Welcome to the MMB blog. We publish posts fortnightly by members of MMB and our close collaborators that are based on their research ideas, projects and publications.
From time to time we also incorporate a special series. In recent years these have included ‘Migration, Mobilities and the Environment’, co-published with the Cabot Institute for the Environment, and ‘Letter from Afar’, in which researchers across the world told us about their experience of doing research during the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Race, Nation and Migration’ provided a rethink of the relationship between movement and racism, and, most recently, ‘Migration, Mobilities and Digital Technologies’ examines the rise of digitised borders.
We also have a series showcasing the work of the Migration Research Group in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at Bristol, and we have ongoing series that bring together posts on particular themes, such as Policy, Politics and Practice and New Writing on Migration and Mobilities. We also publish blogs on our MMB Latin America webpage with contributions from researchers across the region as well as from Bristol. Meanwhile, posts about the COVID-19 pandemic can be found collected on our dedicated COVID-19 page.
Please note, we have temporarily turned off the comment option on our blogposts while we try to deal with an overwhelming spam issue. If you would like to comment on any of our blogs please contact us by email.
Published blogs:
- From surveillance to solidarity: the political implications of digital monitoring in conservation and migrationMigration, Mobilities and Digital Technologies – a special series published in association with the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures. By Naomi Millner. During the mobilisation of migrant solidarity and anti-racist protests in the UK last summer, digital technologies – particularly smartphones – played a pivotal role. These devices became lifelines, with group chats buzzing with updates… Read more: From surveillance to solidarity: the political implications of digital monitoring in conservation and migration
- Bolsonaro’s paradox: a far-right leader’s pro-immigration strategy?A special series from the Migration Research Group of the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. By Maeli Farias. Immigration is a highly politicised and election-defining issue. Across the Global North, conservative, liberal, left-leaning and far-right leaders alike typically adopt hostile, dehumanising stances toward immigrants and refugees, as most explicitly exemplified by… Read more: Bolsonaro’s paradox: a far-right leader’s pro-immigration strategy?
- On mobility and ‘meetingness’ in academiaBy Charlotte Lerg. In July 2024, Charlotte Lerg (University of Munich, Amerika-Institut) and Charlotte Faucher (University of Bristol, School of Modern Languages) were able to meet to work on a grant application thanks to the support of MMB. The project looks at the relationship between diplomats and the media in Europe (including Britain) and the… Read more: On mobility and ‘meetingness’ in academia
- ‘El Carrusel’: digitising the US-Mexico border with(out) the CBP One appMigration, Mobilities and Digital Technologies – a special series published in association with the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures. By Martin Rogard. Many people had been waiting in Mexico for months to make their asylum claim legally in the US when, at midday on 20th January 2025, all CBP One appointments with the US Border Force… Read more: ‘El Carrusel’: digitising the US-Mexico border with(out) the CBP One app
- After border externalisation: migration, race and labour in MauritaniaNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series By Hassan Ould Moctar. In March 2024, the Mauritanian government signed a migration partnership agreement with Spain and the European Commission, the stated aim being to address a surge of unwanted migrant arrivals on the Canary Islands. While unprecedented in financial scope, this was… Read more: After border externalisation: migration, race and labour in Mauritania
- Home and researching home from near and farBy Nyi Nyi Kyaw. My self and my work I am from Myanmar and most of my academic work on identity, displacement, migration, mobility and immobility focuses on this country. Having been (self-)exiled and displaced for a number of years I have had the opportunity to think about and research home from near and far,… Read more: Home and researching home from near and far
- The nation and its othersBy Bridget Anderson. Hostility to migration and claims about the negative changes that it brings are increasingly being mobilised to fan racism. At the same time, some of the most prominent anti-migration advocates are themselves people of colour. How can we understand the current relationship between the politics of race and the politics of migration?… Read more: The nation and its others
- Call to arms, but to whom? Conscription, race and the nation in South KoreaA special series from the Migration Research Group of the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. By Minjae Shin. Military service is mandatory in South Korea (hereafter Korea). Over the past ten years, one of the main concerns of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces (hereafter ‘Korean military’) is the integration of… Read more: Call to arms, but to whom? Conscription, race and the nation in South Korea
- Are the UK’s immigration rules forcing couples into marriage?A special series from the Migration Research Group of the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. By Nicole Hoellerer and Katharine Charsley. The UK has one of the world’s most restrictive spouse and partner immigration systems. The UK government has long suggested increasing restrictions to the rights of citizens to be joined… Read more: Are the UK’s immigration rules forcing couples into marriage?
- Privatised border regulation, AI, MigTech and public procurementMigration, Mobilities and Digital Technologies – a special series published in association with the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures. By Albert Sanchez-Graells. Moving across borders used to involve direct contact with the State. Moving people faced border agents attached to some police corps or the army. Moving things were inspected by customs agents. Entry was granted… Read more: Privatised border regulation, AI, MigTech and public procurement
- Refugee women’s struggles for rights and stability: insights from an intersectional lens A special series from the Migration Research Group of the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. By Maite Ibáñez Bollerhoff. As a researcher exploring the experiences of refugee women in small German towns, I have come to understand the critical importance of applying a postcolonial and intersectional lens to capture the complexity… Read more: Refugee women’s struggles for rights and stability: insights from an intersectional lens
- Ukrainian refugees – the new white Other in British discourses?A special series from the Migration Research Group of the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. By Magda Mogilnicka. This year has marked the 20th anniversary of the EU enlargement when eight countries from Central and East Europe, with Poland as the largest accession state, joined the European Union. The UK was… Read more: Ukrainian refugees – the new white Other in British discourses?
