The uses and abuses of migration studies

The field of “migration studies” often reproduces the very barriers that hinder deeper understandings of mobility. Critiques have highlighted, for instance, the objectification of mobile people, the reassertion of nation-state boundaries, and the political economy of knowledge production. Treating critique as a generative starting point rather than as negation, this panel asks what migration studies—as a diverse, global, interdisciplinary field—does and does not offer to those pursuing critical perspectives on borders and belonging.

What is migration studies really about, and does continued investment in the field still matter? How might decolonial and ethnographic approaches unsettle dominant forms of knowledge production? To what extent do migration categories increasingly structure social and political life beyond the figure of the migrant, including citizenship? What are the implications of these critiques for scholarship, public and political engagement, and teaching?

This panel is funded by the Hera/Chanse research grant TiCToC: Times in Crisis, Times of Crisis: The Temporalities of Europe in Polycrisis.