Migration Experience Research Articles

‘We’ve Done Our Bit’: Post-COVID Experiences of Precarious Privilege Among Western International School Teachers in Shanghai

In this article, we consider how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected migration experiences and decisions among transnationally mobile Western international school teachers in China. International school teachers are among the most numerous groups of Western ‘expats’ in the country, arriving from the beginning of China’s ‘Reform period’. Drawing on exploratory interviews with international school teachers, we examine experiences of precarious privilege against the backdrop of COVID-19 lockdowns. We analyse our participants’ decisions about onward migration or permanence in China. In spite of evidence showing erosion of privilege during the pandemic, international school teachers remain largely insulated from its impact due to the privileged nature of their employment. Of greater significance was the impact of the Shanghai lockdown on the participants’ mobility and emotions, which proved the catalyst for two of the three participants to return to the UK.

HIV and hepatitis C Virus in internally displaced people with and without injection drug use experience in the region of Shida Kartli, Georgia

ObjectiveInternally displaced persons (IDPs) can have limited access to HIV and hepatitis C Virus (HCV) treatment and prevention. IDPs comprise > 7% of Georgian population but prevalence and levels of HIV and HCV knowledge in this population remain unknown. We tested 100 IDPs in Georgia for HIV and HCV, many of whom had drug injecting experience, and interviewed them about their migration experience, sexual and drug injecting practices, and HIV/HCV transmission knowledge.ResultsThe average age of participants was 37.5 years (range 18–63); 31% were women. Almost half (N = 48) of participants reported ever injecting drugs; 17% of those (N = 8) started injecting drugs within the last year. Anti-HCV and HIV prevalence was 11% and 0%, respectively. Fewer people without drug use experience compared to people who inject drugs correctly answered all questions on the HIV knowledge test (13% vs. 35%, p = 0.015) or knew where to get tested for HIV (67% vs 98%, p < 0.001). There was no difference in HCV knowledge between the two groups. HIV and HCV prevalence remains low among Georgian IDPs, but levels of HIV knowledge were much lower than levels of HCV knowledge.

The Struggle Over Mobility Narratives: How Senegalese Activists use Alternative Information Campaigns to Contest EU Externalization

For nearly two decades the European Union and its member states have invested in migration awareness and information campaigns (MICs) in West Africa to prevent unwanted migration. While a growing body of migration scholarship has critically engaged with the larger-scale, European-funded MICs in Africa, local activist-led campaigns have received less attention. The article addresses this gap by focusing on campaigns organized by a local, activist-led organization in Dakar, Senegal. Building on ethnographic fieldwork, the article shows how activist-led MICs use counternarratives and action repertories entangled in and motivated by recent externalization interventions in Senegal and the EU–Africa borderlands. By situating these “ripple effects” of externalization locally and exploring their repercussions, the article illustrates how migrant experiences, border control, and violence become catalysts for collective action. The activist-led MICs in Senegal can be understood as activities that fundamentally challenge the political premises and outcomes of EU–Africa migration governance, including European-driven MICs. This perspective enriches our understanding of MICs in West Africa and the local ripple effects of externalization, underscoring local actors’ proactive role in trying to contest and reshape Eurocentric migration narratives and policies.

HIV Outcomes and Intervention Experiences of Enlaces Por La Salud: A Personal Health Navigation Intervention Informed by the Transnational Framework.

Latinos in the United States are disproportionately affected by HIV and experience sub-optimal levels of viral suppression. Enlaces Por La Salud is an individual-level intervention implemented by personal health navigators and guided by the transnational framework to improve HIV care outcomes among newly diagnosed and out-of-care Mexican and Mexican American men and transgender women in North Carolina. The purpose of this study was to assess: (1) changes in HIV care and treatment outcomes among Enlaces participants and (2) intervention engagement and experiences. Ninety-one participants were recruited between October 2014 and August 2017 for a single-arm, mixed-methods design including surveys at baseline, 6 and 12 months and qualitative in-depth interviews immediately following the intervention with an embedded cohort (n = 19). Mean participant age was 36.8 years and most identified as cisgender male (90%). Participants were significantly more likely to have an undetectable viral load at baseline (18%) compared to 6-months (78%) (p < .001). Outcomes were sustained but not significantly increased from 6 to 12 months. Intervention engagement was high with 81% completing all six intervention sessions. In qualitative interviews, participants emphasized the importance of their relationship with the personal health navigators, who provided information, instrumental, and emotional support. A person-centered intervention guided by the lived experience of migration could be an effective way to support Latinos with HIV from diverse countries of origin to achieve viral suppression and improve overall wellbeing.

