Session 9

This session aims to discuss potentials and challenges of, as well as innovative approaches to interpretative research on migration and mobility in the context of the Global South. Migration research – especially in societies of the “Global North” – tends to have a narrow and state-centered view on migration (e.g. focusing predominantly on economic “worth” of migration, bordering or on questions of “assimilation” or “integration”). It oftentimes neglects the complex and changing social realities of migration and mobility towards, within, and more specifically, outside of the “Global North”. Interpretative methodologies seek to understand social phenomena by giving priority to the level of everyday life, meaning of experiences, (life-)histories and (inter-)actions of ‘individuals’ and collectives, and the relations or figurations between them. Furthermore, an important principle of interpretative methodology is to be sensitive, open and adaptive towards the nature of the phenomena under research. In the context of migration and mobility, this means dealing with very dynamic processes connected to social changes on different levels. We welcome contributions, which are empirically based on qualitative-interpretative research and discuss how interpretative methods and their combination contribute to a better understanding of migration and mobility within and between societies of the Global South and Global North.

ABSTRACTS

1.Interpretative and Multi-Method Approaches to Global-South-Migration

Arne Worm  (University of Göttingen , Germany)

Steve Tonah  (University of Ghana, Ghana)

This session aims to discuss potentials and challenges of, as well as innovative approaches to interpretative research on migration and mobility in the context of the Global South. Migration research – especially in societies of the “Global North” – tends to have a narrow and state-centered view on migration (e.g. focusing predominantly on economic “worth” of migration, bordering or on questions of “assimilation” or “integration”). It oftentimes neglects the complex and changing social realities of migration and mobility towards, within, and more specifically, outside of the “Global North”. Interpretative methodologies seek to understand social phenomena by giving priority to the level of everyday life, meaning of experiences, (life-)histories and (inter-)actions of ‘individuals’ and collectives, and the relations or figurations between them. Furthermore, an important principle of interpretative methodology is to be sensitive, open and adaptive towards the nature of the phenomena under research. In the context of migration and mobility, this means dealing with very dynamic processes connected to social changes on different levels. We welcome contributions, which are empirically based on qualitative-interpretative research and discuss how interpretative methods and their combination contribute to a better understanding of migration and mobility within and between societies of the Global South and Global North.

2.Using Multi-Site Ethnography for Return Migration Studies during the Pandemic Covid-19, The Case of Lampung Province, Indonesia

Helmia Adita Fitra  (Institut Teknologi Sumatera; Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Indonesia)

The spread of the Covid-19 virus in late 2019 appears to be a watershed moment for migration scholars and related development actors. While the pandemics has clearly and significantly altered migration patterns, there is hardly any robust data on these effects, i.e. on the nature and extent of “covid-induced” migration. This has led both scientific and practitioners alike to rethink how they can obtain data from migrants during a pandemic situation for research purposes. In migration studies, multi-site ethnography is a widely established research strategy. It allows the researcher to observe the migrants within a specific period. However, the pandemic situation has caused people to isolate or at least maintain social distance. This makes it difficult to collect data from them – not only in quantitative studies but also when applying qualitative research strategies. Most people currently rely on the internet to support their activity. A particular type of migration seems to have become rather salient in the pandemic situation: return migration. Many migrants return to their place of origin for several reasons. However, it is very difficult to study remigration because most of the migrant’s place of origin (to where they return) do not have internet access. At this point, this paper discusses the viability of multi-site ethnography for migration research in general and return migration in the current pandemic situation in particular. The study case is return migration emanating from Lampung Province, Indonesia. The paper will illustrate and substantiate the methodological approach chosen in the case study as well as highlight what kind of insights it will (hopefully) deliver.

3.Guangzhou: A Jungle for African diaspora and for Knowledge Production

Liang Chen  (Australian National University, China)

The destinations of African diasporas during the slave trade and in the second half of the 20th century used to be European countries and the Americas. However, since the new millennium, African business people and students gravitating to China (and other Asian countries) have caught much scholarly attention. Such a new wave of diaspora does not only entail a change of migratory routes but has complicated the dichotomy of the South and the North. While the US and Europe remain attractive destinations for many Africans, China and some Asian countries serve as alternative options or at least transitional places. For instance, Guangzhou city is reputed as having abundant opportunities for achieving wealth and success for African business people. Nevertheless, the city is also the source of dismay and prolonged suffering, thanks to its strict immigration policies and local discrimination to the extent that Africans regard it as a “jungle” of dangers and uncertainties. Besides, many students chose to study in Guangzhou just because they do not have access to Europe or the US. Therefore, the interim or “limbo” nature of the new migratory experience to China, together with the city’s Janus-faced conditions, open up new research themes and renovative research methodologies. How can we grapple with migratory experiences, not only the spatial movements but the temporalities, of the migrants? How are certain places associated with significances of the past, of the present, and the future? Furthermore, would researchers from China, the US/Europe and Africa be subject to their cultural premises, language capacity, and topical preferences? This paper argues that the self-knowledge of Africans in Guangzhou and the knowledge production are equally a confusion of tongues because of Guangzhou’s interim spatial and temporal features.

