Caterina BORELLI

CURRENT POSITION

April 2021-ongoing: H2020-MSCA-IF-2019 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Research project BeCAMP_Beyond the camp: border regimes, enduring liminality and everyday geopolitics in Italy and Spain (grant agreement No 898276)

- Host institution: Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage, Università Ca’ Foscari (Venice, Italy). Supervisor prof. Fabio Perocco.
- Partner institution: Department of Politics, The New School of Social Research (New York, USA). Supervisor prof. Anne McNevin.
- Secondment: Department of Arts, University of Bologna (Italy). Supervisor prof. Lorenzo Pezzani.
- Visiting fellow at the GENI (Grup de Recerca en Gènere, Identitat i Diversitat), Department of Social Anthropology, University of Barcelona (Spain).

EDUCATION

2009 –2012 PhD: Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Barcelona (Spain). Dissertation title: Post-traumatic city: Marijin Dvor and Mount Trebević, two urban spaces in transition in Sarajevo. Supervisor: prof. Manuel Delgado Ruiz

2006 –2008 MA: Social Anthropology, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Barcelona (Spain)

2000 – 2005 BA: Intercultural Studies (Cum Laude), Department of Philosophy and Humanities, University of Trieste (Italy)

PREVIOUS POSITIONS

2018-2020  Professor of Sociology at IED (Istituto Europeo di Design), Venice (Italy)

2009–2012 PhD Researcher at the University of Barcelona, Department of Social Anthropology.

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

2024-2025 Additional funding for innovative cultural projects in the field of artistic creativity, granted by Fondazione Terra d’Acqua (Venice, Italy) to develop the project “Habitat” – a series of participative photographic workshops with asylum seekers and refugees – in collaboration with photographer Camilla De Maffei

2021-2025 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Global Fellowship. Host institution: Università Ca’ Foscari (Venice, Italy), partner institution: The New School for Social Research (New York City, USA)

2013 Final PhD thesis award, granted by Agaur, Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain

2010 BE grant for research stays outside Catalonia (6 months), granted by Agaur, Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain. Host institution: Faculty of Architecture, University of Sarajevo (Bosnia Herzegovina)

2010 Research & creation fellowship, granted by CoNCA (Catalan National Council of Culture and Arts) in order to develop the project “Daily geopolitics: the case of Mount Trebević (Sarajevo)”, together with photographer Camilla De Maffei

2009-2012  FI predoctoral fellowship (Formation of Researchers), granted by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Spain)

2008 Scholarship for the realization of research projects on the ethnologic heritage of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura i Mitjans de Comunicació, Centre de Promoció de la Cultura Tradicional i Popular Catalana, IPEC).

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

2022 Invited lecturer, Anthropology of Migration course, Universitat de Barcelona (Spain)

2022 Invited lecturer, Walking as a Research Practice course, Parsons School of Design, The New School (New York, USA)

2022 Invited lecturer, Thinking with Things course, Parsons School of Design, The New School (New York, USA)

2018-2020 Adjunct professor of Sociology of Communication (Media Design undergraduate course) and of Sociology of Cultural Processes (Interior Design undergraduate course), IED - Istituto Europeo di Design (Venice, Italy)

2019 Invited lecturer, ‘Claves analíticas del conflicto urbano en la ciudad neoliberal’ on-line course, Asociación Antiarq (Barcelona, Spain)

2018 Invited lecturer, Applied Anthropology course, Ca’ Foscari University (Venice, Italy)

2013 Invited lecturer, Master in Visual Anthropology, University of Barcelona (Spain)

2011 Invited lecturer, Legal Anthropology course, University of Barcelona (Spain)

2011 Invited lecturer, Workshop of Ethnography, University of Barcelona (Spain)

2009 Invited lecturer, Metropolitan Transitions Workshop 2009-2020, organized by the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Sarajevo, the Ecole Superieure d’Architecture Paris-La Villette and the Libanese Academy of Fine Arts of Beirut (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina)

PUBLICATIONS

Edited volumes

Borelli, C. and Mattioli F., eds (2013). The Social Lives of Postsocialism, special issue of Laboratorium, Russian Review of Social Research, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2013