- From documentation to computation: the shifting logic of UK border controlMigration, Mobilities and Digital Technologies – a special series published in association with the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures. By Kuba Jablonowski. The UK immigration status is going online. Tangible documents issued by the Home Office are set to expire at midnight on 31st December 2024 as the department has been short-dating them for years. From… Read more: From documentation to computation: the shifting logic of UK border control
- The problem of promoting legal identities for all in anti-trafficking workA special series from the Migration Research Group of the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. By Natalie Brinham. Recently, there has been an increased interest in how a lack of legal identities, or state-issued documents, is connected to the risks of trafficking and modern slavery. As someone who… Read more: The problem of promoting legal identities for all in anti-trafficking work
- Who’s in the fast lane? Will new border tech deliver seamless travel for all?Migration, Mobilities and Digital Technologies – a special series published in association with the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures. By Travis Van Isacker. For the past year I have been attending border industry conferences to understand the future claims they are making as part of my research on digitised borders for the ESRC Centre for… Read more: Who’s in the fast lane? Will new border tech deliver seamless travel for all?
- ‘Slaves’, migrants and museums: the struggle for places of African memory in BrazilA special series from the Migration Research Group of the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. By Julio D’Angelo Davies. Brazil is built on slavery. It was the Americas’ largest importer of enslaved Africans, with Rio de Janeiro serving as the country’s main port of entry. Despite receiving nearly… Read more: ‘Slaves’, migrants and museums: the struggle for places of African memory in Brazil
- Footsore/footloose: mobile foot technologiesBorderland Infrastructures – an MMB special series exploring the material and symbolic infrastructure of border regimes in the port cities of Calais and Dover. By Radhika Subramaniam. It was the boots that first caught my eye. They sat there, two or three, on a large table, looking in good nick, creased into a visible sense of… Read more: Footsore/footloose: mobile foot technologies
- New questions for the UK’s seasonal worker schemeA special series from the Migration Research Group of the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. By Lydia Medland. The pen asks: ‘Need seasonal workers?’ It’s a freebie from a horticultural event aimed at fruit growers. The expected answer is, ‘yes’. On the other side of the pen is… Read more: New questions for the UK’s seasonal worker scheme
- Moving as being: introducing the SPAIS Migration Group blog seriesA special series from the Migration Research Group of the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. By Samuel Okyere. Welcome to the MMB special series by the SPAIS Migration Group, a collective of researchers in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS) at the University of Bristol… Read more: Moving as being: introducing the SPAIS Migration Group blog series
- Transnational borders: from containment to freedomBorderland Infrastructures – an MMB special series exploring the material and symbolic infrastructure of border regimes in the port cities of Calais and Dover. By Miriam Ticktin. Borders as infrastructure As I looked out the car window in Calais at the enormous white mesh razor-wire lined fences, the surveillance towers and the starkness of the… Read more: Transnational borders: from containment to freedom
- The racist politics of ‘mindless thuggery’By Dan Godshaw, Ann Singleton and Bridget Anderson. We pay respect to the memory of the children killed and to those injured in Southport as well as their families. In early August 2024 the UK experienced a wave of fascist violence and organised hate of the kind not witnessed since the 1980s. Far right activists… Read more: The racist politics of ‘mindless thuggery’
- Finding movement: ethnographic work with Emberá Dobidá in MedellínBy Agathe Faure. For two years, in 2018 and 2019, I immersed myself in the lives of Emberá Dobidá families who had migrated from Colombia’s Pacific coastal region of the Chocó to the bustling urban environment of Medellín. Their journey from rainforest settlements to the country’s second largest city was clearly a defining feature of… Read more: Finding movement: ethnographic work with Emberá Dobidá in Medellín
- Bordering Bristol: looking to seeBy Bridget Anderson and Emma Newcombe. Between February and July 2024 MMB was delighted to host Victoria Hattam, Professor of Politics from the New School For Social Research, New York, as Leverhulme Visiting Research Professor. One of the key themes emerging from her visit was how we can incorporate visuality into our methodological toolbox. We… Read more: Bordering Bristol: looking to see
- Across the waters: Caribbean mobilities, itineraries, historiesBy Orlando Deavila Pertuz and Bethan Fisk. What stories are told about the Caribbean? What do these narratives exclude? How can we broaden the story? And how can we teach a wider vision of the Caribbean to students of all ages and wider publics? Orlando Deavila Pertuz from the Instituto Internacional de Estudios del Caribe… Read more: Across the waters: Caribbean mobilities, itineraries, histories
- ‘We’ll double your change!’ The materiality and mobility of cash in contemporary ArgentinaBy Juan Luis Bradley. In January 2024, the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) announced that two new, higher denomination banknotes (ARS10,000 and ARS20,000) would be placed into circulation by the summer. The rift between the value to be printed on these notes and the highest denomination note currently available at the time of writing (ARS2,000)… Read more: ‘We’ll double your change!’ The materiality and mobility of cash in contemporary Argentina
- Bodies, things, capital – intersections in our research themesBy Juan Zhang. As co-ordinator of the MMB Research Challenge ‘Bodies, Things, Capital’ I have been reading our recent blogs under this theme and am struck by the range and depth of the projects. They cross many contexts, disciplines and research fields, and engage with critical debates around (in)justice, vulnerability, borders and the politics of… Read more: Bodies, things, capital – intersections in our research themes
- Why do we use the term ‘irregular migration’ and can it be translated?By Edanur Yazici and Bridget Anderson. The term ‘illegal immigration’ is often used in discussions about immigration but is widely agreed to be pejorative, misleading, and stigmatising by scholars, refugee and migrant groups, and across the third sector. Instead, ‘irregular migration’ has become the preferred term, especially in Europe. However, this term can be confusing and… Read more: Why do we use the term ‘irregular migration’ and can it be translated?
