April Migration Working Group: Scholars of Excellence Edition

In spring 2023, our visiting Scholars of Excellence will lead workshops. The workshop is co-convened by Oliver Bakewell, University of Manchester, Nicola Piper, Queen Mary University of London and Anna Triandafyllidou, chair CERC Migration.

OVERVIEW

Migration is viewed as one of the important transnational governance challenges of our times by policymakers. Even though international migration remains a contested topic – countries of origin and destination, migrants and their families, civil society organizations and international institutions having different views and interests – a consensus has been rising among a core group of states (primarily drawn from OECD members) and global institutions in recent years, that migration can only be mutually beneficial (a win-win-win situation for migrants, countries of origin and countries of destination) if it is safe, regular and orderly. This is encapsulated in the Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration from 2018. The narrative of the ‘good’ regular migration has become dominant, if not hegemonic, obscuring alternative perspectives on the needs and interests of different actors involved in the governance of international migration. This workshop challenges this consensus by articulating views of migration from outside this core group, particularly drawing on insights from Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The first panel discusses the political economy of knowledge production on migration and its governance and the ways in which donors, international organizations, and states can shape how we talk about and study migration and the terminology we use or the perspectives we privilege. The second panel elaborates on the side effects of safe, orderly and regular migration governance showcasing how in some cases regulated migration can be unsafe and unfair for migrants. The aim of the workshop is to de-centre our investigation in multiple directions: towards different world regions, towards a multitude of governance actors and towards alternative policy paradigms.

PANELS INCLUDE:

Panel 1: Political economy of knowledge production

Chair: Nicola Piper

• Exclusions and disconnections: Migration and food insecurity in global and local knowledge production | Jonathan Crush, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University
• The state in the field: Mitigation policy to counterbalance temporary workers’ vulnerability in Canada | Danièle Bélanger, Université Laval
• The necropolitical production and management of forced migration | Ariadna Lopez Estevez, Center for Research on North America (CISAN- UNAM)
• Regional perspective/s on global governance of migration | Nicola Piper, Queen Mary University of London and Oliver Bakewell, University of Manchester

Panel 2: Unpacking the ‘safe, orderly and regular’ nature of migration governance

Chair: Oliver Bakewell

• Putting the ‘safe’ in labour migration governance in Africa: the role of regional organizations | Amanda Bisong, European Centre for Development Policy Management
• African states and the EU: The trope and practice of “safe, orderly and regular” migration | Faisal Garba, University of Cape Town
• Middle space actors (intermediaries): The case of Nepali migrant workers to Malaysia | Yvonne Khor, Monash University Malaysia
• De-centring migration governance in a post pandemic world | Anna Triandafyllidou, CERC Migration, Toronto Metropolitan University

Please note: This working group will be in a hybrid format. All presentations will be in person and working group participants are welcome to join in person or online via Zoom. Limited in-person seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please indicate your preference to join online or in person on the registration form.

For more information, please visit our website.