Being a church on the border
Discussions from the Webinar Conflict and Human Displacement
Last October 28, 2024 the webinar Conflict and Human Displacement, organized by SIMI and the scholars in the research project Nordhost – Migration and Hospitality in a Nordic context, was held online.
Conflict is a crucial issue regarding migration and displacement of people, and there are many questions that this interrelationship raises. How do we understand and interpret human displacement, precarity and borderlands? From the apocalyptical to the hopeful? Is it possible to unite the forces or making a unified position across disciplines to address the crisis? What could be a meaningful religious response?
Filippo Ferraro, Executive Director of the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA), set up the scenario for the conversation providing an interesting overview over the situation of the conflicts and migration in Africa and the consequences on both local, regional and global scenario. He underlined the fact that “migration in Africa is first of all a regional movement. Migrants move in their own region”, describing macro area of Africa. There is, of course, a percentage of people (25 %) that is oriented to international migration: Europe, North America (US and Canada) and the Arabic States.
Hans Morten Haugen, Professor at the Faculty of Theology and Social Sciences, VID Specialized University in Norway, lent some interesting perspective in the conversation. He spoke about the issue of Norway as a country hosting refugees starting by introducing the multicultural Christian network. He also gave some figures on the population’s response to migrations and some perspective from the Norwegian context as well as from Norwegian church context.
Finally, Associate professor in Theology and director of the Ph.D. program in Theology and Religion at VID Specialized University in Norway, Daniela Lucia Rapisarda, gave the audience some theological perspective from border line starting with the symbolic configuration of the Mediterranean “from an open space to a border. From common sea to Frontex”. “Borders are not fix entities”, Rapisarda continued “they are understood as processes; constructed through practices and discourses. So, they are the outcome of ‘border work’”. She put Theology in dialogue with Critical Border Studies, reflected upon the concept of church on the border. “Being a church on the border means questioning every border”.
The border is an uncomfortable place, a place of contradiction as well as a “contact zone”
Therefore, borders can become a space of connection and a test for all the humanity involved. A church on the border is a church that promotes dialogue and understanding. The images of God are also reformulated: “the image of a God who welcomes everyone merges with a community that hosts”.
The event was the fourth of the ecumenical and international webinar series aiming at fostering critical perspectives on migration in Europe and facilitating an ongoing conversation among theologians and migration scholars, refugees and migrants, activists, and church and civic leaders.
Recordings of the webinar will be available soon on SIMI’s YouTube page
Next webinar march 21st