About the seminar and its origins

The series brings research on racial capitalism into conversation with the experiences of people who migrate. From plantation societies to sites of confinement in Europe, the sessions explore how racial hierarchies take shape and how people contest them.

Origins and project

The seminar began in 2024 as a space for debate on racial capitalism, borders and migration, bringing together the Grup d’Estudis sobre Reciprocitat (GER) at the University of Barcelona and the Observatori d’Antropologia del Conflicte Urbà (OACU). Coordinated by Martin Lundsteen, it connects with the questions explored by the research project Urban B/ordering in the EU: how borders, inequalities and forms of belonging are produced in everyday life and urban space.

In 2026, through OACU’s project linked to the Observatori del Patrimoni Etnològic i Immaterial (OPEI), the seminar expands its documentation and public engagement work. Sessions, recordings, the podcast and publications connect research with social experiences, everyday practices and changing ways of life associated with migration and borders. The aim is to make this knowledge accessible and sustain conversations beyond each meeting.