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What is Migration Studies? 🌐

What is Migration Studies? 🌐

PLUS: Indigenous Peoples of Québec, Ancient Crops, and Painting the Future 🎨

April 15, 2025

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What is Migration Studies? 🌐
PLUS:Indigenous Peoples of Québec, Ancient Crops, and Painting the Future 🎨

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

What is Migration Studies? 🌐

Migration studies is a massive field which has grown significantly over the past ~30 years. Academics from various disciplines, including political science, geography, sociology, anthropology and law have written about why and how people migrate, and what the impacts of these migrations are. Whilst migration has always been a part of human history, the basic concepts in migration studies remain highly contested and debated. Whilst you might have learned about the ‘push and pull factors’ that shape migration at GCSE, the reality is much more plural and diverse. This article focuses on developments in migration studies post-2000, as the field has ‘come of age’.

Push and pull 😎

💡 Things to consider

Migration is about much more than nations and citizens: In fact, 21st-century migration scholars have challenged the assumption that ‘nations’ and ‘citizens’ are our units of analysis. Instead, they argue that ‘nations’ are not static, pre-existing givens, but have instead been constructed as political and economic entities. Therefore, ‘citizenship’ exists as a way of excluding certain, unwanted ‘Others’ from the nation-state, and imagining who is welcome and valuable to the nation. These divides are heavily racialised. For example, being a citizen of more powerful nations – many of which are European and North American – can grant you visa-free travel to many countries, whereas holding a Syrian, Yemeni, or Afghan passport means that your global mobility is significantly restricted.
The relationship between migration and development is complex: It’s often assumed that migration either has a positive effect on development - migrants return with new skills, or more progressive beliefs - or a negative effect on development (so-called ‘brain drain’ and uneven development). Migrants may also shape development in their country of origin through their actions in the destination country - such as through volunteering for or working with organisations that focus on poverty or education, or becoming part of a politically-active diaspora community.
And migration isn’t unidirectional either - lots of migrations are circular, and migrants may be forced to move to new locations due to conflict, persecution, or natural disaster. Even remittances – money sent home by migrants – aren’t always positive, since they can exacerbate economic inequality between households, and may have little effect on the national economy. Crucially, the migration-development nexus is still shaped by ‘white saviourism’ – the notion that the developed ‘West’ has a duty to ‘help’ the less developed ‘Rest’ of the world.
Migration studies has shaped the methodologies scholars use: Because of the connection between migration studies and colonial-era thinking, contemporary migration studies is very critical, and this is reflected in the methodologies used by scholars. As Zapata-Barrero and Yalaz (2022) point out, “migration research is mostly about interpretations rather than facts”, so qualitative techniques like ethnography and interviewing tend to be more common than quantitative techniques.
Probably not an interview like this…
There has been a big drive towards participatory research, as this can help to address the power imbalances between researcher and research subject, by recognising migrants as producers of knowledge. Examples of participatory research techniques include discussing and deciding together how research will be carried out, how data will be used (e.g., co-authorship), storytelling, arts-based methods and body mapping. The Refugee Hosts project has used a variety of methods, including poetry. You can find out more about their work here.