Reflections and directions for research in refugee studies

Abstract

This paper reflects on how refugee studies has developed and identifies areas for future research. First, the paper sets the scene through an overview of refugee protection regime and on patterns of displacement. Second, the development of theories that try to explain refugee movements are explored. Third, the policy focus of refugee studies and the inherent tensions are examined. This is followed by an exploration of three areas for further research: durable solutions, borders and bordering practices and the intergenerational impacts of refugee migration. These areas allow for multi-level analyses, expose the tensions between structure and agency, power and resistance and the post-colonial world order, and place emphasis on everyday lived experiences. The paper argues that social science disciplines have an important role to play in the field of study but need to include historical analyses and engage in inter-disciplinary alliances to enable shifting paradigms.

Shadows of the past: violent conflict and its repercussions for second-generation Bosnians in the diaspora

“…Scholars have recently called for increased focus on the historical and political contexts under which migration has taken place and to the impact of these legacies on succeeding generations (Bloch 2020;Bloch & Hirsch 2018). The discussion of second-generation Bosnians offers important insights for this debate.…”

“…Another scholarly focus concerns the ways in which diasporic communities engaged in homeland politics and are mobilized to support particular political causes or reconciliation processes (van Hear & Cohen 2017;Baser 2013;Toivanen & Baser 2020). At the same time, research is needed to study the long-term impact that historical and political contexts of migration have on diasporic subjects, on processes of incorporation into the host contexts, on transnational activities and ties and on successive generations who grew up in the countries to which their parents emigrated 1 (Bloch 2020).…”

Exploring the Interface between Asylum, Human Trafficking and/or ‘Modern Slavery’ within a Hostile Environment in the UK

“…Human trafficking is influenced by a constellation of overlapping and interconnected risk factors, which cut across individual, household, community, and structural levels (P. Hynes et al 2019). While the drivers, shared risk factors, and processes of forced migration may overlap for people seeking refuge or experiencing human trafficking, responses are invariably rooted in policy and legislation rather than empirical observation or scientific enquiry (Anderson 2013;Bakewell 2008;Bloch 2020;Harrell-Bond 1986;P. Hynes 2011;P.…”

“…57-60). Over this period, the trajectory of asylum legislation has increasingly focussed on deterrence, with recent explicit policy and legislative pronouncements that use detention, destitution, enforced dispersal, and/or deportation as policy tools to deter new arrivals (Bloch 2020;Clayton and Firth 2021). Moreover, during this period, there has been a fractioning of protection, with a range of differential rights and insecure legal status resulting in a whole new range of bureaucratic categories designed to prevent access to the protections afforded to 'refugees' (Zetter 2007(Zetter , 2018.…”

Avances en los estudios migratorios. Nuevos enfoques, nuevos instrumentos en el estudio de la movilidad internacional

“…Sin embargo, hasta fechas recientes, los avances en la teoría migratoria han sido más modestos. Ello se debe, han sostenido diversos autores, a la continuidad de la fragmentación disciplinar en este panorama académico (Bretell y Hollifield, 2008), así como a la dificultad para acuñar teorías globales y de amplio alcance en un contexto de creciente complejidad y de diversificación de los tipos de flujos, incluidos los de refugiados (Arango, 2004;Van Hear, 2010;King, 2012;Bloch, 2020). A pesar de ello, desde el cambio de siglo, se ha observado una transformación teórica relevante que surge, inicialmente, de la introducción de dos nuevos paradigmas conceptuales que han dominado la investigación en este campo: el transnacionalismo y el denominado «giro de la(s) movilidad(es)» (Urry, 2007;Glick Schiller, Basch y Blanc-Szanton, 1992).…”