Game: The Economy of Undocumented Migration from Afghanistan to Europe

RSC Public Seminar Series, Hilary Term 2026

Series convened by Professor Tom Scott-Smith and Professor Catherine Briddick

About this talk

To seek asylum, people often have to cross borders undocumented, embarking on perilous trajectories. Due to the war in Afghanistan, the rule of the Taliban, and severe human rights violations, over the past decades thousands of people have risked their lives to seek safety. By what means do they make these journeys, especially when they lack money and passports? Over the course of three years, Hannah Pool accompanied a group of Afghan friends and families as they attempted "The Game" - Game zadan: the route to Europe to seek asylum. The resulting ethnography follows them across their entire trajectories: through Iran, Turkey, Greece, and along the so-called Balkan route. In each place, Pool details the economic interactions and social relationships essential for acquiring, saving, borrowing, spending, and exchanging money to facilitate their undocumented migration routes. The Game bridges economic sociology and migration studies to illustrate how migrants decide to trust people to facilitate their movement along these routes, focusing particularly on debt, special monies, bribes, donations, and gift-giving. Throughout the migration trajectory, relationships with family, fellow migrants, smugglers, humanitarian actors, and border control officials shape and are shaped by access to financial resources. Ultimately, the book highlights the dangers in undocumented border-crossing and delves into the core of what it means to flee: Who has the means to escape dangerous conditions to seek asylum?

About the speaker

Hannah Pool is a Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. She has conducted extensive research on undocumented migration trajectories across Iran, Turkey, Greece, the Balkan route, and Germany. She studied at the University of Tehran and St. Andrews and has been a visiting scholar at both Oxford University and Columbia University, furthering her expertise in migration studies and economic sociology. Her research has been awarded the dissertation award of IMISCOE, the German Sociological Association and the German Political Studies Association. 

The seminar will be followed by drinks in the Hall.

Registration not required.

All enquiries should be directed to rsc-outreach@qeh.ox.ac.uk