“I Was in No Mood for People Who Tried to Lay Claims on Me”: Community, Hospitality, and Friendship in Teju Cole’s Open City

This article examines community, friendship, and hospitality in Teju Cole’s novel Open City, drawing on Nancy’s The Inoperative Community, Blanchot’s The Unavowable Community, and Derrida’s The Politics of Friendship and Of Hospitality. I aim to show how the representation of migratory experiences in this novel revolves around the contrast between operative communities based on immanence, fusion, and essentialist concepts such as race and ethnicity, and inoperative and elective communities characterized by openness and exposure to alterity. I examine how friendship and hospitality prove to be the necessary force in the novel to transform New York and Brussels into truly “open cities” hospitable to people of different races.

Looking beyond and into the border: understanding the concept of (il)legality along the Ethiopia-Sudan border

ABSTRACT Human migration is a defining feature of our world, yet the simplistic binary categorization of “legal” versus “illegal” movement often obscures the complexities of cross-border movement. This paper examines the nuanced spectrum of (il)legality along the Ethiopia-Sudan border, focusing on how legal frameworks and social perceptions of (il)legality shape experiences of migrants and people on the move. The study proposes categorizing migration as including sectoral classifications (laborers, tourists) and legality-based situations (overstays, illegal routes). Building upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2017 and 2021, the paper analyzes the discrepancies between national migration legislation, on-the-ground enforcement practices, and lived realities of migrants and border communities while acknowledging a multifaceted landscape of performances. By exploring this dynamic, the paper contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the concept of (il)legality in migration studies, in particular in the context of the Ethiopia-Sudan border, while providing insights that extend beyond this region.

Exploring intercultural perspectives of migration futures in a super-diverse city through intercultural participatory futures workshops: The case of Istanbul

Most migration futures studies focus on reacting to migration issues such as flows and crises rather than exploring alternative images of futures centered on individual’s migration experiences. Addressing the limitations of existing practices criticized for their short-term, problem-oriented, and predominantly western, male-dominated, and colonized perspectives, this article presents intercultural participatory futures workshops as a novel technique for exploring more inclusive and intercultural migration futures. This approach enabled participants to collaboratively envision, build, and discuss alternative futures of migration for Istanbul in 2050 in eight workshop sessions with 35 intercultural participants. Additionally, it fostered a space to share experiences, and thoughts on futures, while meaningfully interacting with one another. Therefore, the contribution of this article to the migration futures field is two-fold: first, it showcases the potential of intercultural participatory futures workshops for exploring and constructing inclusive and participatory visions of migration futures, while contrasting collective visions and individual concerns; and second, it explains the relevance of this approach as a unique opportunity to foster intercultural meaningful social interactions, a key kind of interaction for social inclusion between individuals with migration backgrounds and host society.

The journey of a living statue: Structural violence and a Honduran migrant woman's pathway toward asylum and wellbeing

Approximately half of the world's displaced migrant population are women, yet gender-specific analyses are often lacking. Such analyses are crucial for understanding migrant women's unique experiences and informing policies that address their health and broader needs. This paper integrates the concept of structural violence with person-centered ethnography to examine women's physical and mental health in contexts of displacement and migration. Using the triple trauma framework, we offer a holistic, temporal-spatial analysis of the health experiences and exposures faced by asylum-seeking women across three stages: places of origin, travel, and destination. Through the representative case of Anahi, a Honduran woman who fled to the US with her family in 2019, we identify four key themes: the persistence of structural violence and its constraints on health decisions and outcomes, the losses and suffering associated with women's triple roles, the harms of racism and xenophobia, and the health implications of inadequate information on asylum and immigration procedures. We conclude with policy recommendations to reduce health inequities among migrant women. This study advances understanding by providing a comprehensive, gendered analysis of the structural forces shaping health outcomes for migrant women, offering insights that extend beyond a narrow focus on reproductive issues to address their physical, mental, and social well-being.

Regeneration, predatory inclusion, and migrant experiences in declining rural areas in Spain and Germany

ABSTRACT Declining rural areas have become central sites for migrant settlement. In the hope that migration will counteract rural shrinkage, migrants are increasingly portrayed as catalysts to revitalize communities. This article critically examines migration to declining rural areas vis-à-vis rural reception and regeneration policies. Drawing on qualitative research including interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observations, we compare migrants’ settlement experiences and their positions in rural revitalization processes in northeast Spain and eastern Germany. Our research illustrates that local reception and regeneration policies do not only sideline the role of newcomers as rural place-makers, who contribute to the sustainment (or expansion) of local services and infrastructures. They also result in conditions of ‘predatory inclusion’, in which migrants’ settlement is shaped regarding their potential ‘use’ for revitalizing local economies and housing markets in exploitative terms and along racialized lines. Facing precarious labor and housing conditions, migrants tend to reside only temporarily in our investigated areas. This article contributes to a growing body of migration research in rural areas and explains that attempts at regeneration through migration can run the risk of ignoring migrants' structural conditions, needs, mobility aspirations and life plans, thereby reinforcing racial and class-based inequalities present in rural areas.

