The 2015 Migrant Crisis: An Impact to Germany?

The 2015 European Migrant Crisis emerged when an influx of refugees settled in Europe from 2015-2019. The asylum seekers fled their homelands to evade a myriad of crises such as violence and war, corruption and abuse, and poor socioeconomic conditions. Of the European states, Germany welcomed the largest number of migrants. This was in part due to Germany’s existing immigration policies in a post-Second World War environment, but also due to Germany’s resounding economic strength. Germany has significantly low unemployment rates and the highest gross domestic product (GDP) in Europe. As such, Germany’s position is one of uncontested significance within the European Union (EU); however, there is controversy on whether the European Union’s polices, and distribution of immigrants, is fair and reasonable and if the influx of migrants are beneficial or detrimental to German society as a result. This study seeks to use quantifiable economic data to outline the causal effects of the Migrant Crisis on Germany. This study concludes that the 2015 Migrant Crisis had a low but positive impact to the German economy and a mid to high-level impact on German political society in the short-term duration of the Crisis (2015-2019). A full and comprehensive determination of the long-term impacts requires a future study, but the results of this research indicate the effects of the Migrant Crisis have normalized resulting in no long-term impacts. Using statistical analysis of data and an ethnological and phenomenological research design to understand the impacts to Germany will aid policymakers navigating the complexities of, and policy recommendations for, the Crisis from both a data driven and local perspective. This will further aid in forecasting the economic strength, immigration policies, and public opinion of Germany and the European Union

Borders and Mobility in South Asia and Beyond

The world is experiencing one of the largest movements of people in history with 65 million people displaced by conflict in 2015, the majority of which were from Asia. This book brings a deep engagement with individuals whose lives are shaped by encounters with borders by telling the stories of a poor Bangladeshi women who regularly crosses the India border to visit family, of Muslims from India living in Gulf countries for work, and the harrowing journey of a young Afghan man as he sets off on foot to Germany. The international and interdisciplinary work in this book contributes to this moment by analyzing how borders are experienced by migrants and borderlanders in South Asia, how mobility and diaspora are engaged in literature and media, and how the lives of migrants are transformed during their journey to new homes in South Asia, the Middle East, North America, and Europe

Being in limbo: Digital Habitus and Contemporary Colonialism in the Case of Syrian Refugees in Turkey, Greece, and Germany

This study discusses Syrian refugees’ migration trajectories and narratives, based on the fieldwork conducted among Syrian refugees in Turkey, Greece, and Germany as three major geo-political countries particularly concerning Syrian refugee communities. The research adopts a qualitative research map, using the Grounded Theory research approach, ethnography and semi-structured interview methods, in six cities and eight refugee protection centres and camps. The research findings obtained and generated during the field studies are evaluated and analysed using theoretical toolboxes derived from sociology and political science. Especially important are three theoretical frameworks: Power Relations, Digital Habitus, and Political and Social Subjectivities, through which I analysed the Syrian refugees’ practices of mobilities, migration routes, and perception of targeted countries in detail. These theoretical frameworks assist in understanding the implications and limitations of power relations in refugees’ lives, as well as refugees’ use of the internet and media and the influence of these uses on their refugee’s perceptions and desires while being in limbo in refugee camps. Also, the importance of varying capital forms and women refugee’s gender experiences in forced migration and displacement are foregrounded and evaluated. The research proposes a new methodological system that helps to understand contemporary colonialism while addressing current colonial and exploitation relations - Semi-Autonomous Colonialism. This system considers three mechanisms as (co)-operating drivers: Power relations as pushing and formative forces, Subjectivity as individuals’ agencies, actions, and representations within the scope of their own capacity and capital, and Digital Habitus as a new connecting interface, that assist in understanding refugees’ use of the internet and media and its influence of on the refugee's perception and desires. In the research, in which the active participation of individuals by consenting to the changing and digitalising systems is discussed, semi-autonomy stands out as a unique character. Contemporary colonialism appears in peoples' agenda even in the daily practices and decisions, particularly when they immigrate, establish a new life and become unseen actors in economic and social relationships. Consequently, Semi-Autonomous Colonialism is a model of modern colonialism in which the strategies and mechanisms of exploitation become invisible. Keywords: Migration, Forced Displacement, Syrian Refugees, Colonialism, Habitus, Power Relations, Subjectivit