- Hysteria and disinterest: accommodating asylum seekersBy Melanie Griffiths. The UK’s asylum system is in crisis. Despite the government’s rhetoric, this is largely a crisis of the Home Office’s own making. Years of painfully slow decision-making has created a massive backlog of tens of thousands of people. The recent political hysteria around small boats crossing the Channel and the cruel, fear-mongering… Read more: Hysteria and disinterest: accommodating asylum seekers
- Navigating ethical emotions in European migration enforcementNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series By Ioana Vrăbiescu and Bridget Anderson. The European Union represents itself as a global champion of human rights, yet its external borders are marked by hostility, surveillance and death. Despite official claims to equality and that Black Lives Matter, the vast majority of those… Read more: Navigating ethical emotions in European migration enforcement
- Chilean exile in the UK: music, memory and the making of futuresBy Simón Palominos Mandiola. In 2023, Chileans worldwide marked the 50th anniversary of the 1973-1990 civilian-military dictatorship, which aimed to dismantle decades of progress in wealth redistribution, cultural development and democratisation in Chile. Alongside arrests, torture and murders, exile became a widespread repressive tactic, with over 200,000 individuals forced to leave, significantly altering migration patterns.… Read more: Chilean exile in the UK: music, memory and the making of futures
- (Im)mobility in Buenos Aires (1929-2023)By Jo Crow. I travelled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November 2023 to research the First Conference of Latin American Communist Parties, a key transnational meeting that took place in 1929. I also presented my work at the Universidad de San Andrés, thanks to an invitation from the head of its History postgraduate programme Dr… Read more: (Im)mobility in Buenos Aires (1929-2023)
- Instead of separating thousands more families, rethink UK family migration policiesBy Katharine Charsley and Helena Wray. Last week, new immigration rules were laid before parliament that will force thousands of British citizens and settled residents to live apart from their partner and even their children. This is because the Minimum Income Requirement (MIR) to bring a non-British partner to the UK is going to rise… Read more: Instead of separating thousands more families, rethink UK family migration policies
- Obstacles and aspirations: stories from young refugees in the UK education systemBy Jáfia Naftali Câmara. ‘Refugee Stories: Education: Obstacles and Aspirations‘ draws on findings from my doctoral research project on young refugees’ educational experiences in the UK. The study investigated how young refugee people and their families have encountered the education system while considering the implications of living as refugees in England. Young refugee people’s right… Read more: Obstacles and aspirations: stories from young refugees in the UK education system
- Debordering Higher EducationBy Edanur Yazici. On 4th December 2023, the Home Secretary announced a series of policy changes with the aim of reducing net migration. Among the changes announced was an increase in the general salary threshold for the Skilled Worker Visa from £26,200 to £38,700 a year and an increase in the salary requirement for settled… Read more: Debordering Higher Education
- Reporting Sounds: the lived impact of UK Home Office reporting on the lives of asylum seekersBy Amanda Schmid-Scott. Forty minutes into the bus journey that takes me from the bustling streets of Bristol’s city centre, through Bishopston and Horfield, and slowly along Gloucester Road, with its vibrant array of independent shops and cafes, we eventually head onto the busy dual carriage way. As we leave the shopfronts and people on… Read more: Reporting Sounds: the lived impact of UK Home Office reporting on the lives of asylum seekers
- Invisible: domestic workers’ commutes in Latin AmericaBy Valentina Montoya Robledo and Rachel Randall. Read the Spanish version here. Domestic workers make up one in every five working women in Latin America, totalling approximately 13 million individuals. In recent decades, a significant transformation has occurred as many domestic workers have shifted from living in their employers’ homes to commuting daily from their… Read more: Invisible: domestic workers’ commutes in Latin America
- Migration and mobilities research: making connections for social justiceBy Bridget Anderson. Happy New Year all. Let’s hope that 2024 brings more peace and justice than 2023. We need it. It is difficult to be hopeful in the face of the ongoing Gaza horror, more needless (and nameless) deaths in the Mediterranean and Channel, the fall out from the Illegal Migration Act, and the… Read more: Migration and mobilities research: making connections for social justice
- Looking for the ‘state’ in statelessness researchBy Natalie Brinham. Eight months after Myanmar’s genocidal violence in 2017, which saw more than a million Rohingyas driven into Bangladesh, 55-year-old Rafique (not his real name) welcomed me into his shelter in a busy section of the refugee camp. He served me tea and asked me to wait – he wanted to show me… Read more: Looking for the ‘state’ in statelessness research
- Bad cases make bad law: the unintended consequences of denaturalising bad guysBy Colin Yeo. The power to denaturalise a British subject on the basis of their behaviour was first introduced by legislation in 1918. With some adjustments, the power remained broadly the same until as late as 2002. Essentially, only a person who had naturalised as British could be stripped of their citizenship and the main… Read more: Bad cases make bad law: the unintended consequences of denaturalising bad guys