Can Spatial Proximity to Another Country Drive Short-distance Transnationalism? Evidence from Social Ties in Three European Border Regions

ABSTRACT This article draws inspiration from social network analysis (SNA) to investigate the impact of spatial proximity on the geography of strong social ties in three European border regions. We consider cross-border friendship and kinship as a measure of short-distance transnationalism, examine the conditions under which the latter is likely to emerge, and systematically compares our findings with “traditional” forms of transnationalism. The study is based on a large-scale and representative quantitative survey (N = 3,215) conducted in the Geneva, Lille, and Basque border regions in order to assess the impact of cross-border integration intensity on the inter-personal relationships of all residents, regardless of their migration experiences. The results indicate that only 11.9% of the residents reported having at least one strong cross-border tie. Binomial regression models are used to demonstrate that cross-border ties are not solely shaped by proximity, but also depend on individuals’ socioeconomics, on their mobility experiences, and on contextual factors. This article shows that cross-border integration primarily fosters cross-border friendships rather than kinships, and that cross-border ties are not evenly distributed among the population. Individuals born in the studied border regions do not have the highest levels of short-distance transnationalism, raising a discussion about the importance of promoting cross-border rootedness.

Aging With Emerging Social Welfare and Disappearing Filial Piety: Chinese Migrant Workers' Pathways Toward Financial Retirement Planning.

This study examines the pathways and mechanisms linking Chinese migrant workers' migration experiences and their financial retirement planning. Using a mixed-methods approach with 1083 surveys and 32 interviews, this study finds that having a good financial status and social support system and maintaining a hopeful attitude toward retirement are direct pathways toward good financial retirement planning. Good health and hope for retirement are further enhanced by a good financial status and social support. Conversely, poor health and negative employment experiences are linked to poor financial retirement planning. The qualitative findings provide a contextual understanding of the pathways identified in the quantitative analyses. Migrant workers often face a dilemma between self-reliance for retirement and relying on filial piety. These findings apply not only to Chinese migrant workers but also to all migrant workers with limited access to healthcare and public pensions for retirement.

Polish Conductresses and the Insecurities of Female Labour Migration to France, 1925–1929

In this article we argue that the reports of conductresses accompanying female migrants shed new light on the nature of interwar labour migration. As they mitigated the anxiety and insecurity that women faced during the process of migration, they fulfilled a crucial role in the highly restrictive post-1918 international migration regime. The Polish government introduced conductresses in 1925 to respond to news of the mistreatment and sexual exploitation of Polish women working in France. Developed in close collaboration with international organizations and the League of Nations, the work of these conductresses on land and sea routes was framed as those of ‘moral guardians’ protecting female migrants from the dangers of sex trafficking. However, we argue that their main function was to mitigate the uncertainties of the post-war international order, as traditional routes of migration were ruptured and both dispatching and receiving countries attempted to control and restrict migration. Female migrants had no networks with existing diasporas, were often illiterate, and mistrusted both Polish and French institutions. By addressing these challenges, the conductresses took on roles far beyond their function as moral authority: they acted as translators, knowledge imparters, mediators, and network forgers. Both in Poland and at the international level, the Polish conductress scheme was regarded a success, as they managed to provide a relatively ‘secure’ migration experience within a migration regime designed to walk a fine line between demands for foreign labour on the one hand and the rising ideal of economic protectionism on the other.

How Migrants Experience Information Uncertainty and Vulnerability: Lessons for (Dis)information Studies

This article develops a phenomenological approach to examine the intersection of global migration and rising concerns about disinformation. Drawing on interviews with Venezuelans en route to the United States-Mexico border through Central America, the article analyzes how undocumented migrants live amid information precarity, how they relate to disinformation, and how disinformation affects their decisions. We demonstrate the centrality of information and communication practices in managing (dis)information during the migration experience. This includes distrusting traditional media, using various platforms like social media and messaging apps, and exchanging both information and disinformation with others. By adopting a phenomenological approach, the article demonstrates that migrants’ relationship with (dis)information is shaped by their conviction that each person has unique life experiences and a profoundly religious view of life and destiny. The article thus advocates for a deeper exploration of migrants’ sociocultural beliefs rather than focusing solely on issues such as information accuracy, accessibility, flows, and platforms when accounting for disinformation. In addition to valuable lessons for (dis)information studies, this approach could enrich communication interventions tailored to migrant communities in vulnerable conditions.