Images of Immigrants and Refugees in Western Europe

"The topic of migration has become particularly contentious in national and international debates. Media have a discernable impact on overall societal attitudes towards this phenomenon. Polls show time and again that immigration is one of the most important issues occupying people’s minds. This book examines the dynamic interplay between media representations of migrants and refugees on the one hand and the governmental and societal (re)actions to these on the other. Largely focusing on Belgium and Sweden, this collection of interdisciplinary research essays attempts to unravel the determinants of people’s preferences regarding migration policy, expectations towards newcomers, and economic, humanitarian and cultural concerns about immigration’s effect on the majority population’s life. Whilst migrants and refugees remain voiceless and highly underrepresented in the legacy media, this volume allows their voices to be heard. Contributors: Leen d’Haenens (KU Leuven), Willem Joris (KU Leuven), Paul Puschmann (KU Leuven/Radboud University Nijmegen), Ebba Sundin (Halmstad University), David De Coninck (KU Leuven), Rozane De Cock (KU Leuven), Valériane Mistiaen (Université libre de Bruxelles), Lutgard Lams (KU Leuven), Stefan Mertens (KU Leuven), Olivier Standaert (UC Louvain), Hanne Vandenberghe (KU Leuven), Koen Matthijs (KU Leuven), Kevin Smets (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Jacinthe Mazzocchetti (UC Louvain), Lorraine Gerstmans (UC Louvain), Lien Mostmans (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), and François Heinderyckx (Université libre de Bruxelles)

"Generation 9/11": Canadian Muslim Youth Negotiating Nationalist and Sexual Subjectivities

While much attention has been given to the impact on adult Muslims religious identities in the post-9/11 era, little research has been conducted on young Muslims who have grown up in this period. Moreover, the limited research on Muslim youths identity tends to focus almost exclusively on male aggression and female piety. In this dissertation, I argue that the repetition of these themes in both scholarly research and mainstream media serves to narrow an understanding of young Muslims identities, and functions to perpetuate stereotyped notions of young Muslims. I also argue that sexuality is hegemonically employed in North American national ideologies to construct Muslim sexuality as inferior to non-Muslim sexuality; however, until now, researchers have yet to examine its impact on young Muslims sexual subjectivities. I situate my study in the context of national ideology and particularly the shifts taking place in the post-9/11 context that underpin notions of belonging and citizenship. The idea of the nation includes regulations and restrictions for sexual crossingsthat is, good citizens should not have sex with the enemy Other (Nagel, 2003: 141-42). National belonging thus entails controlling the sexual practices of national members and defining acceptable sexual coupling. Accordingly, because terrorist-enemy constructions are frequently linked to Muslim identity, my study examines how this sexually racialized structuring affects young Canadian Muslims perceptions of national belonging and citizenship. I argue that these interrelated constructions of Muslim identity and national belonging have an impact on young Canadian Muslims sexual subjectivities and their perceptions of appropriate sexual coupling within a national context. Hence, this study simultaneously illuminates the links between Muslim sexual identity and perspectives of national belonging as well as stresses young Muslim identities as an under-researched area of Canadian identity politics

The Routledge Handbook of Refugee Narratives

This Handbook presents a transnational and interdisciplinary study of refugee narratives, broadly defined. Interrogating who can be considered a refugee and what constitutes a narrative, the thirty-eight chapters included in this collection encompass a range of forcibly displaced subjects, a mix of geographical and historical contexts, and a variety of storytelling modalities. Analyzing novels, poetry, memoirs, comics, films, photography, music, social media, data, graffiti, letters, reports, eco-design, video games, archival remnants, and ethnography, the individual chapters counter dominant representations of refugees as voiceless victims. Addressing key characteristics and thematics of refugee narratives, this Handbook examines how refugee cultural productions are shaped by and in turn shape socio-political landscapes. It will be of interest to researchers, teachers, students, and practitioners committed to engaging refugee narratives in the contemporary moment. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license

Bodies over Borders and Borders over Bodies: the 'Gender Refugee' and the imagined South Africa

This thesis tracks the conceptual journeying of the term 'transgender' from the Global North - where it originated - along with the physical embodied journeying of transgender asylum seekers from countries within Africa to South Africa, and considers the interrelationships between the two. With regards to the term 'transgender', it is the contention of this thesis that it transforms as it travels, taking on meaning in relation to bodies, national homes, institutional frameworks and imaginaries. More specifically, that it has materialised in South Africa - first as a discourse and following this as a politics - due to a combination of social, political and cultural conditions peculiar to the country. In direct correlation to this movement, this thesis argues that in recent years South Africa has seen the emergence of what can be usefully termed 'gender refugees' - people who can make claims to refugee status, fleeing their countries of origin based on the persecution of their gender identity. This study centers on the experiences and narratives of these gender refugees, gathered through a series of life story interviews, highlighting the ways in which their departures, border crossings, arrivals and perceptions of South Africa have been both enabled and constrained by the contested meanings and politics of this emergence of transgender, particularly in relation to the possibilities of the South African Constitution. Through such narratives, this thesis explores the radical constitutional-legal possibilities for transgender in South Africa, the dissonances between the possibilities of constitutional law - in relation to the distinction made between sex and gender - and the pervasive politics/logic of binary 'sex/gender' within South African society. In doing so, this thesis enriches the emergent field of Transgender Studies, and challenges some of the current dominant theoretical and political perceptions of transgender, by offering complex narratives regarding sex, gender, sexuality and notions of home in relation to particular geo-politically situated bodies. This thesis speaks to contemporary international concerns and debates regarding migration and asylum, identity politics, the control of borders, human rights and protections, documentation and the ongoing bureaucratisation of sex/gender

