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Backway to Europe is a groundbreaking podcast series co‑created with Gambian advocates and activists and Viola Castellano, placing their analyses at the forefront of contemporary migration debates. Castellano worked on her research and this podcast while being University of Bayreuth's DGF-Fellow at the Chair of Anthropology.

The series offers an in‑depth examination of the border regime through firsthand accounts of “the backway,” the term widely used in The Gambia to describe the illegalized route to Europe. These narratives echo the experiences of countless migrants navigating West African and trans‑Saharan routes.

The inaugural seven‑episode series features members of Youth Against Irregular Migration (YAIM), an advocacy group founded by young Gambians who first met inside a Libyan detention center. Their reflections provide a rare, analytically rich account of why regular migration pathways remain inaccessible; how journeys, detentions, and forced returns unfold; and how “return and reintegration” programs are interpreted, contested, and resisted on the ground. The series interrogates why the backway persists as a widespread response to structural and economic precarity, and what it means to articulate migration advocacy from an African standpoint.

Developed through an ongoing collaboration between YAIM and anthropologist Viola Castellano, the project builds on years of dialogue around European border externalization. Castellano contributes contextual analysis on visa regimes, border infrastructures, and EU policy frameworks, while the core narrative is driven by the political insights and lived experiences of YAIM members themselves.

Each episode is accompanied by a full transcript and an annotated bibliography, offering a robust resource for students, researchers, and practitioners seeking to engage critically with contemporary migration, mobility governance, and African perspectives on border politics.

Viola Castellano will present the podcast during her upcoming talk at university of Bayreuth's Anthropology Lecture Series in summer semester of 2026 on June 30th. You can access this podcast on Allegra Laboratory's website.