The role of diasporic ties in alternative infrastructure: A case study of the Kurdish community center of Rome

Abstract

This paper seeks to further explore the infrastructuring approach within migration studies by adding an empirical case study and investigating the role of diasporic social capital in infrastructuring practices. In the face of increasingly stringent border controls and racialized mobility regimes, scholars have documented grassroots “alternative” infrastructures that facilitate mobility, shelter, and information flows to navigate and respond to state-imposed (im)mobility regimes. However, these studies often presume uniform solidarity, neglecting how diasporic social capital influences who benefits from—and who is excluded by—such infrastructures. Based on ethnographic research, life-history interviews, and a year of participant observation at the Kurdish socio-cultural center in Rome, this paper demonstrates how the center first establishes an alternative infrastructure and, second, how this infrastructure is significantly shaped by diasporic connections. The center’s services—such as legal aid, language classes, and housing referrals—while forming an alternative infrastructure, are deeply influenced by the diasporic ties. By highlighting the foundational and resonant aspects of migrant-led infrastructuring, the two ethnographic vignettes reveal the impact of diasporic capital on the distribution of support and critique and the lack of universal solidarity in infrastructuring practices. The paper argues that to fully comprehend the process of infrastructuring practices, scholars must also engage with its diasporic dimension.