Season 2 begins with a conversation between Douglas S. Massey and Asya Pisarevskaya about migration across the U.S.-Mexican border since the early 20th century. 

Their conversation is based on D. Massey's recent article "Immigration policy mismatches and counterproductive outcomes: unauthorized migration to the U.S. in two eras" (2020) published in the journal Comparative Migration Studies. The paper is openly available here: https://comparativemigrationstudies.springeropen.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s40878-020-00181-6.pdf 

Douglas Massey is Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, with a joint appointment in The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, at Princeton University. 
Learn more about Douglas here: https://pop.princeton.edu/people/douglas-s-massey

Asya Pisarevskaya is part of The Migration Podcast Team and Assistant Professor at the Erasmus University Department of Public Administration and Sociology, in Rotterdam.

Episode 1 (S2): Douglas Massey on how US migration policies shaped Mexican migration to the U.S.A.

What is a family, and under what conditions can its members live a life together, abroad? 
In this episode, we look at family reunification policy in Brazil. Amanda Paz Alencar speaks to Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli about her research on family reunification policy in Brazil, and about the efforts of different groups of refugees to claim their right to live with family members. 

Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of São Paulo (USP). She is currently a Social Science Research Fellow in Conflict and Migration at the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction (UCL). Prior to this, Patricia was a Visiting Scholar at the Carolina Population Center (2017-2018), at the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development (2018-2019) and a ZUKOnnect Fellow at the University of Konstanz (2019). Patrícia is interested in investigating the changes in family-reunification policies in Brazil since 1997. Her project, titled "The Family Reunification Policy for refugees in Brazil", aims to improve the understanding of best practices and challenges in family reunification procedures for refugees in Brazil. Her research interests involve asylum and migration politics in Latin America, family reunification of refugees, refugee children, and refugees and COVID-19 in Brazil. 

Learn more about Patricia here: https://sites.google.com/view/patricia-martuscelli 

Amanda Paz Alencar recently joined The Migration Podcast Team. She is Assistant Professor at the Department of Media and Communication at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Episode 2 (S2) Patricia N. Martuscelli on refugees mobilizing for family reunification in Brazil

In April 2019, a year before we launched The Migration Podcast, I sat down for an interview with Nina Glick Schiller in New York.  New York is the city where Nina had based her PhD project on Haitian immigrants, a project that laid the foundation for the book “Nations Unbound”. 
The book, co-authored by Linda Basch, Nina Glick Schiller, and Cristina Szanton Blanc, would deeply impact how we think about migrant’s social, political and economic ties across national borders. 

In this episode, Nina recounts how the idea for Nations Unbound germinated, we spoke about her intellectual project throughout the years, and about how she carved out a career in academia from the margins.

Nina Glick Schiller is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and was the Director of the Cosmopolitan Cultures Institute at the University of Manchester. She continues to be active with the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle (Saale), Germany. 

Nina published her latest book together with Ayse Çaglar in 2018:  "Migrants and City Making: Dispossession, Displacement and Urban Regeneration" Duke University Press. The book can be downloaded for free here: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/25763 

Learn more about Nina here: https://www.eth.mpg.de/schiller
or visit her profile on academia.edu: https://manchester.academia.edu/NinaGlickSchiller

Episode 5 (S2): Nina Glick Schiller on conceiving 'migrant transnationalism'

Milena Belloni speaks to Valentina Mazzucato about how she explores the minute details of everyday migrant transnationalism: the ties and relationships that connect migrants with other people across nation-state borders. 
Our guest highlights the importance of exploring transnationalism from different locations simultaneously, the value of defocusing research from the migrants’ side of the story, and speaks about the implications of transnational ties for people who remain deeply interconnected despite leading their lives apart.

Valentina Mazzucato is is Professor of Globalisation & Development at Maastricht University. Learn more about Valentina here: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/v.mazzucato

Episode 6 (S2): Valentina Mazzucato on ways to explore migrants' transnational connections

Co-productive and co-creative research is all the rage, but what does it entail? Can a research project in collaboration with members of the population studied indeed be realised? And is all research that labels itself co-productive, truly so? Or do we perhaps mistake consultations for the co-production of knowledge?
Kasia Grabska speaks with Milena Belloni about her experiences doing collaborative research, and reflects on which parts of the process have been the most challenging for her.

Kasia Grabska is senior researcher at PRIO, the Peace Research Institute in Oslo. Currenlty she is also visiting professor at the institute of Ethnology, at Neuchatel University.

Learn more about Kasia here: https://www.prio.org/people/8217

Here is a link to Kasia's ongoing project INSPIRE: https://www.prio.org/projects/1861

Episode 8 (S2): Katarzyna (Kasia) Grabska on co-production and collaborative research with refugees

This is the final episode of our podcast crossover trilogy.

Migration has been a characteristic of societies for centuries. Humans have always migrated to either escape harsh lives, or in search for better ones, or both. Continuing immigration flows and increasing diversity in many societies have led to more complex processes of belonging and integration, as well as the emergence of cross-border engagements of migrants, organizations and institutions. 
In this episode, we focus on the role played by media and communication in the different aspects of migration, ranging from media representations of migrants to the mediated communication exchanges conducted in digital spaces, from interactions between relevant stakeholders in the different levels of migration governance through the political and economic side of migrants’ lives to the role played by hands-on intercultural mediation and digital solidarity projects. 