- Borderscapes: policing withinBorderland Infrastructures – an MMB special series exploring the material and symbolic infrastructure of border regimes in the port cities of Calais and Dover. By Victoria Hattam. Governments around the globe have been building border walls for decades: Calais is no exception. At least since the Touquet Treaty, the UK government has helped fund the… Read more: Borderscapes: policing within
- The ethics of mapping migrant violence through MexicoBy Sylvanna Falcón. From October 2021 through to May 2022 undergraduate students from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of California, Berkeley, participated in a human rights investigation with Human Rights First (HRF) and El Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración, AC (IMUMI, The Institute for Migration of Women). Under the… Read more: The ethics of mapping migrant violence through Mexico
- From Bristol to Brasilia: collaborating on migration and mobilities researchBy Anamaria Fonsêca. In April this year I visited the University of Brasilia (UnB), Brazil, with Professor Foluke Adebisi from the Bristol Law School to take part in a series of lectures organised by the postgraduate programmes in Law and in Human Rights. I have been collaborating with UnB’s Research Group on International Private Law,… Read more: From Bristol to Brasilia: collaborating on migration and mobilities research
- Expatriate: why we need to study migration categoriesNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series By Sarah Kunz. My new book Expatriate: Following a Migration Category explores the postcolonial history and politics of the category expatriate. It asks what expatriate has been taken to mean in different places and times. How has it been employed and shaped by political… Read more: Expatriate: why we need to study migration categories
- Roots and routes: debating indigenous rights in twentieth-century Latin AmericaNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series By Jo Crow. My recent book Itinerant Ideas (2022) explores the multiple meanings and languages of indigeneity (Merlan, 2009) circulating across borders in early twentieth-century Latin America. It takes readers through an extensive visual and written representational repertoire to show how ideas about indigenous… Read more: Roots and routes: debating indigenous rights in twentieth-century Latin America
- Time and (im)mobility in Calais’ borderlandsBorderland Infrastructures – an MMB special series exploring the material and symbolic infrastructure of border regimes in the port cities of Calais and Dover. By Juan Zhang. At the Dover border crossing I sat in the backseat in silence waiting for questions from the immigration officer inspecting the four passports we handed over together as… Read more: Time and (im)mobility in Calais’ borderlands
- Notes from a visit to CalaisBorderland Infrastructures – an MMB special series exploring the material and symbolic infrastructure of border regimes in the port cities of Calais and Dover. By Nariman Massoumi. Nariman Massoumi is a Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at the Department of Film and Television, University of Bristol, and Co-ordinator of the MMB Research Challenge Representation, Belonging,… Read more: Notes from a visit to Calais
- ‘I’ll see you on the other side’: migrant journeys and the (re)formation of diasporic identitiesBy Leah Simmons Wood. The poetry of Warsan Shire – a Kenya born, UK raised and US based second generation migrant of Somali origin – addresses the topic of journeys. She often deliberately fails to clarify the point of departure and of arrival. In this way, she centres journeys at the heart of the migration… Read more: ‘I’ll see you on the other side’: migrant journeys and the (re)formation of diasporic identities
- Breaching two worlds: seeing through borders in CalaisBorderland Infrastructures – an MMB special series exploring the material and symbolic infrastructure of border regimes in the port cities of Calais and Dover. By Bridget Anderson. As we walked around Calais, one of the group remarked ‘It’s just like The City & the City!’ She was spot on. In his novel The City &… Read more: Breaching two worlds: seeing through borders in Calais
- Imperial denaturalisation: towards an end to empireBy Colin Yeo. As the British empire gradually remodelled itself into a British nation state over the course of the twentieth century, it was inevitable that problems would arise. There was no masterplan or strategy on how to achieve change and successive governments tended to react rather than plan. Nowhere was this more evident than… Read more: Imperial denaturalisation: towards an end to empire
- The other side of Partition: tracing Bengal and Bangladesh’s (post-)Partition legacyBy Nazia Hussein and Anushka Chaudhuri. Since its June 2022 release the Disney Plus series Ms Marvel has brought the conversation around the creation of Independent India and Pakistan – commonly dubbed as ‘Partition’ – to the mainstream. The series has been applauded for introducing the first Muslim superheroine and narratives of the Partition –… Read more: The other side of Partition: tracing Bengal and Bangladesh’s (post-)Partition legacy
- What fosters a sense of belonging? Refugee voices in GermanyBy Emily LeRoux-Rutledge. My children are new in Germany like those two flowers. I want my children to be allowed to stay in Germany…. We build something up. We are like LEGO, block by block. These photographs and words belong to Liam* — a young man who made his way to Germany in the midst… Read more: What fosters a sense of belonging? Refugee voices in Germany
