This blog series, unlike our others has not been curated, but brings together posts discussing issues of policy, politics and practice in relation to migration, citizenship, asylum and integration. The series will grow organically as relevant blogs are posted. Visit our page for further details on MMB’s members, projects, events and publications in this area.
Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash
Selected Blog Posts
- 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… Read more: Obstacles and aspirations: stories from young refugees in the UK education system
- Debordering Higher EducationBy Eda 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… 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… 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… 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… Read more: Migration and mobilities research: making connections for social justice
- 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… Read more: Bad cases make bad law: the unintended consequences of denaturalising bad guys
- Breaching two worlds: seeing through borders in CalaisThe first of four MMB blogposts exploring the material and symbolic infrastructure of border regimes in the port city of Calais. By Bridget Anderson. As we walked around… 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… Read more: Imperial denaturalisation: towards an end to empire
- 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… 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… Read more: Many Turkish people in Europe are worse off than those who stayed at home
- 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… 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… 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… 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… Read more: No Recourse to Public Funds: The Big Issue tackles vulnerability to NRPF in Bristol
- 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… Read more: Working with the Colombian Truth Commission on illegal drug economies
- 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… Read more: Bad intentions: the UK government and migrants
- 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… Read more: Researching best practice in supporting refugee and migrant entrepreneurs
- 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… Read more: Institutional encounters by non-citizens in the Nordic welfare state – a dialogue
- 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,… Read more: Thinking about the positive value of free movement
- 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… Read more: Linking up public policy and research: the case of migration
- 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… Read more: Learning from the past: a humanitarian response to Ukrainian refugees in Sweden
- 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… 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… 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… Read more: UK-Rwanda refugee deal: first thoughts
- 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… 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… Read more: Collateral damage: the implications of border restrictions on practitioners working with refugee populations
- 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… Read more: The freedom to love: mixed-immigration status couples and the UK immigration system
- 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… Read more: Hong Kongers at the borders of ‘Global Britain’
- Bilateral agreements as a tool to facilitate movement of people after BrexitBy Diego Acosta. With the conclusion of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020, the free movement of people between the UK and the 27 member states… Read more: Bilateral agreements as a tool to facilitate movement of people after Brexit
- Forced labour in supply chains: missing links between industrial and sexual labourNew writing on migration and mobilities – an MMB special series By Rutvica Andrijasevic. I was in the midst of fieldwork researching the working conditions of migrant workers in… Read more: Forced labour in supply chains: missing links between industrial and sexual labour
- The ‘New Plan for Immigration’: a further curtailment of rightsBy Nadine Finch. Over the past three decades I have linked my practice as a human rights lawyer in the UK with research and policy development in the… Read more: The ‘New Plan for Immigration’: a further curtailment of rights
- Parenting through ‘modern technology’: learning from the pandemicBy Candice Morgan-Glendinning and Melanie Griffiths. Research being launched on 8th June, which looks at the impact of immigration policies on UK families, found that Home Office decision… Read more: Parenting through ‘modern technology’: learning from the pandemic
- Racism and the UK’s immigration systemRace, nation and migration – the blog series reframing thinking on movement and racism. By Maya Goodfellow. ‘Hard Brexit,’ Labour’s Andy Burnham warned a few months after the EU… Read more: Racism and the UK’s immigration system
- Does it matter that the UK relies on migrant workers to harvest food?By Lydia Medland. In the recent launch of the new migration research project MigResHub, agricultural labour economist Professor Philip Martin stated that he saw the future of farming… Read more: Does it matter that the UK relies on migrant workers to harvest food?
- From imperial sugar to golden passports: the Citizenship IndustryBy Sarah Kunz. In a surprising turn of events, September 2020 saw the end of Malta’s citizenship-by-investment (CBI) programme and its conversion into a residence-by-investment (RBI) scheme. CBI… Read more: From imperial sugar to golden passports: the Citizenship Industry
- Kept apart – couples and families separated by the UK immigration systemBy Katharine Charsley In the wake of the report into the Windrush scandal, in which Commonwealth citizens legally resident in the UK for decades were wrongly treated as… Read more: Kept apart – couples and families separated by the UK immigration system
- Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Greece during COVID-19Letter from Afar – the blog series about life and research in the time of COVID-19. By Theodoros Fouskas. Dear friends, I hope you are staying safe and… Read more: Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Greece during COVID-19
- Are transnational marriages bad for integration?By Sarah Spencer The belief that marriage partners from less developed countries are bad for ‘integration’ is firmly held by European policy makers. With pressure to curb immigration,… Read more: Are transnational marriages bad for integration?
- The dismal UK Home Office response to coronavirus: the wider pictureLetter from Afar – the blog series about life and research in the time of COVID-19. By Colin Yeo. Dear Bridget, We’ve learned that closeness does not mean… Read more: The dismal UK Home Office response to coronavirus: the wider picture
- A moment of opportunity? Britain and the maritime security challengeBy Tim Edmunds and Scott Edwards On 28 February 2020, SafeSeas hosted an IdeasLab in Bristol on UK maritime security after Brexit, with the kind support of PolicyBristol,… Read more: A moment of opportunity? Britain and the maritime security challenge
- ‘So far from justice’: On the frontline of the Hostile EnvironmentBy Natasha Carver ‘Esther, can you see Amir. He’s been refused Section 95 support …’ ‘Samira, I need you to do an urgent HC1 for this chap with… Read more: ‘So far from justice’: On the frontline of the Hostile Environment
- The hostile environment confuses unlawful with undocumented, with disastrous consequencesBy Colin Yeo If a policy that deprives residents of jobs, homes and money is going to be introduced, one would hope it would be targeted using the… Read more: The hostile environment confuses unlawful with undocumented, with disastrous consequences
- Better Legal and Social Support Needed for LGBTQI+ People Seeking Asylum in GermanyBy Mengia Tschalaer and Nina Held LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum in Germany often remain invisible and unrecognized within Germany’s asylum system unless they specifically come forward and out… Read more: Better Legal and Social Support Needed for LGBTQI+ People Seeking Asylum in Germany
- MMB hosts the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of MigrantsBy Diego Acosta, Bridget Anderson and Lindsey Pike On 3 July 2019, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Professor Felipe González, visited the University… Read more: MMB hosts the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants
- Memorials to people who have died and to those missing during migrationReflections on the first WUN-funded workshop By Martin Preston, University of Bristol Since 2014, the deaths of more than 32,000 migrants have been recorded globally (IOM, 2019). The… Read more: Memorials to people who have died and to those missing during migration
- Collaborating to improve responses to migration: Employment and the labour marketBy David Jepson (ACH) and Bridget Anderson Huge changes to the labour market are underway, and digitisation is changing how people are recruited and the kind of work… Read more: Collaborating to improve responses to migration: Employment and the labour market
- New Thinking on Integration, Employment and LanguageBy Bridget Anderson and David Jepson (ACH) Academics have a lot to learn from people who are on the frontline. Migration Mobilities Bristol (MMB) can, for example, learn… Read more: New Thinking on Integration, Employment and Language