To talk about these topics, Amanda Paz Alencar (Dept. of Media and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam) invited Myria Georgiou (Dept. of Media and Communications, London School of Economics) and Earvin Cabalquinto (School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University) – experts on the topic of media and migration.

Would you like to learn more about Amanda's work? Follow this link: https://www.eur.nl/people/amanda-paz-alencar

Would you like to learn more about Myria's work? Follow this link: https://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/people/academic-staff/myria-georgiou 

Are you interested in learning more about Earvin's work? Follow this link: https://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/people/earvin-cabalquinto

Special Episode (3): Migration and Media

In a 2016 referendum, the British public voted to exit the European Union. Xenophobia played an important role in the outcome of that vote, and a lot of that antipathy against migrants was directed towards Eastern Europeans.

Yva Alexandrova lived and worked in the UK during that time, and in the wake of the Brexit vote began writing her book, protesting the notion that Eastern European migrants in the UK were merely transient workers.

This is the link to Yva's book "Here to Stay":
https://repeaterbooks.com/product/here-to-stay-eastern-europeans-in-britain/

Episode 2 (S3): Yva Alexandrova on Eastern Europeans in the UK

Bella is joining our team from July to October to find out more about academic podcasting, its use cases and what makes a podcast 'academic'. 
Share your thoughts by participating in the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/H7GV692 

The survey is open from 28 June 2022 until mid-August.

Isabella C. Gualano is majoring in Chinese studies at the University of Sheffield. She is currently completing her BA degree.
Her project was made possible through the Sheffield Undergraduate Research Scheme (SURE).

Thank you in advance for your participation!

Calling our listeners: tell us what you think of academic podcasting

In this episode, we turn our attention to exploring the relationship of migration with climate change. Patrick Sakdapolrak, who explores migration as a climate change adaptation strategy, is here to speak about his research on translocal social resilience, and whether migration can impact sustainability practices.

Patrick Sakdapoldrak is Professor for Population Geography and Demography at the University of Vienna. 

You can find his profile and list of publications here:
https://geographie.univie.ac.at/en/working-groups/population-geography-and-demography/people/team/patrick-sakdapolrak/

Episode 3 (S3): Patrick Sakdapolrak on Climate Change and Migration

In this episode, we explore how participatory filmmaking can be used in research. Amanda Alencar spoke to Kevin Smets about studying borderlands through film. 

Learn more about the project REEL Borders here: https://reelborders.eu/

Kevin Smets is Associate Professor at VUB (Vrije Universiteit) in Brussels.

This is the final episode of this season. The Migration Podcast team will be back after a break.

Episode 9 (S3): Kevin Smets On Using Participatory Filmmaking In Research

In this episode Amanda Alencar speaks to Ayham Dalal about how refugees living in camps adapt the space around them to fit their needs.  

Ayham Dalal is an urban planner and architect specialised in the field of Forced Migration. He is the author of the book “From Shelters to Dwellings: The Zaatari Refugee Camp” published by Transcript Verlag (2022). He has been a research fellow at the Refugee Studies Center in Oxford University, the CRC “Re-Figurations of Space” at TU Berlin, and CNRS in France. Currently, he is a Lecturer at the Architecture and Urban Design at the German University in Cairo.

More information on Ayham and about the film mentioned in this episode can be found here: https://www.ayhamdalal.com/about/

Ep.2 (S4): Ayham Dalal about Refugees as Architects

Migrants are natural adopters of mobile technologies. 
Rob Sharp interviews Koen Leurs about his book Digital Migration . Among other things, they  discuss the datafication of migration and that migration researchers need to avoid enabling mechanisms of migration control.

Read about the book here: 
Leurs, K. (2023). Digital migration. London: Sage. 
https://www.uu.nl/en/publication/digital-migration

The book was written with support of the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS https://nias.knaw.nl/), and the Utrecht University Graduate Gender Programe, the Governing the Digital Society (GDS https://www.uu.nl/en/research/governing-the-digital-society) focus area and the GDS Digital Migration Special Interest Group.

Learn more about Koen here: https://www.uu.nl/staff/khaleurs

Are you interested in other publications relevant to the discussion? Koen recommends these:
Sandberg, M., Rossi, L., Galis, V., & Bak Jørgensen, M. (Eds.) (2022). Research
methodologies and ethical challenges in digital migration studies. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

K. Smets, K. Leurs, M. Georgiou, S. Witteborn & R. Gajjala (Eds.), Handbook of media and migration. London: Sage. 

M. McAuliffe (Ed.) (2021), Handbook of migration and technology. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Also, Koen would like to acknowledge the scholarly communities of IMISCOE, STS Mig@Tec (https://www.sts-migtec.org/), and the European Communication Research and Education Association Diaspora, Migration and the Media section (ECREA DMM https://ecrea.eu/Diaspora-Migration-and-the-Media) for their collegiality, encouragement and inspiration

Koen thanks JR for allowing him to include an aerial photograph of their work ‘Migrants. Picnic Across the Border’ (2017) on the cover of the book https://www.jr-art.net/projects/migrants-picnic-across-the-border

Ep.3 (S4): Koen Leurs On Digital Migration

Natalie Brinham talks about the rich field of statelessness studies, how survivors of state crime disrupt dominant discourse around “legal identity”, and her experience of conducting qualitative research with Rohingya in the wake of the genocide in 2017. 