- Disablement and resistance in the British immigration systemBy Rebecca Yeo. The distinction between deserving and undeserving individuals has always been core to immigration policy in the UK. However, the hostility and restrictions directed at those framed as ‘undeserving’ has steadily increased. The recently introduced Illegal Migration Bill takes these restrictions to a new level to include detaining and preventing new arrivals from… Read more: Disablement and resistance in the British immigration system
- Many Turkish people in Europe are worse off than those who stayed at homeNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series By Şebnem Eroğlu. Many people migrate to another country to earn a decent income and to attain a better standard of living. But my recent research shows that across all destinations and generations studied, many migrants from Turkey to European countries are financially worse off than those who stayed… Read more: Many Turkish people in Europe are worse off than those who stayed at home
- Asylum and extraction in the Republic of NauruNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series By Julia Morris. My book, Asylum and Extraction in the Republic of Nauru (2023), looks at the impacts of outsourcing asylum to the world’s smallest island nation. The Pacific Island of Nauru was almost entirely economically dependent on the phosphate industry in the twentieth century.… Read more: Asylum and extraction in the Republic of Nauru
- Access to healthcare: human right or civil liberty?By Ella Barclay. A right to health is enshrined in many international agreements, indicating the perceived importance of wellness and accessible healthcare for the development and flourishing of individuals (UDHR, Art. 25:1; ICESCR, Art. 12.1; CEDAW, 12:1; CRC, Art. 24:1). Despite this, one of the main sites of immigration control targeted within the UK’s ‘hostile… Read more: Access to healthcare: human right or civil liberty?
- ‘An asylum ban’: why the Illegal Migration Bill must be stoppedBy Bridget Anderson. The Athenian Laws introduced by Draco c. 621 BCE were said to be written not in ink but blood. This government’s Illegal Migration Bill currently going through the UK Parliament, is draconian. It is aimed at people who arrive irregularly – people who the government calls ‘illegal migrants’, but who might better… Read more: ‘An asylum ban’: why the Illegal Migration Bill must be stopped
- The ‘Rwanda Solution’: using Australia’s playbookBy Juan Zhang. On 19th March, 2023, British Home Secretary Suella Braverman caused yet another controversy during her two-day visit to Kigali, Rwanda, with a photo of her laughing at the building site of future housing intended for asylum seekers to be deported from the UK to Rwanda. This visit drew new criticism from both… Read more: The ‘Rwanda Solution’: using Australia’s playbook
- No Recourse to Public Funds: The Big Issue tackles vulnerability to NRPF in BristolBy Paula Gombos. The Big Issue is a street magazine founded 30 years ago that tackles homelessness and social exclusion in the UK. It also supports individuals to earn an income by selling the magazine, and there are more than 50 active sellers in Bristol. A significant proportion of these vendors are Romanian Roma, many… Read more: No Recourse to Public Funds: The Big Issue tackles vulnerability to NRPF in Bristol
- The violence of postcolonial border makingBy Maya Goodfellow. In June 2022 Maya Goodfellow was the discussant for our public lecture ‘Are immigration controls racist? Lessons from history’ by Nandita Sharma. Here we publish her response to Nandita’s lecture. On the evening of 27th June 2022, they were found on a sideroad in Texas. Fifty-three people in the back of a… Read more: The violence of postcolonial border making
- Filmmaking from my father’s memoriesBy Nariman Massoumi. I never talked to my father about his experience of arriving in the UK until I made a film about it. Baba 1989 is about his memories of arrival following four years of separation from me, my mother and siblings. We left Iran as refugees in 1985 during the Iran–Iraq war and… Read more: Filmmaking from my father’s memories
- Working with the Colombian Truth Commission on illegal drug economiesBy Mary Ryder. In June 2022 the Colombian Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition launched its final report, Hay Futuro Si Hay Verdad: Hallazgos y Recomendaciones (There is a Future if There is Truth: Findings and Recommendations). This was the culmination of three and half years of work investigating the causes and… Read more: Working with the Colombian Truth Commission on illegal drug economies
- Looking back to ‘The Postcolonial Age of Migration’: a post-pandemic viewNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series By Ranabir Samaddar. My book The Postcolonial Age of Migration was published in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic raged in India and elsewhere. Global mobility had screeched to a halt, as had mobility within India. Locked down in my house when I received a copy,… Read more: Looking back to ‘The Postcolonial Age of Migration’: a post-pandemic view
- Bad intentions: the UK government and migrantsBy Ryan Lutz. At the MMB postgraduate workshop in July, ‘How Not to Think Like a State,’ visiting scholar Nandita Sharma talked to us about the throughlines of her research. One of these, in particular, gripped me: ‘Anti-immigrant sentiments,’ she said, ‘are used as the basis for fascism.’ I am a migrant PhD student in… Read more: Bad intentions: the UK government and migrants
- Researching Western privilege in Dubai: a conversation with Saba A. Le RenardNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series This is an edited version of an interview with Saba A. Le Renard in Jadaliyya* about their recent book Western Privilege. Work, Intimacy, and Postcolonial Hierarchies in Dubai (Stanford University Press, 2021). Jadaliyya (J): What made you write the book? Saba A. Le Renard (SLR): When I was… Read more: Researching Western privilege in Dubai: a conversation with Saba A. Le Renard