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Rué A., Borelli C. and Poy A. (forthcoming). Work! Work! Work! From ‘autonomy’ and ‘integration’ to precariousness and exploitation in the asylum system. Humanitarian exploitation: ethnographies of labour and refugeeisation, special issue of Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa, edited by Simone di Cecco and Noemi Martorano, Vol. 3, 2025
Borelli, C., De Maffei, C., Romero F. and Vitturi L. (forthcoming). Three photographers and an anthropologist. Thoughts on collaboration. Special issue of Visual Ethnography Journal, edited by Roger Sansi and Matteo Guidi, vol. 02/2024
Borelli, C. (2024). On hybridization. Three exercises in crossbreeding anthropology and photography. Anthropology and Photography, special issue of Civilisations, edited by Pierre Petit and Mikaela Le Meur, Vol. 72, 2023
Borelli, C., Poy A. and Rué A. (2023). Governing Asylum without “Being There”: Ghost Bureaucracy, Outsourcing, and the Unreachability of the State. The Colonial Legacies in Asylum and Welfare in Europe, special issue of Social Sciences edited by Olga Jubany and Lucy Mayblin, vol. 12: 169. • Borelli, C. and Mattioli F. (2013). The social lives of Postsocialism. The Social Lives of Postsocialism, special issue of Laboratorium, Russian Review of Social Research, edited my Caterina Borelli and Fabio Mattioli, Vol. 5, No. 1  (2013), pp: 4-13. Available also online: http://www.soclabo.org/index.php/laboratorium/article/view/313 
Borelli C. (2009). Imaginaris practicats. Remodelació urbanìstica i reconstrucció simbólica al barri del Raval, Barcelona. Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya, nº34, April 2009: 134-136.

Book chapters

Borelli, C. (forthcoming) Border impasses: on waiting and immobility in asylum. In D. Mata Codesal, M. Kaaristo and F. Cangià (eds.). Immobilities. Anthropological Perspectives. New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Borelli, C. (forthcoming). Deseos de fuga. Cotidianidad normada y micro insumisiones en los programas de acogida estatal para solicitantes de asilo. In M. Ausona and L. Motterle (eds). Deseos [re]negados. Cartografiando relaciones, contradicciones y utopías. Ediciones Bellaterra
Poy, A., Rué, A. and Borelli, C. (2023). (Des)haciendo el asilo: etiquetajes de los flujos migratorios y categorías de refugio en disputa en el contexto español. In O. Jubany, J. Roca and F. Mancinelli (eds). Categorías desbordadas. Cuestionando etiquetas, jerarquías, y alteridades. Ediciones Bellaterra, pp. 75-104
Borelli, C. (2011). Imaginarios practicados. Remodelación urbanística y reconstrucción simbólica del espacio urbano en el Raval de Barcelona. In A. Solé (ed), Els fantasmes de l’exclusió. Ordre, representacions i ciències socials a la ciutat contemporània. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona – Colección: Estudis d’Antropologia Social i Cultural, nº16, pp: 121-129
Borelli C. (2011). Création d'une ambiance: le cas de Raval de Barcelone. In J. F. Augoyard (ed), Faire une ambiance. Grenoble: A la croisée. Pp. 423-428. 
Borelli C. and Delgado Ruiz, M. (2010). El arraigo social y sus simulacros: propuesta para una investigación desde las ciencias sociales. In A. Izquierdo Escribano, M. Golías Pérez, B. Fernández-Suárez (eds), Las migraciones en España: VI Congreso sobre las Migraciones en España, celebrado del 17 al 19 de septiembre de 2009, en A Coruña, pp. 1762-1772

Book reviews

Borelli, C. (2023). Book review: Drawing Deportation. Art and Resistance among Immigrant Children. Anthropology Book Forum.
Borelli, C. (2022). Book review: Yo soy frontera. Autoetnografía de un viajero ilegal. Quaderns de l’Institut Català d’Antropologia, 38(1), 141-143. Barcelona: ICA. [ISSN 2385-4472].

Web-based publications

Borelli, C. (2024). Meeting the Smugglers. Decolonising the mind, questioning the border. Allegra Lab https://allegralaboratory.net/meet-the-smugglers-decolonising-the-mind-questioning-the-border/
Borelli, C. (2019). Over-tourism e diritto alla città: il caso di Venezia. Il granello di sabbia. Il periodico per un nuovo modello sociale di Attac Italia no.40, May-June 2019. Available online: https://attac-italia.org/over-tourism-e-diritto-alla-citta-il-caso-venezia/
Borelli, C., Bruttomesso E. and Fiano M. (2019). Sticking around: poster art as activism in Venice. The Urban Transcript Journal vol. 2, no. 1, spring 2019. Available online: http://journal.urbantranscripts.org/article/sticking-around-poster-art-activism-venice-opa/
Borelli, C. (2018). La Vida en Venecia: anatomía de una ciudad. Nueva Tribuna, 26 April 2018. Available online: https://www.nuevatribuna.es/articulo/europa1/vida-venecia-anatomia-ciudad/20180425191947151237.html 
Borelli, C. (2018). La Vida a Venezia: anatomia di una città. Il Lavoro Culturale, 11 April 2018. Available online: http://www.lavoroculturale.org/venezia-la-vida/ 
Borelli, C. (2018). Lezioni di Vida. Sgombero e rinascita dell’Antico Teatro di Anatomia di Venezia. Napoli Monitor, 26 March 2018. Available online: http://napolimonitor.it/lezioni-vida-sgombero-rinascita-dellantico-teatro-anatomico-venezia/ 
Borelli, C. (2015). #Venezia72: Prisma human rights photo contest. Il Lavoro Culturale, 10/09/2015. Available online: http://www.lavoroculturale.org/prisma-human-rights-photo-contest/
Borelli, C. (2011). La montagna dimenticata. Geopolitica quotidiana a Sarajevo. Periferies Urbanes. Pdf available online at: http://periferiesurbanes.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/BORELLI2010LaMontagnaDimenticata.pdf