At that time, she was set to carry-out fieldwork for her PhD, but instead, took a bold step back, and changed her plans to enable a more ethical research process. She says: “when trauma is so fresh and widespread traditional research can sometimes do more harm than good.”

The interview was conducted by Samanwita Paul.

Dr Natalie Brinham (aka Alice Cowley) is a genocide and state crime scholar. She is coauthor (with Zarni) of the 2014 study titled ‘The Slow Burning Genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya.’ She has worked for many years in NGOs in the U.K. and Southeast Asia on forced migration, trafficking and statelessness in both frontline service provision roles and research and advocacy roles. She has published policy papers, academic articles, and opeds on statelessness, legal identities and genocide. She completed her PhD in legal studies at Queen Mary University of London in 2022. Understanding genocide as a sociological process, her doctoral thesis explores the central role of state identification schemes in Myanmar’s genocide, from enabling systems of segregation and institutionalised discrimination, to the physical destruction of the group, to identity destruction and the reorganisation of national identities and power relations. Drawing on Rohingya oral histories and narratives relating to their ID cards, the research considers how survivors of state crime disrupt international discourses on statelessness and legal identities for all.  In October 2023, Dr Natalie Brinham will begin an ESRC Post Doctoral Fellowship at Migration Mobilities Bristol at the University of Bristol.

Ep.4 (S4): Natalie Brinham On Statelessness And Research Ethics

* Applications for the 2024 IMISCOE PhD School in Lancashire are open. Apply here before November 26th : https://app.oxfordabstracts.com/stages/6786/submitter
More information is available on the IMISCOE website: https://www.imiscoe.org/events/imiscoe-events/1875-2023-imiscoe-phd-school-2 *

In this episode, Larisa Ozeryansky  speaks to Dr. Bernadette Nirmal Kumar, expert in migration and health, about her career trajectory from working in medicine, to public health policy and pursuing academic research. She talks about how her personal experience of being a migrant has motivated and informed her research and its outputs, and the professional benefits of having a specialization as well as experience in different sectors. 

Bernadette Nirmal Kumar is a trained medical doctor originally from India. After many years of working for international organizations, she turned to research, and specifically to the topic of migrant health. Among other roles, Dr. Kumar is a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and Co-chair of Lancet Migration Europe.

Larisa Ozeryansky is a PhD Candidate (University of Washington) and Fulbright scholar in Norway researching refugee health with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Her current Fulbright-Norway project is the design and facilitation of a participatory-media workshop/film for Oslo-based youth who arrived to Norway as refugees within the last two years. This project will apply Participatory Art Based Research (PABR), time and physical activity in nature, and digital media education, all with a trauma-informed, healing-centered and equity-based approach, to explore concepts of belonging, identity, and sense-of-place.

Ep.5 (S4): Bernadette Kumar speaks about fostering a career across disciplines & sectors

Russell King has been teaching and researching the topic of migration for more than 50 years. In this episode, he is interviewed by Sara Hannafin about thinking beyond the dominate frameworks of how and why people migrate. 

This ambition has led him to study return migration, retirement migration, student migration, and most recently, migration motivated by love. He also reflects on working with, and being inspired by, his students over the past decades.

Russell King is Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of Sussex in the UK and visiting professor in Migration Studies at Malmo University in Sweden. At Sussex, he founded the Sussex Centre for Migration Research, the MA and PhD programs in migration studies, and was the editor of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies from 2001 to 2013. 

If you enjoy the Migration Podcast, please consider “liking” and “following” us. Thank you for listening!

Ep.6 (S4): Russell King on researching how and why people migrate, for over 50 years

“Migrating is a very difficult and dangerous thing if you're doing it undocumented, but also it's a very beautiful thing because you're walking, you're meeting people, you're talking… I hope this is not romanticizing the pain they experience, but I think... my book tries to show that they experience both. They are people, they are complete people, who are enduring the journey and sometimes enjoying the journey while walking alongside other people and interacting and expressing things.” 

In this episode, we hear Itzel Eguiluz speaking with Alejandra Díaz de León about her book “Walking Together: Central Americans and Transit Migration through Mexico”, which was published in 2023.

Alejandra talks about how the journey of Central American migrants walking north, through Mexico, is about much more than just having practical strategies to survive the journey –solidarity, trust and social bonds that are formed along the way, can also be valuable elements of the experience. We hear about what Alejandra calls “road families” and how during their journeys, migrants form communities around their common understanding and experiences of crossing Mexico.

Alejandra would like to acknowledge Dr. Yasemin Soysal and
Dr Carlos Gigoux for their contribution/support. 

Alejandra's research  benefitted from funding through the CONACyT scholarship and SLAS.

Alejandra Díaz de León is an assistant professor of migration and violence at the Center for Sociological Studies at the Colegio de Mexico, in Mexico City. She holds a PhD in Sociology and an MA in Human Rights from the University of Texas. 

Her research focuses on human rights, solidarity, and the creation of bonds, trust, and cooperation among strangers during contexts of violence and uncertainty, like the transit of Central Americans through Mexico and to the United States.

Also check out these publications by Alejandra:
Díaz de León, Alejandra. “Family Dynamics, Violence and Transit Migration through Mexico.” Third World Quarterly 0, no. 0 (May 16, 2023): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2023.2193321.