The Visual Othering of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the British Newspaper Media: An Intersectional Analysis

This thesis explores how the British newspaper media use images to other refugees. While much has been written on media language, little work has explored media othering through visual means. The research that has been conducted in this field focuses on a small number of photographs from particular time periods. While important, the current literature is unable to provide a full understanding of how the mass media others refugees and how this othering differs depending on the intersecting socio-demographic characteristics of these groups. Furthermore, there has been limited research on how media audiences read images. My thesis addresses these research gaps by conducting an intersectional visual data analysis of 377 photographs of refugees in four British newspapers over a period of three years, and fourteen interviews with newspaper readers. I find that intersectionality is crucial in understanding the British newspaper media othering of refugees, and that this othering is a continuation of the othering that was produced during colonialism. I argue, therefore, that the British media reproduces the racialised hierarchy that was used to justify colonisation. In this hierarchy, racialised men are represented as dangerous threats while racialised women and children are represented as vulnerable but only as long as they are passive and distant. Postcolonial othering is used to justify the government’s restrictive border controls. Furthermore, I find that British newspaper readers broadly accepted the dominant framing of otherness in the media. Meanwhile, colonial amnesia also exists which shifts the responsibility for the refugees away from the West and towards the Middle East and Africa. This research furthers knowledge in the field of media images of refugees. I have provided a full and in-depth understanding of how the media intersectionally others refugees. I have also added to the field by exploring how media audiences read these images

Migration in Austria

The interdisciplinary volume offers methodologically innovative approaches to Austria's coping with issues of migration past and present. These essays show Austria's long history as a migration country. Austrians themselves have been on the move for the past 150 years to find new homes and build better lives. After the World War II the economy improved and prosperity set in, so Austrians tended to stay at home. Austria's growing prosperity made the country attractive to immigrants. After the war, tens of thousands of "ethnic Germans" expelled from Eastern Europe settled in Austria. Starting in the 1950s "victims of the Cold War" (Hungary, Czechs and Slovaks) began looking for political asylum in Austria. Since the 1960s Austria has been recruiting a growing number of "guest workers" from Turkey and Yugoslavia to make up the labor missing in the industrial and service economies. Recently, refugees from the arc of crisis from Afghanistan to Syria to Somalia have braved perilous journeys to build new lives in a more peaceful and prosperous Europe

Exploring Diverse Adolescents & Youth Education Across the Displacement Linear: Education in Emergencies (EiE) Experiences and Colonial Entanglements

This thesis explores diverse, forcibly displaced youths'experiences of education in emergencies (EiE) responses in South Sudan, the UK and Jordan and how colonial legacies continue to permeate the types and modes of education programmes that are designed, funded, and implemented. This thesis draws on the Black radical tradition (BRT) as a conceptual and methodological framing. In addition, connecting EiE and BRT scholarship enables new discourses that counter hegemonic and ahistorical narratives of aid to surface and instead illustrate power asymmetries, coloniality, and conflict-affected communities' cultural wealth in challenging limited educational opportunities. This study intends to contribute to critical EiE scholarship, highlighting the heterogeneity of forcibly displaced youth and challenging universalising discourses that erase the EiE experiences of racialised and othered identities. To explore the research inquiry, I use a multi-sited, multi-scalar research approach to co- design a digital storytelling action research praxis with 60 young people in South Sudan, Jordan and the UK, alongside 26 key informant interviews with EiE practitioners to address the research areas. The key findings highlighted that intersectionality matters in EIE, in that forcibly displaced young people's educational experiences are intimately connected to their situated positions, often shaped by colonialism. Similarly, these dynamics profoundly impact and shape the EiE sector. Notwithstanding, some young people resist limited education trajectories, in myriad ways, from leveraging family and community networks to exercising personal agency, seeking out, and setting up learning opportunities. A secondary objective of this study is to challenge the dominant modes of knowledge production and ways of working in the EiE field and to interrogate its conceptual framings by bringing to the fore the issues that young people want to highlight in their educational experiences when enabled to do so through using the digital storytelling research praxis