- Researching best practice in supporting refugee and migrant entrepreneursBy Udeni Salmon and Ann Singleton. Since January 2021 the University of Bristol has been collaborating with ACH in a research project to bring about social and economic change for refugees and migrants in the UK’s South West and West Midlands. ACH is a social enterprise that works to empower these groups to lead self-sufficient… Read more: Researching best practice in supporting refugee and migrant entrepreneurs
- ‘African Apocalypse’: the imperial violence behind today’s migrationBy Bridget Anderson. ‘What angers me most is he chased away our grandparents… and now we have no food. Every child we bring into the world suffers. They must leave to find work and food for us. Some kids never come home. We just get news of their death. So you can see why we… Read more: ‘African Apocalypse’: the imperial violence behind today’s migration
- The bifurcated migration lexicon and trend-defying trajectoriesNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series By Rose Jaji. The migration lexicon has consolidated itself around an either/or rather than both-and schematic in which categories resulting from a binary classification of regions and countries have acquired unquestioned normativity. This normativity is evident in what can be termed a regionalised division of… Read more: The bifurcated migration lexicon and trend-defying trajectories
- Race and nation in an era of postcolonialism: notes from a Bristol Benjamin Meaker ProfessorshipBy Bridget Anderson. In June–July 2022 we were delighted to host Professor Nandita Sharma from the University of Hawai’i as a Bristol Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professor. It was a productive month for MMB as we kept her busy with a range of events that got us all thinking more about postcolonial nationalist ideologies, decentring… Read more: Race and nation in an era of postcolonialism: notes from a Bristol Benjamin Meaker Professorship
- Religious encounter and identity formation among international students By Lin Ma. Studies of religion and migration tend to focus on how faith and beliefs travel with migrants, especially in the case of religions that are purposefully spread by their adherents. However, the story differs with my recent doctoral research on identities of Chinese international students who explore or convert to biblical evangelicalism in… Read more: Religious encounter and identity formation among international students
- Institutional encounters by non-citizens in the Nordic welfare state – a dialogueBy Valter Sandell-Maury and Liselott Sundbäck. How is access to the Nordic welfare state services navigated and negotiated by non-citizens? What is the role of social workers and other street-level bureaucrats when delivering these services? As two PhD students exploring the contemporary welfare state regimes in Finland and Sweden, we ask how migration policy is… Read more: Institutional encounters by non-citizens in the Nordic welfare state – a dialogue
- Engaging with visions of mobilities within the landscape of riskSpecial series on Migration, Mobilities and the Environment, in association with the Cabot Institute for the Environment. By Thomas O’Shea. When describing the commercial port land of Felixstowe (fig. 1) as a ‘nerve ganglion of capitalism’, a proto-nostalgic horizon ‘blighted by cargo ships’, Mark Fisher (2006) was describing a vision of the natural’s collision course… Read more: Engaging with visions of mobilities within the landscape of risk
- Thinking about the positive value of free movementBy Chris Bertram. One of the consequences of Brexit is that British people are more limited in their freedom of movement. Whereas previously they could travel, work, retire, settle in other European countries, today the default is that they can only visit the Schengen area for 90 days in any 180-day period and lack rights… Read more: Thinking about the positive value of free movement
- Migrants and miners: gender, age and precarious labour in a Tajik resource extractive landscapeSpecial series on Migration, Mobilities and the Environment, in association with the Cabot Institute for the Environment. By Negar Elodie Behzadi. Migration is both gendered and aged. It is also deeply tied to the emergence of new extractive landscapes around the world, marked by extractive frontiers pushing into already stressed and fragile environments. The story… Read more: Migrants and miners: gender, age and precarious labour in a Tajik resource extractive landscape
- Linking up public policy and research: the case of migrationBy David Jepson From the Policy, Politics and Practice blog series How do public policy interventions come about and how are they delivered? What are the respective roles of researchers and those who design and deliver programmes including politicians, public officials, civic society and the media? I have thought about these questions for decades and… Read more: Linking up public policy and research: the case of migration
- What protections are available to people displaced by climate change?Special series on Migration, Mobilities and the Environment, in association with the Cabot Institute for the Environment. By Kathryn Allinson. Climate change will impact all our lives in the coming years and many people will experience extreme events due to climate change resulting in displacement, both internally and across international borders. This has become the… Read more: What protections are available to people displaced by climate change?