Díaz de León, Alejandra. “Why Do You Trust Him? The Construction of the Good Migrant in the Mexican Migrant Route.” European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 111 (2021): 1–17.  https://doi.org/10.32992/erlacs.10645.

Díaz de León, Alejandra. “Resignation and Resistance: How Do Undocumented Central American Migrants View Detention in Mexico? Journal of Latin American Geography 22, no. 1 (2023): 11–30. 

Díaz de León, Alejandra. “Keep Them Out! Border Enforcement and Violence since 1986.” In These Ragged Edges: Histories of Violence along the U.S.-Mexico Border, edited by Andrew J. Torget and Gerardo Gurza-Lavalle. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2022. 

While you're here – we, at the IMISCOE Migration podcast, would like to give you a recommendation for another, related podcast episode from the “Borders and Belonging” podcast, which is produced by our friends at Toronto Metropolitan University. They are currently releasing their second season, and have a really interesting episode on Mexicans migrants in the US who are from indigenous groups – check it out! 
This is the link: https://www.torontomu.ca/cerc-migration/borders-and-belonging/#!tab-1699366719120-ep--2

Ep.8 (S4): Alejandra Díaz de León on "road families" en route to the Mexico-US border

“What does that [balancing research objectives and donor priorities] mean for us training the next generation and for people entering the field? I think what it requires….is that we all have to work in multiple registers.”

In this episode we hear Silindile Mlilo interview Loren Landau about his latest research on African cities. He talks about how patterns of migration to cities in Africa is distinct from urbanization in other parts of the world. He has been looking the regulation of space and how migrants relate to cities, as well as issues around ethics of inclusion and visibility.

Loren also talks about how he sees the current state of migration studies and the importance of keeping space for research that shifts perspectives away from donor priorities.

Loren Landau is Professor of Migration and Development at the University of Oxford, and at the African Centre for Migration & Society at the University of the Witwatersrand. 
His interdisciplinary research includes the topics of representation, multi-scale governance, and the transformation of socio-political communities across the Global South. He is currently overseeing a multi-year initiative exploring mobility, temporality, and urban politics in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa.

Below is a selection of Loren's work.

1.	N. Iskander and L.B. Landau. 2022. The Centre Cannot Hold: Arrival, Margins, and the Politics of Ambivalence,’ Migration Studies 10(2): 97-111

2.	L.B. Landau. 2021. ‘Asynchronous Mobilities: Hostility, Hospitality, and Possibilities of Justice,’ Mobilities. 16(5): 656-669. DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2021.1967092

3.	J.P. Misago and L.B. Landau. 2022. ‘Running Them Out of Time: Xenophobia, Violence, and Co-Authoring Spatiotemporal Exclusion in South Africa.’ Geopolitics. DOI: 10.1080/14650045.2022.2078707

4.	J.P. Misago and L.B. Landau. 2022. ‘Running Them Out of Time: Xenophobia, Violence, and Co-Authoring Spatiotemporal Exclusion in South Africa.’ Geopolitics. DOI: 10.1080/14650045.2022.2078707

Loren would like to acknowledge the following persons for contributing to his work: Caroline Wanjiku Kihato, Mary Setrana, Mary Muyonga, Carina Kanbi, Kabiri Bule, and Brittany Birberick

Ep.9 (S4): Loren Landau reflects on migration studies and migration to African cities

”I think [it is important to] stress again that colonial legacies also really determine how South to South migration is being structured today.”

In this episode, Mira Burmeister-Rudolph speaks with Liberty Chee about Kerala’s social protection policies for Indian migrants to the Gulf, the latter’s relationships with diasporic communities and how migrant status is shaped by and shapes citizen-state relations.  She also shares with us how she became interested in migration in South Asia, and her experiences doing research during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

During the interview, Mira and Liberty mention NORKA several times. NORKA stands for the Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs.

Mira Burmeister-Rudolph is an early career scholar at the University of Amsterdam. In her research, she explores the plurality of actors involved in the development and implementation of policies towards low-wage labor emigrants in the context of migrant-origin states. She investigates South-South migration, with a focus on migration from South Asian countries to the Gulf Cooperation Council region. Her research focus lies at the intersection of citizenship, social policy, and diaspora studies.

The piece mentioned about Kerala is “A transnational social contract: Social protection policies toward Non-Resident Keralites” in Migration Studies. https://academic.oup.com/migration/article/11/2/286/7072785 
The piece on citizen-state relations is “Policy differentiation and the politics of belonging in India’s emigrant and emigration policies”. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13621025.2023.2244451

Ep.10 (S4): Mira Burmeister-Rudolph on Kerala's social protection policies for emigrants in the Gulf

“Theoretical categories that we have had from this emphasis on South North have to be rethought, or maybe we need innovation and new categories to be introduced.”

In this episode, Roos Derrix chats with Gerasimos Tsourapas and Kamal Sadiq about their latest project on the politics of South-South labour migration, and the development of a transnational social contract between states and their migrant populations.
They explain how, in the context of labour migration to the Gulf Cooperation Council states, migrant agency is curtailed through surveillance and labour commodification, while novel forms of dependence are created between countries of origin and destination. Gerasimos and Kamal argue that innovative methods and further work on postcolonial migration states are needed to further untangle and to understand these practices.


