The IMISCOE Migration Podcast has launched its sixth season with three new episodes that explore migration through both conceptual and deeply personal lenses. The episodes talk about migrant transnationalism, the development lens in migration research and the impact of post-Brexit immigration policies on family life.
The first episode, “Understanding the world through transnationalism,” features a conversation between the interviewer Asya Pisarevskaya and guests Özge Bilgili and Marta Bivand Erdal, who recently published a book on transnationalism in the IMISCOE Short Reader Series. The episode explains what transnationalism means beyond abstract academic debates, using examples of migrants’ social, political and economic transnational ties, as well as the speakers’ own experiences. The episode shows how a transnational lens helps us better understand people’s multiple connections, attachments and practices across borders, which go beyond nation-state expectations about citizens' loyalty, belonging and expected economic contributions.
The second episode, “Brexit Couples & the British Immigration System,” focuses on the experiences of UK-EU couples after Brexit. Guest producer Kevin Caners interviews Helena Wray about her research project “Brexit Couples: UK-EU couples in the British immigration system.” The project followed couples who, after Brexit, had to navigate the UK’s immigration system to keep their family life. The episode shows how Brexit created obstacles for intimate relationships. Many UK-EU couples after Brexit found themselves confronted with complex, restrictive and costly migration regulations. Drawing on three years of research, the episode discusses the financial hardship, prolonged stress and separation that many couples experienced.
In the third episode, "Migration and development – Has research and policy lost its way?", you can hear Kate Dearden interviewing Oliver Backwell about the migration and development nexus in research and policy. Dr. Bakewell shares three arguments why he thinks that the relationship between migration and development has gone astray. For one, research shows that "orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration" is not necessarily the form of mobility that improves people's lives and reduces poverty, so how do migration researchers, who want to have a policy impact, not get trapped by policy demands? Dr. Bakewell discusses his ideas, which are also outlined in his recent essay "Reshaping the Intersection Between Development and Migration Studies"
Stay tuned for new episodes coming up in Season 6!