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CMRS Seminar Series: Antiracist Activism and Migrant Lives Amidst the EU’s Externalization Policies in Tunisia
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Sun, May 24, 2026
6:30 PM – 8 PM (GMT+3)
Hill House, AUC Tahrir Square
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The Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS) at The American University in Cairo (AUC) invites you to an engaging lecture on: "Antiracist Activism and Migrant Lives Amidst the EU’s Externalization Policies in Tunisia."
This talk examines the intersection of European border externalization and the domestic struggle for racial justice in Tunisia. Since the 2010/11 revolution, Tunisia has seen a historic surge in antiracist mobilization and activism, now tested by public accusations, the intensification of EU-driven migration management and a domestic populist turn that racializes migrants from across the African continent. The convergence of EU priorities, the domestic securitization of migration and austerity policies has reconfigured migrants’ lives through routine policing and precarious legality. The talk explores how racialization operates within ‘intimate economies of survival’ in migrant lives, shaping access to employment and housing while highlighting everyday forms of solidarity. Finally, the talk addresses the role of Tunisian civil society as it navigates shrinking spaces for activism and negative public attitudes toward solidarity work with migrants and refugees.
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**A picture ID is required for entry.
For questions or more information, contact us at cmrs@aucegypt.edu.
Speakers
Henri Onodera
Lecturer in Global Development Studies
University of Helsinki
Professor Henri Onodera is a university lecturer in Global Development Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. His research interests include youth and generations, civil society dynamics and antiracism, with a particular focus on contemporary Tunisia. His previous work has examined political engagement, generational dynamics, youth employment and migrant lives in Tunisia, Egypt and Finland. His recent work has focused on the notion of ‘citizenship utopias’ as a form of enacted social imaginary in post-emancipatory contexts of disillusionment (Routledge 2025). He has also worked with artistic and visual methods, especially research-based documentary film. His research and edited work have been published by Routledge and Brill, and he has previously served as a visiting scholar at the University of Tsukuba (Japan), Nordic Africa Institute (Sweden) and Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (Germany)