Kamal Sadiq is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Director of the Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of California, Irvine.

Gerasimos Tsourapas is a Professor of International Relations in the School of social and political sciences at the University of Glasgow.

Are you interested in reading Kamal and Gerasimos work? Look at these:

Malit, F. T. and Tsourapas, G. (2021) Migration diplomacy in the Gulf – non-state actors, cross border mobility, and the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47(11), pp. 2556-2577. (doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2021.1878875) 

Malit, F. T. and Tsourapas, G. (2021) Weapons of the weak? South-south migration and power politics in the Philippines-GCC corridor. Global Studies Quarterly, 1(3), ksab010. (doi: 10.1093/ isagsq/ksab010)

Sadiq, K., & Tsourapas, G. (2021). The postcolonial migration state. European Journal of International Relations, 
27(3), 884-912. https://doi.org/10.1177/13540661211000114

Sadiq, K., & Tsourapas, G. (2023). The Transnational Social Contract in the Global South. International Studies Quarterly, 67(4), sqad088. https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqad088

Sadiq, K., & Tsourapas, G. (2023). Labour coercion and commodification: 
from the British Empire to postcolonial migration states. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2023.2269778

Tsourapas, G. (2021) Migration Diplomacy in the Middle East and North Africa: Power, Mobility, and the State. Manchester University Press: Manchester. ISBN 9781526132093 

Tsourapas, G. (2020) The long arm of the Arab state. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43(2), pp. 351-370. (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2019.1585558) 


The research behind this interview was funded by the UK Research and Innovation (grant reference no. EP/X019667/1)


If you enjoy the Migration Podcast, please consider “liking” and “following” us. Thank you for listening!

Ep.11 (S4): G.Tsourapas & K.Sadiq on the transnational social contract in the Global South

“There's a total contradiction between irregularity and child protection…not doing anything, or rather the opposite, blocking the access to a resident permit is a children's rights violation, in my opinion,  because it leads to vulnerability, it leads to some kind of protection issues, social exclusion, and so on.”

In this episode, we hear Alexandra Castro talk with Pablo Ceriani about the increasing and changing migration patterns of children across Latin America. Pablo talks about how there has been a general increase in capacity and willingness to deal with migrant child protection in the region; however, he also argues that xenophobia and public narratives that criminalize migrants are influencing new policies and laws and this increases vulnerability for all migrants, including children.

Pablo Ceriani is a lawyer and has a PhD in Human Rights. He is currently the Director of the Master of Migration and Human Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean at the National University of Lanús, in Argentina. He's also a member of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers. 


If you enjoy the Migration Podcast, please consider “liking” and “following” us. Thank you for listening!

Ep.12 (S4): Pablo Ceriani on migrant child protection in Latin America & the Caribbean

Check out the "Migration Talks" podcast and their recent episode on the impact of migration narratives on EU policymaking, just in time before the EP elections this month.

In this episode, the "Migration Talks" team explores how migration narratives shape the upcoming European elections and influence policymaking in Brussels. These narratives are central to discussions and policies across Europe, especially as far-right parties amplify them as security threats for electoral gains. What are the prevailing migration narratives within the EU, and how do they impact the policymaking processes of the European Union? These and more questions will be answered by Florian Trauner, Co-director of BIRMM and Omar Ba who is a community organizer, activist and politician. 

You will find the Migration Talks podcast here: Migration Talks: 
https://birmm.research.vub.be/migration-talks-a-podcast-by-birmm

Introducing: Migration Talks - The Impact Of Migration Narratives On EU Policymaking

“Even the market next to the station was called Warsaw Market.”

In this episode you’ll hear Louise Ryan interview Ivanna Kyliushyk about the situation of Ukrainian migrants in Poland, before and since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. She talks about how NGOs and local governments have stepped forward to provide aid and the urgent need for a long-term strategy to integrate Ukrainians into the economic and political fabric of Polish society. We also hear a bit about her personal experience as a Ukrainian, migrant, and researcher in Poland.

Ivana Kyliushyk is a political scientist and researcher at the Centre for Research on Social Change and Human Mobility, also referred to as CRASH, at Kozminski University in Poland. 
Her current research is on migrant inclusion and political participation, and focuses on Ukrainian and women’s migration.  


If you enjoy the Migration Podcast, please consider liking and following us. Thank you for listening!

Ep.13 (S4): Ivana Kyliushyk speaks about Ukrainian emigration to Poland

Announcement: The deadline for submitting a paper proposal for IMISCOE’s 2025 conference has been extended to October 8. All information can be found here: https://www.imiscoe.org/events/imiscoe-events/2117-22nd-imiscoe-annual-conference 
**************
In this episode, you’ll hear Asya Pisarevaskaya’s conversation with Mathew Creighton about his recent book “Hidden Hate: The Resilience of Xenophobia.” Mathew talks about how our opinions and behaviours, for example when it comes to race and ethnicity, can vary greatly whether they are being expressed in public or not. In other words, people may have an opinion or belief, but they may show another one, through “masking”.

The research behind the book helps us understand anti-immigrant attitudes in countries including in Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK, and the US, and how we can go beyond a “majority vs the minority” perspective to better understand the persistent marginalization of minority groups.

