awareness-raising on illegalised migration, and asks what the boundaries of externalisation are through the exploration of a partnership between a returnee-led group and a European NGO. These questions are approached through an assemblage of theoretical frameworks applied to qualitative data.