- Organising against fear: migrant nannies and domestic workers during COVIDNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series By Maud Perrier Migrant nannies and domestic workers were largely absent from mainstream feminist commentary during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as from public discussion of childcare. In the UK broadsheets, most of the media coverage of the childcare crisis during this time was dominated… Read more: Organising against fear: migrant nannies and domestic workers during COVID
- Eurofisch: hyper-mobility, cosmopolitanism and the European eel’s appealSpecial series on Migration, Mobilities and the Environment, in association with the Cabot Institute for the Environment. By Peter Coates Unlike the Atlantic salmon, the snake-like European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is widely perceived as devoid of charisma. An epic reproductive journey is integral to the salmon’s appeal. But an equally spectacular migration, if in reverse,… Read more: Eurofisch: hyper-mobility, cosmopolitanism and the European eel’s appeal
- Learning from the past: a humanitarian response to Ukrainian refugees in SwedenBy Pieter Bevelander Currently many West European countries and more East European societies are meeting the flow of refugees from war-torn Ukraine with openness and great solidarity. In Sweden 34,000 Ukrainians had officially sought asylum status by 30th April but many more had crossed over the border by this date. The Migration Studies Delegation (DELMI),… Read more: Learning from the past: a humanitarian response to Ukrainian refugees in Sweden
- Digital home working and its sustainability potential: human immobility and the mobilities of stuffSpecial series on Migration, Mobilities and the Environment, in association with the Cabot Institute for the Environment. By Chris Preist and Dale Southerton. Despite the huge human and economic costs of the COVID pandemic, many commentators have observed that this disruption – or shock – to our resource-intensive daily lives could offer a catalyst for… Read more: Digital home working and its sustainability potential: human immobility and the mobilities of stuff
- A tale of two worlds: national borders versus a common planetBy Nandita Sharma. We live in a world whose political organisation in no way corresponds with the way we live our lives. This is true ecologically. It may be a cliché but it is plainly evident that the Earth’s atmosphere is not divided by national boundaries. Greenhouse gases cause the same degree of global warming… Read more: A tale of two worlds: national borders versus a common planet
- Migration, mobilities and the ecological contextSpecial series on Migration, Mobilities and the Environment, in association with the Cabot Institute for the Environment. By Jane Memmott. Migration can make you happy. When I see the first swifts arrive in the spring, I stop in my tracks and smile broadly at all and everyone. I have to restrain myself from telling people… Read more: Migration, mobilities and the ecological context
- How water stress impacts on migrationSpecial series on Migration, Mobilities and the Environment, in association with the Cabot Institute for the Environment. By Anita Etale. In 2015, Ioane Teitiota and his family were deported from New Zealand to the Pacific island nation of Kiribati. His asylum application had been based on the grounds that water, due to sea level rise,… Read more: How water stress impacts on migration
- The politics of climate justice, migration and mobilitySpecial series on Migration, Mobilities and the Environment Migration Mobilities Bristol (MMB) and the Cabot Institute for the Environment bring together researchers from across the University of Bristol to explore connections between movement and the environment from a multi-disciplinary perspective. These diverse approaches highlight the importance of developing frames that incorporate both migration and environment,… Read more: The politics of climate justice, migration and mobility
- UK-Rwanda refugee deal: first thoughtsBy Miranda Butler. The UK-Rwanda memorandum of understanding on asylum processing is now available. It sets out the terms of the agreement between the countries at a high level but provides some insight into how this scheme is supposed to work. Before removal Importantly, the UK has committed to undertaking an ‘initial screening’ of asylum seekers.… Read more: UK-Rwanda refugee deal: first thoughts
- The cure or the cause? The impact of medical tourism on global health inequalityBy Ella Barclay. Migration motivated by the improvement of one’s health is not a new phenomenon. Nineteenth-century doctors around the world prescribed visits to foreign spas to improve wellbeing and London’s Harley Street was one of many internationally renowned centres for medical care. Despite this, there has been a recent boom in such movement, with… Read more: The cure or the cause? The impact of medical tourism on global health inequality
- Vicarious strength: friends and befriending in UK immigration detentionBy Joel White. ‘We use the word friend here. Not client, or service user. Not asylum seeker, or refugee. We try to say friend.’ These were the words that stuck with me most after a volunteer training at the Unity Centre, a drop-in space for people going through the asylum and immigration system in Glasgow.… Read more: Vicarious strength: friends and befriending in UK immigration detention
- ‘Six new home carers near you!’ How digital platforms shape domestic servicesBy Jing Hiah. Finding cleaning and child rearing services is easier than ever in many parts of the world. Install an app on your phone and start browsing through hundreds of (female) workers. If you decide not to directly hire their services – perhaps you feel too embarrassed (can’t we take care of ourselves?!) –… Read more: ‘Six new home carers near you!’ How digital platforms shape domestic services
