Stefano Piemontese

"Need a guide to decode the script behind UK anti-immigration rhetoric? This is your roadmap", @stefano-piemontese.bsky.social argues. It unpacks how #irregularmigration was constructed during one of the most turbulent periods in British politics (2019–2023). zenodo.org/records/1511...

A (research) year-in-review thread from IRIS @unibirmingham.bsky.social
We asked our researchers to pick one of their publications from 2025 and share why it stands out for them.
Here's what they replied!
#migration
#refugees
#socialsciences
#diversity
#research

Public understanding and attitudes to irregular migration in the UK - I-CLAIM This report summarises findings from the February 2025 I-CLAIM survey of 1,147 UK adults, exploring public knowledge of irregular migration, how people define it, and their attitudes toward irregular ...

Today we published a report on public understanding & attitudes to #irregularmigration in the UK.
this is my a one-line summary:
strong opinions, wrong facts.
But there is so much more to it. Ultimately the picture is much more nuanced and complex...
i-claim.eu/project/publ...

Ethnographic Methods in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Research "Ethnographic Methods in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Research" published on 29 Jan 2024 by Bristol University Press.

The book is available as open access publication at bit.ly/4k9NBXn

This Thursday at 18:00 CET, I'll join the book presentation "Ethnographic Methods in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Research", to which I contributed a chapter on remote collaborative ethnography, co-authored with Luxa Leoco.

🔗 Register here: eu.avcr.cz/en/news/Romisticke-utopie-15-May-2025/

Piotr talking with the audience during the Q&A session

"Of Brothers and Sisters" by Oxana Bischin follows two Romanian Roma siblings reconnecting and sharing their life journeys. Through creative workshops and heartfelt interviews, the film reveals raw emotions and invites us to appreciate life's complexity and recognise the power of resilience.

"Jimmy's Archive" by Robert Deakin explores nostalgia through the closet of a retired bachelor in East London. As objects reveal their stories, we're transported to 1970s London's rock scene and the life of a neighborhood that will no longer exist.

The last two movies at #ASA2025 left us with a melancholic smile, reminding us of our shared human connections. #Anthropology

The films were shown in two sessions: "Labour (and) Environment" featuring also "Minding sand" by Laura van Herp, and "Healing, Aging, Growth" featuring also "Growing Old in the Margins in Lima, Peru" and "The moral value of our cells".

"Hanging Out" by Mari Korpela follows five transnational boys in Tampere who, through their self-irony and cynicism, hijack the anthropologist's film to share their worldview – turning an unexpected deviation into collaborative filmmaking at its best.

"Land full of Boas" by Clara Kleininger-Wanik showcases indigenous women healers and midwives in the Ecuadorian rainforest. Through sensory imagery, the film explores their shamanic practices and connection to nature while also examining modern gender dynamics.

@piotrgoldstein.bsky.social's (and colleagues) polyphonic film explores cross-border commuters between Poland and Germany. Using a circular narrative, it captures how daily migration affects the workers' sense of time, leading them to conclude "This Week Does Not Really Exist"

Delighted to see such high turnout at the #ASA2025 conference's second-day film programme – especially impressive for a lunch break at an anthropology conference!

An open question remains: whether tradition itself might simply be a collection of snapshots from a larger, endless process of modernisation, combination, hybridisation, and transmission across generations.

Young people emerge as central actors, both as participants in intergenerational cultural transmission and as individuals seeking to understand and connect with tradition.

The "Musical Valley" explores the tensions between the need of the protagonists to engage with traditional indigenous music – whether through modernisation or preservation – and the commodification of music as an element of ethnocultural identity within global chains of tourism.

We screened Jérémie Voirol's film "The Musical Valley” – one of those films that unfolds before your eyes like a landscape, leaving you with the refreshing feeling of completing a meaningful journey.

Clip from the movie “The Musical Valley” showing a band playing in a concert.

Yesterday, we had the first session of the film programme I'm coordinating with @amartinsjr.bsky.social at the 2025 UK Association of Social Anthropologists (#ASA2025) conference.

🚧✊ Migrants are actively and creatively leveraging social media platforms like TikTok to craft individual and diasporic identities, as well as border infrapolitics that challenge stereotypes and counter established criminalization narratives. (🧵4/4)

🌐🔄 Digital platforms aren't just intermediaries – they’re active players shaping mobility patterns, border regimes, and diaspora solidarity mechanisms across Europe! (🧵3/4)

I think two fundamental takeaways emerged from the double session "Navigating Digital Borders" at the 2025 UK Association of Social Anthropologists (ASA) conference at the University of Birmingham. (🧵2/4)

Yesterday, I presented our latest @iclaimeu.bsky.social research on food delivery workers and digital borders in #Birmingham, examining the connections between emerging criminalisation narratives and evolving legal and policy frameworks regulating the UK platform economy. (🧵1/4)

After months of challenging work learning new methodology, I've produced what I believe is a valuable piece of research that shows how 'irregular migration' is narratively constructed in UK media, politics, and civil society. Full report: bit.ly/uk-migration.... Key findings and excerpts below👇

Photograph of an abandoned brick building in an industrial area in central Birmingham

🚲 Bikes are crucial nodes in the #PlatformEconomy — the core machinery in the food delivery assembly line. Today as part of my fieldwork for @iclaimeu.bsky.social I started following their journey across workshops, from acquisition to repair and electric conversion, all the way into urban mobility.

Hello there! We are the IMISCOE Standing Committee „Methodological Approaches and Tools in Migration Research“ or  “Meth@Mig” for short. We will use this profile to share news about our SC and members. Please follow us to stay up-to-date.

Learn more about us: www.imiscoe.org/research/sta...

Me happily biting a coxinha de costela in a Brazilian restaurant in Birmingham.

The advantages of qualitative research – fieldwork for @iclaimeu.bsky.social in the UK is clearly gaining momentum.

Wow, we’ve been publishing really good stuff at @irisbirmingham.bsky.social this year.

🪴 Application deadline for this amazing #IMISCOE summer school is in a couple of days! Please, share or apply if you haven't already done so.

"Co-authored with Luxa Leoco, this chapter marks a milestone in my journey of learning how to conduct collaborative research (and reflect on it) in settings characterised by strong power imbalances", says @stefano-piemontese.bsky.social
bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/edcollchap-o...