Migrant Journal is a six-issue publication exploring the circulation of people, goods, information, even fauna and flora around the world and the transformative impact they have on space.

The refugee crisis that Europe is currently facing is shedding a dramatic light on the countryside. Syrians refugees flee the war via Turkey, then Greece and t heir isolated beaches, to move on to travel Europe across country, fields and scenic landscapes via Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia... The forgotten rural land is the stage of our present migration tragedy, not cities.

Migrations in rural settings, however, transcend movements of people. The countryside is the metaphor of the nation, its permanence is celebrated in the vocabulary and the iconography: soil, roots, trees, farmers. But, like cities, the countryside has dramatically changed, influenced by human and ecological footprints—man-made or natural. Most of the fruits, vegetables and cereals that are part of our everyday diet and whose crops are shaping our rural landscapes are not autochthonous, they were imported. Seeds are also migrants, so are the mechanical inventions that shape our landscape. What will be the migration of tomorrow? What will be the countryside of tomorrow?

Language: English