- Brexit, COVID and stay/return narratives amongst Polish migrants in the UKBy Magda Mogilnicka. Following EU enlargement in 2004, Polish migrants quickly became the largest migrant population in the UK. Since the Brexit referendum in 2016, however, the Office for National Statistics has documented a decline in the Polish population by around a quarter. A further drop in numbers was noticeable after the outbreak of the… Read more: Brexit, COVID and stay/return narratives amongst Polish migrants in the UK
- The power of collaborative art in research for social changeBy Rebecca Yeo. On Human Rights Day, 10th December 2021, a mural on the wall of Easton Community Centre was officially opened. It brings together and promotes messages from Deaf, Disabled and asylum-seeking people living in the Bristol area. The collaborative process of creating the mural is the latest in a series of projects facilitated… Read more: The power of collaborative art in research for social change
- Collateral damage: the implications of border restrictions on practitioners working with refugee populationsBy Vicky Canning. The acknowledgement that asylum systems across Europe are ‘hostile environments’ for migrant groups has increased in academic and practitioner consciousness, particularly in the aftermath of the 2015 refugee reception crisis. However, although the impacts of socio-political hostilities on migrants are well documented, little has been written about the implications of border restrictions… Read more: Collateral damage: the implications of border restrictions on practitioners working with refugee populations
- New report on ‘Organising a People’s Tribunal’By Don Flynn. A new study of the tactic of mounting a People’s Tribunal (PT) to indict a government for its breach of human rights standards has been published by a group of activists and academic researchers involved in organising the 2018 London Hearing of the Permanent People’s Tribunal on Violations with Impunity of the… Read more: New report on ‘Organising a People’s Tribunal’
- Environmental racism in the borderland: the case of CalaisBy Travis Van Isacker. The hostile environment has been shorthand for the United Kingdom’s border regime since it was coined in 2012 by the then-Home Secretary, Theresa May. Originally describing a socio-political environment within the UK designed to make life impossible for people unable to prove their immigration status, it has since been extended to… Read more: Environmental racism in the borderland: the case of Calais
- What can we look forward to in 2022?By Bridget Anderson. January always feels like a slog. All the chores put off until ‘the New Year’ in expectation that 2022 would never come have mounted up. It’s dark and too cold/not cold enough. Summer feels it will never happen. And COVID, ugh COVID. So, instead, I’m thinking of things to look forward to… Read more: What can we look forward to in 2022?
- Chinese highly skilled migrants in Poland – carving out a third spaceBy Lihua Qian. In the past two decades Poland has become a destination for thousands of highly skilled Chinese migrants. They work as managers, technicians, professionals and entrepreneurs, and their ages range from 25 to 55. Many stay long term, but most don’t intend to be naturalised. My research focuses on their practices of citizenship… Read more: Chinese highly skilled migrants in Poland – carving out a third space
- The freedom to love: mixed-immigration status couples and the UK immigration systemBy Melanie Griffiths and Candice Morgan-Glendinning. ‘If you are a British citizen then falling in love with someone who is not British isn’t allowed to happen, basically.’ In the last decade, a series of changes to immigration policy have significantly affected the family lives of people living in and coming to the UK. These have… Read more: The freedom to love: mixed-immigration status couples and the UK immigration system
- Mobility and mobilization – narrating injusticesNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series By Hager Ben Driss. Stephen Greenblatt defines ‘mobilizers’ as ‘agents, go-betweens, translators, or intermediaries’ (Cultural Mobility: A Manifesto p. 251) and contends that their function as contact facilitators should be included in mobility studies. This concept of mobilization serves as an ethical lever of… Read more: Mobility and mobilization – narrating injustices
- Myanmar’s discriminatory citizenship law: are Rohingyas the only victims?By Ali Johar. There is a saying in Rohingya, ‘Duniyaye Burmarttun waro Roaingare beshi sine’, which means ‘Rohingyas are better known than Myanmar itself’. This is the result of the global coverage of mass atrocities committed against them. When people talk about the Rohingya, however, they mostly refer to the religious persecution, violence and, in recent years, ethnic cleansing or genocide. But all these issues are closely linked to how our community has been rendered stateless since 1982. Meanwhile, significant… Read more: Myanmar’s discriminatory citizenship law: are Rohingyas the only victims?
- MMB’s AGM discussions notedWe were delighted to bring our MMB members together for an online AGM on 20th October 2021. It was a shame that we weren’t able to meet face to face again, but it was great to see such a lot of faces sharing an hour of their time! We started with a quick round up… Read more: MMB’s AGM discussions noted
- Mobility and identity in the Patagonian ArchipelagoBy Paul Merchant. Cast your eyes over a map of Chile, from top to bottom, and you’ll notice a strange development. South of Temuco, the lakes become more frequent and larger, and eventually, after Puerto Montt, the land fragments into hundreds of islands, some quite large, like Chiloé, and many that are very small. You… Read more: Mobility and identity in the Patagonian Archipelago
- Hong Kongers at the borders of ‘Global Britain’By Michaela Benson. Since it opened on 31 January 2021, the designated route for Hong Kongers to settle in the UK—the Hong Kong BN(O) visa (HK BN(O))—has received 64,900 applications. The presentation of this route to settlement in the UK as ‘bespoke’ indicates that this is an exception to ordinary immigration controls. In what follows,… Read more: Hong Kongers at the borders of ‘Global Britain’