Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Institut für Europäische Ethnologie

About her dissertation at IfEE

Somewhere Inbetween: From So-Called Non-Places Towards Social Places 

This dissertation emerges from an examination of the counter-narrative surrounding 'refugee camps' governed and controlled by states and governments. It focuses on autonomous informal settlements established by communities-in-transit seeking refuge. Many of these communities, rejecting inclusion in the migratory identification database (eg, through fingerprinting), have chosen to occupy abandoned spaces and buildings in the so-called peripheries of the cities. In these locations, they have forged social places of belonging, creating alternative modes of coexistence and togetherness. Through strategies of resistance against border regimes, these places have challenged conventional notions of placemaking and the dichotomy between 'periphery' and 'center' in contemporary postcolonial and postmigrant cities.

This dissertation examined three self-built settlements in Europe and South America. The settlements: The Dzjangal in Calais (France), Tiburtina in Rome (Italy), and Los Arenales in Antofagasta (Chile), were established by communities-in-transit and remained self-organized. The residents transformed empty urban zones into places (Massey) and neighborhoods through alternative placemaking. Melanie explores how these so-called non-places change and evolve into social places and how the concept of liminality (Van Gennep, Turner), along with the state of inbetweenness —both geographically and affectively between borders—might have play a role in their transformation. Her inquiry includes questions such as:How did these autonomously occupied places create convivial and solidarity places despite encountering violent interactions with border regimes? How did they pursue alternative ways of living and redefining the city through the occupation of urban spaces?

This dissertation delved into three main areas of study: reflexive postcolonial, critical geography, and multimodal European ethnology. Within the exploration of postcolonial studies, I re-introduce the concept of liminality to the migratory context. This conceptual shift has the potential to politicize liminality and states of inbetweenness through the agency of people-in-transit, challenging the constraints imposed by current border regimes. As her research progresses in the The Dzjangal, Tiburtina and Los Arenales, I address the implications of contemporary border regimes, particularly in the establishment of what are termed "refugee camps." These places have been labeled as "non-places" (Augé), "places of exception" (Agamben), and "peripheral places" (Gregory). Despite this marginalization, these places have developed alternative urban models and methods of placemaking, resisting categorization. This dissertation examines the political and social strategies of transforming so-called non-places to social places, which have fostered alternative ways of life that actively contribute to the urban fabric.

Methodologically, Melanie explored the intersection of art and anthropology, emphasizing artistic practice as multimodal ethnography. Using methods such as sound ethnography, listening and critical walking as research tools, she argued for the potential of the entanglement between artistic practices and ethnography as methods for the fieldwork. She explores the multisensory and affective nature of these practices to develop critical and political engagement methods in migratory settings beyond traditional ethnography rooted in colonial legacies. Drawing on her transdisciplinary background, particularly my approach to anthropology through my artistic training, she analyzed the emerging collaboration between art and anthropology, which holds potential value in contemporary discussions on multimodal and experimental ethnography in the social sciences.

Through multisensory practices, this dissertation investigated the different autonomous migration strategies of "placemaking" and "relation-making" (Simone) in The Dzjangal, Tiburtina and Los Arenales. These autonomous migratory strategies challenge the symbolic and geographical borders of the city, aiming to redefine the contemporary urban landscape and its inclusivity. These communities have fostered resilient and interconnected networks that bear witness to the inherent strength of diversity in today's societies. 

Melanie's dissertation is the first multimodal PhD at the IfEE. It combines a triptych: a manuscript (published by Transcript Verlag in June 2026), a website featuring multimodal works that presents the more-than-text form of the dissertation, and a final collaborative exhibition served as the site for the dissertation's disputation.