“In Dugave? There with the Azilanti?”

This ethnographic study explores the transformation of Dugave, (Novi) Zagreb, focusing on racialization and safety perceptions in the context of non-European migration. Analyzing urban meanings and historical narratives, the research analyzes talk about “azilanti,” assumptions of Croatian whiteness, and unveils the layers of mixedness in Dugave. The article emphasizes the coexistence of perceptions of safety and danger, looking into the gendered dynamic of socio-spatial marginalization with regard to crime, drugs, and hooliganism inscribed in postsocialist and postwar Dugave. The study underscores the need to study the nuances of migrant emplacement as embedded in local histories and global racialized hierarchies.