DISEE

Project overview

How do spatial configurations – the marginalisation of camps, their distance from urban centres, and the fragmentation of intervention sites – affect the trajectories of community engagement with exiles?

The DISEE project (Spatial Dimension of Engagement with Exiles) examines the spatial dimension of discouragement, the emergence of ‘long-term volunteers’ and the circulation of knowledge between areas of engagement.

Led by Antoine Esnos (PhD student in sociology, LATTS, Université Gustave Eiffel) and Annaelle Piva (postdoctoral researcher in geography, UMR Géographie-cités, P.A.R.I.S. team), this project was selected as part of the first round of the GIS GESTES ‘Amorçage’ 2026 Call for Projects.

With regard to migration, the research draws on participant observation, semi-structured interviews, sensitive mapping and a comparison of organisations with differing statuses and models of action. The project focuses on three initial hypotheses:

1. The spatial dimensions of voluntary or activist work contribute to a ‘politics of discouragement’ amongst volunteers and to their burnout.
2. Long-term commitments transform biographical, professional and activist trajectories, blurring the boundaries between volunteering and paid employment.
3. Careers in activism, which are often multi-sited, contribute to the circulation of knowledge and the professionalisation of the field of aid to exiles in France.

DISEE is focusing more specifically on two border areas: Calais and Briançon. Field research took place in 2026 and will continue in 2027. A presentation of the findings is planned for late 2027 as part of a study day.

Photo credit: Grande-Synthe, 2020, Antoine Esnos