After more than five years, the founding directors and coordinators of the Standing Committee ‘Reflexivities in Migration Studies’, Janine Dahinden, Anna-Lisa Müller, and Andreas Pott hand this task over to Nadine Blankvoort, Iva Dodevska and Stefan Manser-Egli.
Our SC was founded in 2019 and started its work with a kick-off workshop in early 2020 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, where a group of critical scholars came together to discuss what we then saw as an urgent need: to question the role of migration knowledge production – and our own complicity as researchers – in the ongoing political debates that grew increasingly restrictive.
Seven years later, we are looking at a very different landscape of migration studies: one in which the field acknowledges the “reflexive turn” (IMISCOE conference 2024) and speaks of “de-centering” migration research (IMISCOE conference 2025). In the spring of 2025, we came together again in Warsaw to discuss what role our Standing Committee has to play in this new landscape. The consensus was that, in spite of evident advancements in foregrounding knowledge production and critical and reflexive approaches in migration research, we have more work ahead of us. As migration researchers find themselves in the midst of heated politicized debates – the rise and mainstreaming of the far right, the normalization of warfare and genocide, the climate collapse and increased inequalities, related displacement, and a transformation of the global international order – a reflexive account of the link between knowledge and power remains more than relevant. We therefore decided to continue the focus on that link, while expanding our work beyond research: into teaching, activism and engaged scholarship, and developing visions on what we want to see instead (in research and society more broadly).
We also agreed on a change of the coordinating team, in order to take the Reflexivities Standing Committee forward in this new landscape, to follow in the success of the old team. Nadine, Iva and Stefan have been in the governing board of the Standing Committee for several years, and they have been intensely engaged in activities, conferences, and publication projects over the last years. They know the Standing Committee and its work very well and are thus in a great position to take on that role for the upcoming years. Thankfully, Janine, Andreas and Anna will remain very active as members of the governing board.
If you have any queries, questions or suggestions, please reach out to us anytime. We look forward to keeping up and fostering the inspiring work of this Standing Committee with you all, heading towards the future.