Mathew Creighton is associate professor in the School of Sociology at University College Dublin. He is also the national coordinator of the European Social Survey in Ireland and the principal investigator of a Horizon Europe project, EqualStrength, which assesses prejudice in work, childcare, and housing throughout Europe.

If you enjoy the Migration Podcast, please consider “liking” and “following” us. Thank you for listening!


Ep.14 (S4): Mathew Creighton discusses the resilience of xenophobia

While we take a break from our regular programming before our fifth season – we have a special treat for you! We have the honour of offering you an episode from the fantastic podcast "Border & Belonging, a CERC Migration podcast", which is produced by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration at Toronto Metropolitan University.

The episode is about the rise of digital nomads – how do “digital nomads” disrupt definitions and theories we have about migration and the nation state? From Lisbon, to Chang Mai, to Barbados, what are the impacts of this form of human mobility? What insights do we have from research on this phenomenon?

Are you interested in hearing more Borders & Belonging episodes? This is where you can find them: https://www.torontomu.ca/cerc-migration/borders-and-belonging/#!accordion-1729180383471-season-3 

Follow the Borders & Belonging podcast here:
X: @cercmigration, host: @maggie_perzyna
LI: Borders & Belonging Podcast, host: Maggie Perzyna
FB: https://www.facebook.com/CERCMigrationFB
IG: @cercmigration

Please stay tuned for the Migration Podcast’s next season! We look forward to bringing you a fresh slate of interviews on the latest migration research starting in the next few months.

REPOST Borders and Belonging: The rise of digital nomads

Welcome back! You’re listening to the first episode of the 5th season of IMISCOE’s Migration Podcast. 

If you’re listening for the first time: IMISCOE is the largest European network of scholars in the area of migration and integration, with 69 member institutes and over 1400 scholars from all over the world. And this is the network’s podcast, where we hear migration researchers talk about their latest research and why it matters. 

As in the past seasons, we have an amazing team of interviewers who are migration scholars themselves. And this season, you’ll hear more episodes with them talking to 2 or more researchers who are working on similar themes, together.

The conversation you'll hear is about concepts in migration governance that are often taken for granted – but when you dig a bit deeper, or wider, like the researchers in this episode have done, it’s clear that not everyone has the same idea of what they really mean or their implications in practice. 

You’ll hear Liberty Chee speaking to Eleonora Milazzo, who has been working on what exactly “solidarity” means between European Union Member States when it comes to the asylum system. We may have a sense that so far, it’s been “failing”, but what does solidarity really mean in practice?

Ulrike Bialas also joins the conversation, to talk about her research on how age classification determines the lives of young asylum seekers in Germany. How do they experience this legal focus on age, especially when many do not actually have documents that can prove their dates of birth and may not know them, anyways. 

I also found the practical challenges of conducting their research, that both Elenora and Ulrike talk about, particularly interesting. Just a last note: both of them talk about research to do with migration governance in Europe, and both mention “the Dublin System”. In case you need a refresher: the Dublin System is made up of several procedures that determine responsibility for assessing asylum claims in EU Member States.  

Further readings:
Bialas, Ulrike. 2023. Forever 17: Coming of Age in the German Asylum System. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Bialas, Ulrike. 2023. "Ambiguous Ages, Ambivalent Youths: How Asylum Seekers in Germany Navigate Age Categorization." Migration Politics 2, no. 1: 003.

Bialas, Ulrike. 2024. "Who is a minor? Age assessments of refugees in Germany and the classificatory multiplicity of the state." Ethnic and Racial Studies: 1-23.

Bialas, Ulrike, Johanna M. Lukate, and Steven Vertovec. 2024. "Contested categories in the context of international migration: introduction to the special issue." Ethnic and Racial Studies: 1-23.

Milazzo, E. (2024). Refugee Protection and Solidarity. The Duties of EU Member States. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/refugee-protection-and-solidarity-9780192885715?cc=be&lang=en&# 


Also have a look at the Migration Research to Policy Co-Lab https://migrationresearchtopolicy.eu/  





Ep.1(S5):Dublin, solidarity and age. How do these factors matter in the EU asylum system?

It’s an exciting time for qualitative research methods these days. Migration scholars are pushing the boundaries of traditional interview techniques, with the aim to amplify the voices of marginalized groups as well as to influence policy and reach wider audiences. In this episode you’ll hear Silindile Mlilo interview two researchers who are using creative and non-traditional research methods.

Isabel Rose Soloaga will talk about the use of participatory research and film through her forthcoming documentary, Growing Up in America: Life After the Taliban. The film is a personal story following two young girls and their family, who were forced to evacuate Kabul after the Taliban rose to power in 2021. Isabel told us: “Everyone has a camera and a platform today through social media, so I think debates on how to use these tools in an ethical way, while inviting people to reach out to their new neighbors -- the key message of my film.”

Ntokozo Yingwana will discuss her use of digital story telling – which I learned is, the growing practice of everyday people using digital tools to tell their stories. In her PhD research project “Queering Sex Work and Mobility in South Africa: How does Migration and mobility Influence Genderded Sexualities in Sex Work? Duh-kozo conducted data collection through a digital storytelling workshop and WhatsApp. She also worked with two of people from her research participant group, who are sex workers, as research assistants.

Isabel Rose Soloaga is a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex School of Law, Politics and Sociology in the UK and an Independent Documentary Filmmaker

Ntokozo Yingwana is a Doctoral researcher at the African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University in South Africa.


