Migration and race: Why we need to talk about Central and Eastern Europe

With over 11,000 pushbacks and almost 100 migrants found dead since 2021, the Polish-Belarusian border has joined the ranks of some of the most hostile European borders. This happens in the context of full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Lukashenka’s regime easing of the entry restrictions for migrants intending to travel to the West. Those being denied entry, pushed back or dying are disproportionately migrants from East African and Middle East countries. This is symptomatic of some of the dramatic changes that Central and Eastern Europe is facing in relation to migration, including increasingly hostile anti-immigration rhetoric. But not all migrants are unwanted in what - at the core - is a conflict around race, whiteness and belonging. [Our recent book](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003404040/migration-race-kasia-narkowicz-anna-gawlewicz-konrad-p%C4%99dziwiatr) (2025, Routledge) centres racialisation in the study of contemporary migrations to, from and within Central and Eastern Europe.

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https://www.eurac.edu/en/blogs/mobile-people-and-diverse-societies/migration-and-race-why-we-need-to-talk-about-central-and-eastern-europe-