Research Funding and Passport Hierarchies: Power Asymmetries in Multi-Sited Ethnographies in Migration Studies
This article investigates the asymmetrical power relations between researchers and the researched in the context of multi-sited ethnographies on undocumented migration. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted along migration trajectories linking Afghanistan to Germany in Iran, Turkey, Greece and...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Helsinki University Press
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Nordic Journal of Migration Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://account.journal-njmr.org/index.php/uh-j-njmr/article/view/766 |
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| Summary: | This article investigates the asymmetrical power relations between researchers and the researched in the context of multi-sited ethnographies on undocumented migration. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted along migration trajectories linking Afghanistan to Germany in Iran, Turkey, Greece and the so-called Balkan route between 2018 and 2022, the article critically engages with two issues that contribute to the enactment of asymmetrical power relations between migrants and researchers: First, it demonstrates how passport hierarchies determine researchers’ very capacity to conduct multi-sited research and to follow their research interlocutors across borders, privileging those with passports that allow visa-free entry to multiple countries. Second, it highlights how the unequal distribution of research funding determines who can afford to conduct multi-sited research, and how this affects the financial value attached to the time spent by researchers and research interlocutors. Subsequently, it shows how undocumented migrants can – even under highly deprived and precarious conditions – renegotiate these asymmetrical power relations through practices of hosting researchers on their own terms. In this way, the article contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the ethical, power-related and financial challenges present in conducting transnational, multi-sited ethnographies in migration studies. |
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| ISSN: | 1799-649X |