Are you interested in reading more?
Yingwana, N. (2024). Sex Work in Africa. The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Sexuality Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95352-2_83-1.  

Yingwana, N. (2022). Queering Sex Work and Mobility. Anti-Trafficking Review, 19, 66–86. https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201222195. 

Vidima, N., Tenga, R., & Yingwana, N. (2022). Reflections on the use of FPAR as a research methodology for sex worker (and key populations) research. Global Public Health, 17(10), 2604–2616. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2022.2110915. 

Life After the Taliban: 
Kabul to California: A Cinematic Exploration of New Beginnings by The Reel Truth https://videoconsortium.org/mag/thereeltruth05 

Watch our short film: 
https://vimeo.com/801454823?share=copy 
After narrowly escaping from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in August 
2021, 21 year old Ali and his family begin a new life in Northern California. 
Growing up in America: Life After the Taliban, is an intimate documentary 
short following one family's journey of building home after war. 
Directed by Isabel Soloaga (https://www.isabelsoloaga.com)
Co-Directed by Najaf Ali Mohammady 
○ Website: https://www.lifeaftertalibandoc.com 
○ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lifeaftertalibdoc 
○ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeaftertalib_doc/ 
○ You can support Isabel's upcoming feature film by donating at 
https://bit.ly/LifeAfterTalib_Doc 






Ep2(S5) How can film and digital storytelling be used in migration research?

In this episode I talk with two researchers about the lives of migrants from Central Asia in Russia, both before, and since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is probably no surprise that this conflict is affecting migrants in Russia, and you’ll hear all about this from the guests in this episode. 
You’ll also hear a bit about the people behind the numbers, when we talk about the millions of migrants from central Asia in Russia, as well as how their lives are shaped by the formal and informal legal constraints in Russian society. Finally, we touch on some intriguing areas of research emerging as a result of the limited access to data in Russia today and that focus on new trends in Central Asian migration.
To discuss all of this, I’m joined by Rustam Urinboyev and Nodira Kholmatova.

Rustam Urinboyev is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology of Law at Lund University in Sweden. His research is on socio-legal approaches to Migration, corruption and informality (among other topics.) He is also the principal investigator of the EU-funded project “MARS: Non-Western Migration Regimes in a Global Perspective”.

Nodira Kholmatova, who works as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Political Science and the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Amsterdam. She is a sociologist and migration researcher who studies social and gender inequalities in return migration and deportation regimes as well as the impact of migration policies on migrants and their families. Her geographic focus is Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and more recently Western Balkans and Southeast Asia. 
Let’s get into it!

Info for episode description:
Rushtam: https://www.soclaw.lu.se/en/rustamjon-urinboyev

1. Urinboyev, R. (2020) Migration and Hybrid Political Regimes: Navigating the Legal Landscape in Russia. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. Available at: https://www.luminosoa.org/site/books/m/10.1525/luminos.96/.
2. Urinboyev, R. and Eraliev, S. (2022) The Political Economy of Non-Western Migration Regimes: Central Asian Migrant Workers in Russia and Turkey. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (International Political Economy Series). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99256-9 (Accessed: 20 May 2022).
3. Urinboyev, R. and Pallot, J. (2024) ‘Ethnic and religious identities in Russian penal institutions: A case study of Uzbek Transnational Muslim prisoners’, Open Research Europe, 3(122), pp. 1–35. Available at: https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.16142.2.
4. Eraliev, S. and Urinboyev, R. (2024) ‘“What have you done, brother Putin?”: Everyday geopolitics and Central Asian labour migration to Russia’, Central Asian Survey, 43(2), pp. 215–234. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2023.2266519.

Nodira: https://www.uva.nl/en/profile/k/h/n.kholmatova/n.kholmatova.html 
Project webpage: https://reintegrateerc.com/nodira-kholmatova/ 
1.Kholmatova, N. (2022). Gender. Introduction: critical appraisal. In R. Isaacs (Ed.), A Critical Reader in Central Asian Studies : 40 Years of Central Asian Survey (pp. 139-143). (Central Asian Studies; Vol. 42). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003200338-8
2. Kholmatova, N. (2021). The precarity of transnational migration and the COVID-19 pandemic: addressing female return migration in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. (Policy Brief of the Migration Governance and Agricultural and Rural Change (AGRUMIG) Project]. London, UK: SOAS University of London. 8p. (AGRUMIG Policy Brief Series 3)). European Union Horizon2020 work programme. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131900 
3. Kholmatova, N. (2021). Navigating contradictions : female return migration and social change in Tajikistan, Florence : European University Institute, 2021, EUI, SPS, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/72723 

Ep3(S5) Migration & Russia: Understanding the Broader Context and Impacts of the War in Ukraine

Is migrating a risk factor for one’s mental health? Well, sometimes yes, and sometimes no – it depends on the context and perspective. (Of course, “context and perspective” is the simple way of putting it. You’ll hear about some of the complexity behind this, in this episode!) 

You’ll hear Itzel Eguiluz interview Ietza Bojorquez and Sylvia Dantas about their work with migrants in Mexico and Brazil.

In their short conversation, they get to the heart of why treating mental health in multicultural contexts can be so challenging. We hear about the importance of reflexivity – and specifically how the position and cultural backgrounds of practitioners as well as migrants facing mental health difficulties should be taken into consideration. 

