In this paper, we ask how railways, a massive mobility (infra)structure shaped by the ideology of coordination and certainty, work in the context of prolonged and repeated situations of uncertainty related to clandestine migration. Our main question is how railways are utilized for both containing and enabling mobilities towards the EU. In doing so, we are taking up a viapolitical reading of trains and locomotion. We understand rail infrastructure not only as a tangible object but also as a relational system that organizes movement, interaction and terrain. Based on long-term ethnographic research along the Balkan migratory trail, we discuss how railways are used for facilitating clandestine movement (as leads, resting infrastructures, spaces of solidarity etc.), and how they are used by state authorities to hinder and revert this movement (as detention, backward-paths, spaces of policing and border violence etc.). We investigate how these heterotopic usages of active and abandoned railways inform and reshape everyday geographies of movement along the route, intercity mobility, life on the EU administrative border, and how they change railway routes themselves. We expose how (un)certainty operates on the move, contributing to a non-linear understanding of migration.
This article presents a qualitative analysis of open-ended survey responses examining how university students in Croatia perceive the notion of a “good life” under conditions of precarity. It explores how young people relate to a precarious culture in which economic, temporal, and social insecurities are reflected. The focus is on responses that reveal which aspects of this culture students internalize, which they resist, and how. The paper also examines how they plan their professional futures, the obstacles they identify along the way, and the strategies they employ to overcome them.
U ovome će se radu istražiti lokalne izvedbe globalnih prehrambenih politika i smjernica koje proizlaze iz različitih dokumenata Agencije za hranu i poljoprivredu Ujedinjenih naroda (FAO) te zagovaraju uspostavu održivijih i zelenijih prehrambenih sustava. Trenutačna koncentracija globalnih smjernica na urbana područja uspostavlja platformu za kreiranje novih okvira ujednačenog razvoja urbanog i periurbanog prostora, a spuštanje političke odgovornosti na lokalnu, gradsku razinu omogućuje raznovrsna, multiaktorska rješenja. Etnografsko istraživanje provedeno u dvama hrvatskim gradovima ilustrirat će lokalne izvedbe globalnih ciljeva prehrambenih politika koje se realiziraju u okviru Milanskog pakta ili su njime nadahnute. Riječ je o neobvezujućem sporazumu o razvoju urbane prehrane čiji je Zagreb potpisnik, a kojemu se Rijeka nastoji pridružiti.
The social sciences and humanities have devoted considerable attention to the growing precariousness of labour relations, as well as to its wider implications for the culture of everyday life. Precarity is increasingly understood not only as a condition of employment but also as a broader social experience that shapes people's identities, aspirations, interpersonal relations, and sense of security. The common concern that brought together the contributions in this thematic section was the need to reconsider the intersections among anthropology, labour, morality, and emotional well-being. By examining these interconnections, the authors explore how precarious working conditions are produced and reproduced, how they become embedded in workers’ everyday lives, and how individuals navigate uncertainty and make sense of their lived experiences under such conditions. In particular, this collection seeks to highlight two concepts that are closely linked to precarious labour yet are often analysed in isolation: coping strategies and emotional imprints. Bringing these concepts into dialogue enables a more nuanced understanding of how people both respond to and are shaped by the material and affective consequences of precarious work.
