Quo vadis, Migration Studies? The Quest for a Migratory Epistemology

This article starts by sketching the links between changing mobility and migration patterns, processes of social transformation, corresponding migration control policies, and related perceptions of social problems. It acknowledges that since the 1980s in the US and the 1990s in Europe, migration studies have come of age, bringing about a plethora of typologies, concepts, and theories. However, the knowledge production of migration studies is haunted by a range of frustrations, including unconvincing definitions, lack of data, reductionism, short-range theories, often biased research funding practices, usually negative public and political discourse, and an underlying dominant perspective of the nation-state and thus an omnipresent sedentary bias. In contrast, this article offers some cornerstones of reflexive migration studies and drafts a migratory epistemology that takes inspiration from feminist and postcolonial epistemologies, resting on complexity thinking and acknowledging key intersectionalities while being rooted in thorough ethical reflections so as to contemplate the (re)politization of research. Wie weiter mit der Migrationsforschung? Auf der Suche nach einer migratorischen Erkenntnistheorie Dieser Artikel beginnt mit einer Skizze des Zusammenhangs von Mobilitäts und Migrationsmustern, Prozessen sozialen Wandels sowie damit verbundenen Migrationskontrollpolitiken und Wahrnehmungen sozialer Probleme. Er würdigt, dass die Migrationsforschung seit den 1980er Jahren in den USA und seit den 1990er Jahren in Europa erwachsen geworden ist und zahlreiche Typologien, Konzepte und Theorien hervorgebracht hat. Dennoch ist die Wissensproduktion gekennzeichnet durch eine frustrierende Reihe von wenig überzeugenden Definitionen, einen Mangel an Daten, zu kurz greifende Theorien, oftmals voreingenommene Forschungsförderpraktiken, meist negativ konnotierte öffentliche und politische Diskursen, eine den Betrachtungen zugrunde liegende Fokussierung auf den Nationalstaat sowie die allgegenwärtige Vorstellung von der Sesshaftigkeit als gesellschaftlicher Normalität. Alternativ dazu greift dieser Beitrag einige Kernideen reflexiver Migrationsstudien auf und skizziert eine migratorische Erkenntnistheorie, welche Anregungen aus feministischen und postkolonialen Erkenntnistheorien aufgreift, auf ›complexity thinking‹ beruht sowie wesentliche Intersektionalitäten anerkennt. Sie ist zugleich ethisch grundiert und berücksichtigt auch die (Re)Politisierung von Forschung

Erwerbskräftepotenzial von Personen im partnerschaftlichen Familiennachzug aus dem EU-Ausland und aus Drittstaaten

ERWERBSKRÄFTEPOTENZIAL VON PERSONEN IM PARTNERSCHAFTLICHEN FAMILIENNACHZUG AUS DEM EU-AUSLAND UND AUS DRITTSTAATEN Erwerbskräftepotenzial von Personen im partnerschaftlichen Familiennachzug aus dem EU-Ausland und aus Drittstaaten / Borowsky, Christine (Rights reserved) ( -

Qualitative Research in Migration Studies

CARIM-East is co-financed by the European University Institute and the European Union.Remittances flowing from Ukrainian migrants working in high-income countries to Ukraine are an increasingly important source of extra income for migrants’ families. Given the increasing size of aggregate remittance inflows, they are also expected to be a potential source of funding for the social and economic development of Ukraine as a whole. If remittances enhance investment in physical and human capital and thus boost productivity, they can help mitigate the possible negative economic effects of rapid population decline and the aging of the Ukrainian population. Yet the potential benefits of remittances are likely to be matched by potential costs. Thus, two main issues are of interest with regard to remittances in Ukraine: • what are their benefits and costs for migrants’ families, local communities, the Ukrainian economy and society; and • how to harness their development potential while limiting any counterproductive side effects. This paper directly addresses these two questions. It does so by reporting first results from an ongoing effort to assess the potential development and unwanted side effects of remittances in Ukraine. These results come from a survey of the empirical literature in Ukraine and other transition economies and are supported, where possible, by the author’s contributions. The purpose of this work is to draw out evidence-based policy implications.CARIM-East: Creating an Observatory of Migration East of Europ

Shifts in the global migration order and migration transitions in Europe : the cases of Turkey and Russia

This paper takes as a premise that world economics, world politics and global labour are changing and that whilst migration is a driver as well as a consequence of change it is changing, too. For long, conventional research focussed on north-north and south-north migrations, like across the Atlantic or from agricultural and industrialising to industrial countries. This was in part inspired by the economic and political dominance of the ‘global north’, but also driven by a western and Eurocentric bias. Meanwhile, a long period of economic and political transformations and turbulences gave rise to new economic powers, diversified the sending-receiving country matrix and thus fundamentally changed the determinants for international migration. I elaborate the concepts migration order and migration transition to argue that these are useful for analysing the changes in the configuration of sending, receiving and transit states. To illustrate the argument, this article takes Russia and Turkey and developments from the early 2000s as case studies and analyses the shifts in the regional and global migration flows

'Voice' or 'exit'? :from the streets of Syria to the borders of the EU

In 2011 and 2012, many citizens in the Arab world arose in what became known as the ‘Arab spring’. This led to a spiral of suppression and more protests, notably in Syria. These did not topple the regime but escalated into a long civil war. Several million people were forced to seek shelter in other countries. Turkey became the main host country of Syrian and other refugees as well as the main gateway into the EU. This article focuses on the interplay of protests and forced migration and analyses these events through the theoretical lens of Hirschman’s ‘voice, exit or loyalty’ model. Itargues for a revision of the original voice/exit model, notably for acknowledging the interaction of ‘voice and exit’ and thus suggests a much more complex and dynamic model.42944

Ethical Issues in Irregular Migration Research in Europe

Article first published online: 25 September 2009This paper is concerned with the ethical issues arising for researchers engaged in the study of irregular migration. Based on the authors' research experiences, the paper goes beyond analysis of ethical dilemmas and aims to provide some guidance to researchers in this field. Irregular migration is by definition an elusive phenomenon as it takes place in violation of the law and at the margins of society. The very nature of this phenomenon raises important issues, including the sensitivity and vulnerability of the research subjects and a whole series of other ethical issues to be addressed both when conducting fieldwork with irregular migrants and also at the later stage of data analysis, processing and dissemination. The paper first considers various methods in researching irregular migration and defines research ethics. It then discusses the differences between sensitivity and vulnerability and their particular implications for irregular migration research. Next, the paper looks at the ethical challenges arising from fieldwork and discusses the sensitive issues involved in the relationship between researcher, irregular migrant and society. Finally, it discusses the question of disseminating findings (both qualitative and quantitative) to wider audiences. In conclusion, we highlight the key points that we consider to be important when studying irregular migrant populations