PhD dissertation

Borelli, C. (2012). La ciudad post-traumática. Marijin Dvor y el Monte Trebević, dos espacios urbanos en transición en Sarajevo. Universitat de Barcelona. Available also online: http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/35236 

Other publications

Borelli, C. (2024). Borgo Roma, un’etnografia ibrida. In L. Vitturi, G. Pazzola and C. Borelli (eds), Borgo Roma. Paesaggio in transizione. Edizioni E.ART.H.
Borelli, C. (2023). Prueba de admisión en tres actos. In Romero Beltrán, F. (2023). Dialect. Loose Joints Publishing  
Borelli, C. (2014). Par-delà la montagne visible. Les âmes grises. Récits photographiques d’après-guerre, Catalogue, Festival Allers-Retours, Lienart, Albert-Kahn, Musée et Jardin Départementaux, Paris
Borelli, C. (2012). La vivienda en Yugoslavia: el caso de Bosnia Herzegovina (2nd part). Revista Diagonal nº30, January 2012. Pp: 56-60. Available also online: http://www.revistadiagonal.com/articles/analisi-critica/vivienda-en-yugoslavia-el-caso-de-bosnia-herzegovina-2/    
Borelli, C. (2011). Sarajevo en transición: la calma aparente. Barcelona Metrópolis, Revista de información y pensamiento urbanos, nº84, autumn 2011 (Octuber-December). Pp: 10-17. Available also online: http://www.barcelonametropolis.cat/es/page.asp?id=8 
Borelli C. (2011). La vivienda en Yugoslavia: el caso de Bosnia Herzegovina (1st part). Revista Diagonal nº29, September 2011. Pp: 53-57. Available also online: http://www.revistadiagonal.com/articles/analisi-critica/vivienda-yugoslavia-1/ 

SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS

2024 “Border impasses: on waiting and immobility in asylum”. 18th EASA Biennial Conference 2024 “Doing and Undoing with Anthropology”. Barcelona (Spain), 23-26/07/2024.

2024 “Meet the smugglers. Decolonising the mind, questioning the border”. 2nd SKAE (Greek Association of Social Anthropology) Conference. Thessaloniki (Greece), 24-26/05/2024.

2023 “Governing asylum without ‘being there’. Ghost bureaucracy, outsourcing and the invisibility of the state” (with Arnau Poy Renau and Alexia Rué). 19th IUAES World Anthropology Congress. New Delhi (India), 14-20/10/2023.

2023 “The border of small things: the management of everyday life in state reception facilities in Italy and Spain” (with Corina Tulbure). EISA (European International Studies Association) Pan-European Conference on International Relations "Envisioning a new normal". Potsdam (Germany) and online, 5-9/09/2023.

2023 “Daily crossings. The in-betweenness of the social worker/researcher of the asylum regime”. 20th IMISCOE Annual Conference “Migration and Inequalities. In search of Answers and Solutions”. Warsaw (Poland) and online, 3-6/07/2023.

2023 “Work! Work! Work! From ‘autonomy’ and ‘integration’ to precariousness and exploitation in the asylum system” (with Arnau Poy and Alèxia Rué). ERQ (Ethnography and Qualitative Research) Annual International Conference. Trento (Italy), 7-10/06/2023.

2023 “The camp as method: infrastructural uncertainty in state reception for asylum seekers”. SIEF (International Society for Ethnology and Folklore) Annual International Congress “Living Uncertainty”. Brno (Czech Republic), 7-10/06/2023.

2022 “Bordering food: where the code of hospitality and the quest for autonomy collide” (with Louis Vuilleumier). 17th EASA Biennial Conference 2022 “Transformation, Hope and the Commons”. Belfast (Northern Ireland, UK) and online, 26-29/07/2022.

