Refugees and Mountains

19/05/2019

A new issue has recently arisen for Alpine academic and political communities: dealing with the arrival of forced migrants (asylum seekers, refugees and individuals whose applications have been rejected) in mountain regions. This applies to two contexts in particular: crossing national borders located in mountain areas, and hosting new arrivals in mountain regions. This issue was a key topic of discussion in two seminars held in Salecina, Switzerland, in May 2017, and in Pettinengo, Italy, the following year. These seminars expanded the debates that had primarily concerned Italian researchers to the Alpine region: in 2016, the journal Dislivelli published a special issue on “Montanari per forza”, or “Forced Mountain Inhabitants” (no. 64, February 2016), and a book entitled Alpine Refugees is currently in publication. Having noted the increased focus on this area in the academic, political and media discourse, in this thematic issue we propose to investigate the topic in greater depth...

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