Drawing on an ethnography of informal refugee camps for Kosovo forced migrants in Italy, this talk argues for a resident-centred understanding of camps and camp-like institutions in refugee studies. It invites to a closer examination of the everyday lives in/of camps and the embodied practices and claims of citizenship that inhabitants perform. It discuss the concept of campzenship as a tool for capturing both the spatiality of membership and the specificity of contemporary camps.

Dr Nando Sigona is a sociologist with over ten years research and teaching experience in migration, refugee and ethnic studies. He is a Birmingham Fellow and lecturer at the School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham. Previously Nando was Senior Researcher at COMPAS and Senior Research Officer at the Refugee Studies Centre. His current research explores the impact of globalisation, migration and human rights regime on meanings and practices of citizenship and non-citizenship in countries affected by significant population movements. His research interests include: statelessness, diasporas and the state; Romani politics and anti-Gypsyism; ‘illegality’ and the everyday experiences of undocumented migrant children and young people; and governance and governmentality of forced migration in the EU.

His work has appeared in a range of peer reviewed journals, including Sociology, Social Anthropology,Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and Ethnic and Racial Studies. He is author or editor of books and journal’s special issues including Romani politics in contemporary Europe: poverty, ethnic mobilisation and the neoliberal order (with Nidhi Trehan, Palgrave, 2009), Refugee Community Organisations and Dispersal: Networks, Resources and Social Capital (with David Griffiths and Roger Zetter, Policy Press, 2005), The Roma in the new EU: Polices, Frames and Everyday Experiences (with Peter Vermeersch, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2012), and Rifugio Europa? (Studi Emigrazione, 2006).

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