How do young Gambians understand the forces shaping their mobility—and what can their analyses teach us about the global border regime?

Backway to Europe, a new podcast series hosted on Allegra Lab, takes up these questions through a rare collaboration between Gambian advocates and our member and anthropologist Viola Castellano.

The series brings listeners into direct conversation with members of Youth Against Irregular Migration (YAIM), an organization founded by young Gambians who first met inside a Libyan detention center. Their testimonies offer an unfiltered account of “the backway,” the term widely used in The Gambia to describe the illegalized route to Europe. Far from sensationalizing the journey, the podcast foregrounds the political insights of those who have lived it—why regular migration pathways remain inaccessible, how border infrastructures shape everyday decisions, and why the backway continues to be a widespread response to structural precarity.

Across seven episodes, YAIM members reflect on their journeys, detentions, and forced returns, while also examining the promises and contradictions of “return and reintegration” programs. Their analyses challenge dominant narratives about African migration by insisting on an African standpoint—one that situates mobility within broader histories of inequality, aspiration, and resistance.

The project emerges from Castellano’s long‑term research on European border externalization and her ongoing dialogue with YAIM. While she provides contextual notes on visa regimes, EU policy frameworks, and the infrastructures that govern mobility, the narrative is driven by the participants themselves. Their voices anchor the series, offering a grounded, politically engaged perspective that is too often absent from public debates.

Each episode is accompanied by a full transcript and an annotated bibliography, making the series a valuable resource for scholars, students, and practitioners working on migration, border studies, and African politics.

Backway to Europe invites listeners to rethink how migration is narrated—and who gets to speak.

You can explore the full podcast series here: Backway to Europe: Talking Borders and Migration with Gambians on the Move.