Ukrainian women's maternity care strategies in Poland after the outbreak of the full-scale war: Understanding unequal access to quality care

The outbreak of the full-scale war launched by Russia against Ukraine and, following it, significant migrations have not only increased the diversity of the Ukrainian migrant population in Poland, but also added to the complexity of their health needs and strategies. This study seeks to explore Ukrainian migrant women's experiences and practices related to the use of maternity care services. The article is based on fieldwork conducted between February and October 2023 and included 23 semi-structured interviews with Ukrainian migrant women who gave birth in Poland after February 24, 2022. To understand Ukrainian women's pathways to maternity care in Poland and unpack the differences in experiences within this group of migrants, we explore participants' healthcare strategies against the background of existing inequalities in access to quality care in Poland and Ukraine, in particularly the division between private and public services. We consider the role of financial, social and cultural resources and distinguish for this purpose between three groups of permanent, circular and wartime migrants. We show the decisive role of economic resources, nonetheless in articulation with the creation and mobilisation of social networks and time spent in Poland, which play a role in shaping migrant women's capacity to access better maternity care.

Redefining Home: Adaptive Transnationalism in the Migration of Tatar Women from Russia to Kazakhstan

This study explores the experiences of Tatar women who migrated to Almaty, Kazakhstan following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Employing theoretical frameworks of transnationalism and intersectionality, we analyze these women's migration experiences, religious practices, and identity formation processes. Based on in-depth interviews with ten Tatar women migrants, the research reveals how they navigate multiple identities, maintain and transform transnational connections, and construct new forms of belonging in their host society. Our findings demonstrate that these women are not merely navigating between two worlds, but actively creating new, transnational ways of being. Their stories highlight how migrants creatively adapt to new environments, negotiate multiple identities, and form communities that transcend traditional national and ethnic boundaries. Drawing on these insights, we propose a new conceptual framework of "Adaptive Transnationalism," which captures the dynamic process through which migrants actively reshape their identities, practices, and social connections in response to new cultural contexts, while maintaining and transforming ties to their places of origin. This framework offers a fresh perspective on how migrants actively shape their experiences and identities across borders, providing a valuable tool for navigating the complexities of modern migration and fostering more inclusive and adaptive societies.

Understanding resilience among migrant women in a humanitarian reception center: a qualitative study.

The European Union receives thousands of irregular migrants and refugees annually. Irregular migrant women are admitted to Humanitarian Reception Centers. These migrants face multiple adversities on their migration journey, and resilience is key to coping with process. The aim of this study was to describe and understand irregular migrant women's experience of resilience when living in humanitarian reception centers. Descriptive qualitative study. In-depth interviews and a focus group were carried out with 21 migrant women from different African countries, with an average age of 31.8 years. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data using ATLAS.ti computer software. Three main themes emerged: (1) Irregular migrant women in transit: extreme vulnerability. (2) Migration support networks. (3) Promoting irregular migrant women's resilience. The harshness of the migration process tests the resilience of irregular migrant women, who are a vulnerable group at high risk of social exclusion. Their time in humanitarian reception centers is significant in their process of developing resilient behaviors. The multidisciplinary resources of the humanitarian reception center help the irregular migrant women in their personal development.

유자녀 여성 이주민의 ‘괜찮은 일’에 대한 합의적 질적 연구

The study explored the characteristics of “good work” as perceived by migrant women with young children, and the challenges and resources in their work experiences. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 migrant women with at least three years of work experience, and the interviews were analyzed using consensual qualitative research methods. The domains and categories that emerged from the analysis were reviewed by two external experts and revised, resulting in five domains and 23 categories. The results of the study revealed seven categories of decent work conditions perceived by migrant women: a work schedule that allows them to combine work and childcare, reasonable compensation, job security, welfare, an emotionally safe environment, moderate work intensity, and work that matches their level of Korean. In terms of migrant women's work experience, four domains and 16 categories were identified: the challenges of intersectionality of minority identities, psychological adaptive resources in work experience, social resources in work experience, and growth through working. The challenges of intersectionality of minority identities domain included language differences, work-family conflict, marginalization due to labeling as a migrant women, acculturation stress within the family, inaccessible institutional resources, and economic constraints. Psychological adaptive resources in the work experience domain included career adaptability, motivation, emotional regulation, and acculturation efforts. The social resources of the work experience domain included support from family and friends, support at work, support from organizations, and support from public policy. Finally, the categories of finding a better job and belonging were identified in the growth through the working domain. These findings are expected to contribute to the empirical understanding of decent work among migrant women and provide a basis for policy proposals to promote decent work.