4.Researching current migration: A case for theoretical and methodological eclecticism

Christopher Ntau  (University of Botswana, Botswana)

France Maphosa  (University of Botswana, Botswana)

Abednico Kabelo Maphuru  (University of Botswana, Botswana)

Migration has been changing over the years in terms of its causes, scale, dynamics, and consequences. This presents challenges for both its research and theorizing. Traditionally, migration was conceptualised as a unidirectional process involving people changing places of residence – moving from place of origin to place of destination, permanently or semi-permanently. Economic factors were given prominence as “pull” factors and “push” factors. People were seen to be pulled to places of destination by better economic prospects in those areas than in places of origin. In the same vein, people were viewed as being pushed from their place origin by the harsh socio-economic and political factors. Once in their places of destination, the interest of migration theorists and researchers was largely the integration of migrants into their new environments. Contemporary trends in migration such as transnationalism, irregular migration, feminization, child migration and its non-linearity call for eclecticism in both its theorizing and research. This paper looks at how the transnationalisation of migration requires a multi-paradigmatic and multi-method approach in order to capture the lived experiences of migrants. Transnationalism presents particular challenges to the traditional conceptualisation, operationalization and measurement migration as researchers try to understand transnational experiences such as multiple involvements and multiple exclusions, cultural hybridization, and identity formation.

5.Methodological challenges to the understanding of the relationship between climate change and migration in Africa

France Maphosa  (University of Botswana, Botswana)

While evidence of climate change is increasing, its consequences on migration are not clear. This is because migration is an outcome of many other factors which make establishing a causal relationship between climate change and the decision to leave difficult. The relationship between climate change and migration is therefore complex and requires the adoption of different methodologies in migration research with more emphasis on qualitative methods. Furthermore, most of the literature on African migration is by writers from the West. There is need for the Africanisation of the study of African migration.

6.A multi-dimensional and multi-data approach for understanding socio-spatial inequality shaping and reshaping urban-rural transitional zones

Ava Lynam  (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany)

Huang Huang  (Tongji University Shanghai, China)

Fengqing Li  (Shanghai University, China)

Utzig Lukas  (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany)

Gaoli Xiao  (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany)

The scale and pace of global urban expansion is resulting in conflicting and uneven socio-spatial development between city and countryside. Urban-rural interfaces have become operational landscapes of trans-local transformation, characterised by polarising socio-economic disparities and unequal resource distributions. Already two decades ago, urbanist Neil Brenner highlighted multi-scalar methodologies as crucial in understanding the social production of space within such planetary urbanisation. Despite this, multi-dimensional socio-spatial methodologies for studying inequality lack sufficient elaboration. While factors generating social inequality are more clearly outlined, spatial inequality remains comparatively fuzzy in definition and scope – yet holds great potential in revealing the production and reproduction of segregation. In rapidly transitioning ‘Global South’ contexts – in which space is not fixed, but fluid, shaped by layers of social activity – traditional methodologies may not capture all dimensions of inequality in hybrid and fragmented hinterlands. Our original methodological approach thus proposes a more comprehensive view of this entangled socio-spatial relationship, exploring what combinations of quantitative and qualitative methods – multi-scalar/data/dimensional/directional – reveal how social inequalities are reflected in spatial structure during rural-urban transformation, based on three interacting levels. At macro-scale (municipality), Big Data (Location Based Services) and computational spatial analysis (Space Syntax) identify patterns, trends, and flows in the spatial structure in terms of accessibility and distribution of urban-rural functions. At an identified meso-scale (neighbourhood) node, stakeholder analysis reveals negotiations and power relations that shape and reshape space. Finally, identified typologies of inequality at micro-scale (architecture) are described through detailed ethnographic and architectural mapping, analysing everyday meanings and experiences behind larger-scale networks and patterns. To test this methodological assemblage, an inductive pilot study – at Huangyan-Taizhou within the Yangtze River Delta, whose urban-rural interface is at the centre of globalised industrial upgrading processes – reveals interlinking drivers and factors of socio-spatial inequality, through generating a multi-scalar empirical visualisation of (im)mobilities, socio-economic networks, segregation patterns, and their impact on spatial form. Embodying a typical planetary urbanisation trajectory, the study at Huangyan can be scaled-up as a multi-data framework for interpreting socio-spatial inequality in other transitional global contexts, supporting the relocation of theory production.