For our 28th issue, we asked for contributions on the theme of ‘archiving migration’. 

Archives are often mistaken for fixed and neutral repositories of memory, yet they codify memory and knowledge in ways that reflect and reinforce power. In the context of migration, [counter]archives have emerged as powerful instruments for documenting histories of displacement, border violence, and the struggles for mobility, particularly of voices and narratives that are erased from official historical records / archives.

The contributions gathered here discuss the many ways migration is remembered, preserved, and performed. Some look at digital and fragile archives of absence, such as Varosha’s online memory spaces (Erkul), while others highlight creative practices that allow displaced communities to claim presence, from musical workshops for Ukrainian children in Irish schools (Kenny & Lukianchenko) to photographic projects capturing the enduring spirit of Chicago’s Pilsen community beyond the crisis narrative (Marquez). Other pieces foreground intimate, everyday forms of archiving: shared baking and culinary practices as living memory (Akpuogwu; El-Hawary), stories carried across generations (Mohajer), or personal family histories shaped by conflict (Anonymous).

Contributions to this issue critically examine and contest the structures of archival power itself. Potter reflects on counter-archiving in Ireland, showing how state-centered archival practices often exclude voices of statelessness and displacement, while Dudman’s work with the Living Refugee Archive emphasises participatory approaches that foster identity, community, and belonging. Brewer’s investigation of immigrant networks in post-Brexit labor markets extends this attention to social structures, illustrating how the everyday organization of life and work shapes migration experiences.

Together, these pieces suggest that migration archives are not only sites of memory, but also sites of imagination, care, and resistance. They bring attention to the violence of erasure, and assert that histories of movement are not only recorded in documents or policies; they are lived, shared, and collectively made.