Ophelia Nicole-Berva’s dissertation explores how activism in solidarity with migrants in border areas transform activists’ political subjectivities. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2021 and 2023 in the northern Italian borderlands, Nicole-Berva investigates the intersection of space and affect in shaping activists' experiences and engagement. Through her research, she examines how borders—both material and symbolic—amplify complex political and moral questions related to human rights, freedom of movement, and the legitimacy of borders.
The author argues that emotions and affect play a critical role in meaning-making and the constitution of political subjectivities. She suggests that emotional connections shape activists' mobilisations, collective dynamics, and attachments to causes, placing bodies and feelings at the center of political activism. The study combines insights from social movement research, emotional geography, and spatial theory to propose a framework for understanding the role of space and emotion in everyday activism. The research emphasises that the emotional dimension of borders is inseparable from considerations of justice and social change.
Methodologically, she conducted political ethnography in four border areas, sharing daily activities and informal discussions with informants. She engaged with various political collectives and associations, through activities such as the distribution of goods, regular assemblies, and the monitoring of critical areas; she volunteered in a day facility, attended public events and demonstrations, shared living spaces, and participated in collective reflections. The thesis is developed through field notes, some thirty in-depth interviews with activists, documents and newspaper articles.
Nicole-Berva’s analysis reveals how involvement in the solidarity movement is deeply tied to emotional connections and experiences. She explores the body as a scale of analysis, showing how borders are both blurred and reinforced through spatial dynamics. The study uncovers the ambiguities between political goals and the means to achieve them, focusing on how activists engage with space and the emotional geographies of borders in their everyday lives. Finally, the dissertation offers insights into how the emotional sensibility of activists can help bridge social movement studies with a conceptual understanding of borders.
Ophelia Nicole-Berva is a PhD candidate at the European University Institute. For her dissertation, she worked on the solidarity movement with migrants, using a conceptual approach that intersects the role of space and affect in everyday activism. She conducted multi-sited fieldwork with activists along the northern Italian borderlands. Since October 2024, she is a postdoc researcher at the Institute of Citizenship studies at the University of Geneva. She is part of the Horizon Europe project DEMETRA which focuses on food democracy in urban settings. She is currently conducting fieldwork with various actors, including food producers, sustainability advocates, policy makers and citizens’ committees. More generally, she is interested in social movements studies, border studies, critical and feminist theory, methodology, collaborative methods and research ethics.