The project aims to map the history of migration phenomena on the basis of 150,000 individual case files of foreigners drawn up by Belgium's Sûreté Publique between 1840 and 1890

The starting point of this project is the wish to map the history of migration phenomena on the basis of a set of archives rich in material but as yet little explored: the 150,000 individual case files of foreigners drawn up by Belgium's Sûreté Publique between 1840 and 1890. Following a quantitative macro-study, research will move to a micro-level, looking at the migrants themselves.

Three categories of migrants have been singled out - excluded people, sailors and "knowledge workers" (researchers, technicians, students) - with a view to establishing their trajectories and networks. The goal is to assess the attitude - repressive or accommodating - of the Belgian State and its administration towards this growing "Europe on the move" in a context of heightened industrial rivalry. A further goal is to understand the mechanisms behind the demarcation of what was "national" and what was "foreign" by those directly subject to its effects - and not solely by those making this distinction.

Coordinated by the VUB, the project includes a team from the ULB - Kenneth Bertrams, Modern and Contemporary Worlds, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters.

End of the project: 15/03/2019

Dates
Created on August 29, 2018