Vulnerability, Intersectionality and Health in Migration

Abstract

Vulnerability and intersectionality are two lenses that have been relied on to explore specific themes relating to health in migration. Intersectionality, originally emerging in feminist and race studies, is relied on in scholarship on migration and migrant health due to the complex and overlapping factors influencing migrant experiences overall and health outcomes. Beyond philosophical discussions of vulnerability as situational or universal, vulnerability has been relied on in studies on the health of specific segments of society such as migrants or refugees. Vulnerability has been analyzed as increased risk of poor health due to migration, work conditions, and barriers to healthcare access among other factors. In much of the literature, vulnerability in migrant health is approached as arising due to work and living or other conditions, and it is understood as a heterogenous experience rather than it being a singular or uniform experience. Vulnerability in relation to migrant health has been explored as situational, structural, and group specific. While discussions on vulnerability may account for the intersecting dimensions of race, gender, and class and the impact of oppressive and exploitative relations, in many cases intersectionality theory specifically is not mentioned. Similarly, for research employing an intersectionality lens, vulnerability is mentioned in terms of increased likelihood of experiencing poor health or health inequities rather than as a theorizing of vulnerability. Vulnerability or intersectionality are then both used in research on health in migration, but with few resources engaging with both concepts simultaneously—highlighting possible avenues for further research. This entry will provide general overviews concerning vulnerability and intersectionality in migrant health and then focus on works utilizing either concept in the analysis of migrant health. In the following, the terms “migration” and “migrant” will be favored as encompassing terms that refer to multiple and diverse movements and legal statuses; based on the resource being annotated, “refugee” or “asylum seeker” may be used as relevant.