It turns out, that in their work trying to improve mental health support for migrants, both Ietza and Sylvia are working to provide better access to the health care for migrants in general, and they talk about why this is a necessary foundational step. 

Ietza Bojorquez is a professor-researcher at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana, Mexico. She is also working on the Observatorio de Salud y Movilidad en México, and has a background in epidemiology. She works on the topics of migrant mental health, including migrants' access to healthcare and addressing mental health issues among migrants. These days her research mainly focuses on migrants in transit through Mexico and Mexican migrants deported from the United States.

Sylvia Dantas is a Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at São Paulo Federal University. She is also the vice-coordinator of the research group “Intercultural Dialogues” at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the same university. Sylvia has a PhD in social psychology, and she focuses on intercultural psychology, psychoanalysis and guidance for organizations and individuals, especially when it comes to migration, prejudice, and ethnic and cultural identities. 
 
Thank you for tuning in!

For more information on Ietza's and Sylvia's work, see below;

From Ietza Bojorquez:
Project name and website: https://observatorios.colef.mx/osymm/
1. Bojorquez-Chapela, Ietza, Leyva-Flores, René, Gomez-López, Diana, Vázquez, Esther K, Cortés-Alcalá, Ricardo (2023).  Forced migration and psychological distress among migrants in transit through Mexico. Salud Pública de México. Publicado en línea 15 de diciembre 2023. https://doi.org/10.21149/14829
2. Bojorquez Ietza, Sepúlveda Jaime, Lee Deandra, Strathdee Steffanie (2022). Interrupted transit and common mental disorders among migrants in Tijuana, Mexico. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 68(5):1018-1025. doi:10.1177/00207640221099419.
3. Bojorquez, Ietza, Odgers-Ortiz, Olga, Olivas-Hernández, Olga (2021). Psychosocial and mental health during the COVID-19 lockdown: A rapid qualitative study in migrant shelters at the Mexico-United States border. Salud Mental, 44(4):167-175. DOI: 10.17711/SM.0185-3325.2021.022
4. Bojorquez, I., Aguilera, R. M., Ramírez, J., Cerecero, D. & Mejía, S. (2015) Common Mental Disorders at the Time of Deportation: A Survey at the Mexico–United States Border. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 17(6):1732-1738. Publicado en línea 14 de agosto de 2014, DOI: 10.1007/s10903-014-0083-y

From Sylvia Dantas
Her new book:
Resignifying Migration and Minorities’ Cultural Contact in Brazil (May 2025), Springer:
Launch event (in Portuguese): June 9, 2025. More information here:
https://www.iea.usp.br/eventos/lancamento-resignifying-migration?fbclid=IwY2xjawKi3DVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF4S3JORkZPQXl3cmtWSWtMAR6QZ_r94cli9D_gY0Zr7Ac2TG4jIutnszLaICgSdR3VGlCciMTRw6Tjs6uvkg_aem_ZsVhM7tTDLj4MvKsoDdiJQ


Ep4(S5) Migration and Mental Health: A Look at Latin America

In this episode we speak about a particular form of migration: the so called “floating population” in China.  My co-producer Jolynna Sinanan spoke to Xinyuan Wang about her work with temporary, low-wage workers in Chinese factory towns, looking at, what she calls “the human face of Made in china”.
As temporary workers responding to labour needs, this floating population travels light. Their smartphones are their most prized possessions and function as a gateway to participating in modern China, at least digitally.

Xinyuan Wang is Research Associate at UCL in London. 
She is the author of the book "Social media in Industrial China" 
Learn more about Xinyuan here: https://www.visualethnographyxy.co.uk/

Episode 4 (S1): Xinyuan Wang about the Floating Population in China

Until about the end of the past century, visits, phone calls, letters and remittances were common means to upholding relationships across distance and showing care. Today, mobile devices and fast internet connections open up new avenues to stay in touch and thus change the ways in which care is expressed and practiced across distance.  

In this episode, my co-producer Jolynna speaks to Loretta Baldassar about her work on transnational families, media practices, care and ageing in migration in Australia.

Loretta Baldassar is Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at UWA and an Adjunct Principal Research Fellow at Monash University. Her research and teaching areas include migration, transnational families and Australian society. Loretta is currently working on two ARC Discovery projects: Ageing and New Media and Mobile Transitions.

Learn more about Loretta here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/loretta-baldassar

Episode 5 (S1): Loretta Baldassar on transnational families, media, and care across distance

The field of migration and mobility studies is vast and has grown exponentially over the past decades. To make sense of the movement of people, this podcast explores migration and mobility research globally. Providing a platform for migration scholars to speak about their projects, ideas and insights, The IMISCOE Migration Podcast aims to publicize what happens inside universities around the world. This is a podcast by the research community for everyone interested in knowing more about academic research on migration. 

Download or subscribe to hear about new books, or listen to one of our episodes in which we speak to scholars about ideas that changed how we think about migration. 

Team for season 5:
Production: 
Kate Dearden 

Team & Programming Coordinators: 
Milena Belloni, Roos Derrix, Mark Marvin Kadigo

Financial Administration & Engagement: 
Asya Pisarevskaya

Interviews: 
Amanda Paz Alencar, Liberty Chee, Silindile Mlilo, Itzel Eguiluz, Samanwita Paul

The Migration Podcast

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