2022 “Governing asylum without ‘being there’. Ghost bureaucracy, outsourcing and the invisibility of the state” (with Arnau Poy Renau and Alexia Rué). 19th IMISCOE Annual Conference “Migration and time. Temporality of mobility, governance and resistance”. Oslo (Norway) and online, 29/06-01/07/2022.

2021 “Catering for asylum. Refugees labelling and the everyday politics of provisions in Italy”. GAA-DGSKA 2021 Conference “Seismographies of the Anthropocene”. Online, 27/09-01/10/2021.

2013 “Secrets of the underbrush. Exploring Mount Trebević, a tormented, expanding landscape around Sarajevo”. Shrinking Cities | Expanding Landscapes Conference. Edinburgh (Scotland, UK), 14-16/11/2013.

2011 “The leftovers of history. The forgotten heritage of Mount Trebević, Sarajevo”. 4th Cicop International Conference “Importance of place” on Hazard and Modern Heritage. Sarajevo (Bosnia Herzegovina), 13-16/06/2011.

2010 “And now what? Analysing the transition from a socialist city in post-war Sarajevo”. 11th Biennial EASA Conference 2010 “Crisis and imagination”. Maynooth (Ireland), 24-27/09/2010.

2010 “Everyday geopolitics. The case of Mount Trebević, Sarajevo”. 1st International Conference EastBordNet “Remaking Borders”. Catania (Italy), 20-22/01/2010.

2009 “Imaginarios practicados. Remodelación urbanística y reconstrucción simbólica del espacio urbano en el Raval de Barcelona”. GRECS Seminar 2009 “Els fantasmes de l’exclusió. Ordre, representacions i ciències socials a la ciutat contemporània”. Barcelona (Spain), 19-20/11/2009.

2009 “El arraigo social y sus simulacros: propuesta para una investigación desde las ciencias sociales” (with Manuel Delgado). 6th Conference on Migrations in Spain. A Coruña (Spain), 17-19/09/2009.

2009 “La práctica de los imaginarios en espacios urbanos rehabilitados: el caso del Raval de Barcelona”. 4th Conference of the Portuguese Association of Anthropology (APA) “Classificar o Mundo”. Lisboa (Portugal), 9-11/09/2009.

2009 “Imaginaris practicats. Remodelació urbanìstica i reconstrucció simbólica al barri del Raval, Barcelona”. 2nd Symposium of Anthropology of the Street. Barcelona (Spain), 29-30/04/2009.

2008 “The making of an atmosphere. The case of the Raval, Barcelona”. International Symposium “Faire une ambience”. Grenoble (France), 10-12/09/2008.

ORGANISATION OF SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS

2024 BeCAMP project final conference “Hospitality as border. The management of everyday life in asylum”. Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia (Italy), 16/12/2024.

2024 Co-convenor (with Amanda Bernal, Universitat de Barcelona) of the panel nº179 “Undoing and redoing anthropology with photography: dialogues, collaborations, hybridisations”. 18th EASA Biennial Conference 2024 “Doing and Undoing with Anthropology”. Barcelona (Spain), 23-26/07/2024.

2024 Co-convenor (with Arnau Poy and Alèxia Rué, Universitat de Barcelona) of the panel "Governing migrations through 'ghost bureaucracy': digitalisation, externalisation and the inaccessibility of the state". COCA, 3rd Catalan Congress of Anthropology. Lleida (Spain), 24-26/01/2024.

2023 Co-convenor (with Corina Tulbure) of the panel “Everyday geopolitics of migration. Micro-settings of banal violence in border regimes”, EISA (European International Studies Association) Pan-European Conference on International Relations "Envisioning a new normal". Potsdam (Germany) and online, 5-9 September 2023.

2022 Member of the organising committee, V Jornadas de Antropología del Conflicto Urbano. University of Barcelona (Spain), 30/11-02/12/2022.

2022   Co-convenor (with Louis Vuilleumier, University of Fribourg), of the panel “Recovery in border regimes: disrupted life projects and clashing imaginaries of the future”, RGS-IBG 2022 Annual International Conference “Geographies beyond recovery”. Newcastle (UK), 30/08-02/09/2022.

2017 Member of the organising committee. III Jornadas de Antropología del Conflicto Urbano. University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), 13-15/12/2017.

2012 Co-convenor (with Fabio Mattioli, CUNY), of panel nº045 “How to survive transitional chaos: new post-socialist solidarities”, 12th Biannual EASA Conference “Uncertainty and disquiet”. Paris (France), 11-13/07/2012.

2008 Convenor of the panel “Espacios de/para la interculturalidad: contacto, tránsito, apropiación” at the 2nd Training Seminar of Young Researchers in Intercultural Dynamics, Fundación CIDOB. Barcelona (Spain), 01-03/12/2008.