How civil society organizations challenge the datafication of securitized migration control: on knowledge-based action repertoires in ecologies of contention

Abstract This article examines civil society organizations (CSOs) as knowledge producers engaged in struggles against the securitization and datafication of migration and border control in the European Union. While research has already studied the productive forces of civil society collective action for contention around critical data matters, little attention has been paid to the specific knowledge-based practices that underpin migrant rights advocacy. Drawing on the concept of “ecologies of contention”, the paper highlights how securitized discourses, opaque governance, and unequal capacities circumscribe CSO interventions. To analyze how CSOs navigate these circumstances, we introduce the notion of “knowledge-based action repertoires”. Using the Eurodac regulation recast as a case study, the paper shows how CSOs developed counter-narratives, crafted concerns that resonate across advocacy contexts and actors, and mobilized coalitions to elicit responses from EU policymakers. Knowledge-based actions included reframing Eurodac in terms of surveillance, illustrating its everyday impacts, and slowing regulatory processes down to buy more time for internal capacity building. Furthermore, the emerging CSO coalition sought to strengthen knowledge production by assembling interdisciplinary expertise, leveraging recognized experts, and mobilizing broad civil society networks. These practices illustrate how knowledge production is central to challenging the datafied governance of migration in Europe.