Join us for a conversation on the ongoing movement of people into Europe and the United States, how irregular journeys are organised, and the actors facilitating movement for those without regular travel opportunities
Thursday 4 December 2025, 17.00-18.00
DIIS ∙ Danish Institute for International Studies & Demokrati Garage
Demokrati Garage
Rentemestervej 57, 2400 Copenhagen
The ongoing movement of people across borders into Europe and the United States has become a defining issue in contemporary politics, raising both alarm and humanitarian concern. But how are these irregular journeys organised, and who are the actors on the ground facilitating movement for people without regular travel opportunities?
In this joint event, 2024 National Book Award Winner Professor Jason De León (UCLA) and Carlsberg Monograph Fellow senior researcher Hans Lucht (DIIS) share their experiences researching, working on, and writing about migrant smuggling. De León focuses on smuggling across the U.S.–Mexico border, while Lucht is writing a new book about migration along the routes across the Sahara and through North Africa into Europe. Both also explore alternative ways of communicating research, including long-form nonfiction and documentary poetry.
Jason de León is professor of anthropology in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies and director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is a 2017 MacArthur Foundation Fellow and author of the award-winning ‘The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail’ as well as 2024 National Book Award recipient for ’Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling’.
Hans Lucht is an anthropologist, writer and head of the migration section at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS). He’s the author of the award-winning ‘Darkness before Daybreak: African Migrants Living on the Martins Today’. His recent work includes ‘Vores liv ryster’ (2024) a documentary poetry book about migration. Lucht is currently a Carlsberg Monograph Fellow with a project about human smuggling on the trans-Saharan routes to North Africa and Europe.
Ida Marie Savio Vammen is a Senior Researcher at the Migration and Global Order Unit at the Danish Institute for International Studies. Her field based research centers on the multiple effects of EU border governance and externalization in West Africa, as well as migrants’ everyday navigation and precarity. Ida will be moderating the talk.
Practical information
The event will be held in English. Participation is free of charge but registration is required via our registration form. The event takes place at Demokrati Garage, Rentemestervej 57, 2400 Copenhagen.
Sign up HERE