Bio/Necropolitical Capture and Evasion on Africa–Europe Migrant Journeys

Abstract This paper draws on fieldwork interviews with migrants who fled their home countries (Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan) and irregularly traveled through Sudan, Sahara, Libya, and the Mediterranean Sea, eventually reaching Europe. It demonstrates how, throughout their journeys, migrants were targeted by various armed groups (particularly non-state) for purposes including recruitment, extortion, ransom, immobilization, torture, slavery, sexual violence, and how they evaded capture. Building on and contributing to literatures on bio/necropolitics, migration/borders, and surveillance, the paper advances the categories of bio/necropolitical capture and evasion. The paper emphasizes the key role of non-state actors in acts of capture, and race and racialized microbio/necropolitical practices (torture, spectacle, discipline, and surveillance) as key categories of capture. The paper also shows effects of capture for migrants and how migrants engage in acts of evasion (which include not only bodily acts of running away or hiding, but various forms of communicational, mental, spiritual, and psychological tactics) as expressions of agency. Focusing on migrants’ long journeys to Europe, the paper provides a more holistic view of the migration experience and highlights persisting patterns of capture and evasion despite changing actors and locations. The paper demonstrates how Europe’s borders externalize inside the African continent through delegated and opportunistic actors (such as the Libyan Coast Guard and various other militia/trafficking/mafia groups), and reproduce racism at both the macrolevel (maintaining global racist borders) and the microlevel (through racialized practices).

Digital Migration Infrastructure in return-writing: visualizing the migration landscape of India.

Digitization has carved out the migration patterns of immigrants over the recent years of increased technological interventions in human mobility. Migration infrastructures, which typically refer to the physical, commercial, humanitarian, and governmental modes of operation, are multidimensional in nature. Digital infrastructures are equally important to the physical ones as digital technologies facilitate these migration processes through agents like hardware, software, and mediating actors. Amongst the multiple forms of migration, the concept of return-writing and nostalgia-struck-returnees encompass individuals whose life trajectories run parallel to the homeland. The narrative of return to the homeland emerges aβs a dominant motif in literature due to the rising trends of globalization, the writers' reflection on their own migrant experiences, and publishing trends meeting the demand of the global book market. The objective is to assess the role of digital migration infrastructures in return migrations to India through a close reading of the selected texts and review of postcolonial literary theories by using conditional operation in Python. The study here explores the varied nuances of return migration with a primary focus on the external conditions of travel in migration literature. The paper aims to analyze the genre of return-writing in Indian English literature, through three novels over a period of two decades, i.e., from 2000-2023. The selected texts, beginning with Amit Chaudhuri's A New World (2000), Gun Island (2019) by Amitav Ghosh, and Devika Rege's novel Quarterlife (2023), offer a panoramic view of return migration. These novels are extensive in the time period of technological interventions and in depiction of return migration. The Python code examines the extent of existence of a set of digital migration infrastructure keywords by analyzing the content of the novels and creates bar plots and charts to offer a visual representation of the classification results. The resulting trend traces the increased intervention of Digital Migration Infrastructure in the recent migration literature.

Barriers of Ukrainian refugees and migrants in accessing German healthcare

BackgroundThis study focused on Ukrainian refugees and migrants, a population that, with an ongoing war, is expected to grow in Germany. Over 1 million Ukrainians with exceptional legal status and access to public insurance in Germany significantly burden governmental services, especially German healthcare. It is thus essential to facilitate their integration into the healthcare system and ensure its proper usage. Identifying the obstacles Ukrainian refugees and migrants encounter while accessing healthcare services is crucial to ease their integration.MethodsA qualitative study was conducted from February 2023 to April 2023. Thirty semi-structured interviews were performed with Ukrainian migrants and refugees. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, organized, and categorized. Thematic analysis was performed to identify barriers related to the use of German healthcare services. To assess possible differences in the experiences of Ukrainian refugees and migrants, the responses of these two groups for each topic were analysed separately.ResultsUkrainian migrants and refugees experience similar barriers while accessing German healthcare services. Predominantly, language barriers and a lack of understanding of the German healthcare system posed the main barriers in both groups. Additionally, structural challenges, such as differences in referral processes, appointment scheduling, and consultation duration, presented further challenges.ConclusionThis research study emphasizes the importance of addressing cultural and structural barriers to improve healthcare accessibility and utilization for Ukrainian refugees and migrants in Germany to better facilitate their integration into the healthcare system.