Introducing IMIn - January 2018

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Dear colleagues and friends of IMI,

It is with great pleasure that we announce the launch of the International Migration Institute network, IMIⁿ. As an offshoot and international continuation of the International Migration Institute, the IMIⁿ will continue the work and mission of the International Migration Institute (IMI), which was established in 2006 at the University of Oxford. Coinciding with the decision of Oxford University to close IMI’s doors in 2017, we decided to continue IMI as an international research network (IMIⁿ) to allow research collaboration to flourish more freely across the many countries and institutions in which former and current IMI collaborators are now based.

As founders of IMIⁿ, we have been involved in the long-term building of the International Migration Institute. IMIⁿ will remain committed to continue the thriving interdisciplinary dialogue and new research perspectives that emerged at IMI, and to further expand IMI to a global research network.

The core aims of the IMIⁿ are:

To develop a long-term looking perspective on migration and human mobility as an intrinsic part of global change instead of a 'problem to be solved.'
To explore new ways of understanding and researching migration processes, seeking to challenge conventional theory and to look for new innovative approaches.
To build capacity by actively stimulating the participation of students and researchers from around the world, particularly from Africa, Asia and Latin America in research, publications and public debates.
To create new public narratives on migration that challenge polarized debates between ‘pro-’ and ‘anti-’ migration voices.

Initially, IMIⁿ focuses on consolidating existing initiatives such as the working paper series, information on current and past research projects IMIⁿ fellows are involved in, and the archive of databases and project materials that we have built up.

But we have also ambitious plans for the future and hope that you will follow us and our activities on our new IMI network website, www.imi-n.org, which is now up and running.

We also look forward to hearing your feedback and comments at our new email address: info@imi-n.org.

Yours sincerely,
Oliver Bakewell, Mathias Czaika, Hein de Haas, Agnieszka Kubal, Gunvor Jónsson and Simona Vezzoli
(IMIⁿ Founders)

Working Papers

The new IMIⁿWorking Paper series presents current research in the field of international migration. Here are the papers included in our first edition:

Hein de Haas and Sonja Fransen challenge push-pull models and highlight the usefulness of adopting a broader social transformation perspective when analysing the relations between human development and migration. Click here to read Social Transformation and Migration: An Empirical Inquiry.
International Migration: Trends, Determinants and Policy Effects. have drafted a final paper to review the insights on migration trends, determinants and policy effects gained by the project. Click here to read María Villares-Varela andHein de Haas, Mathias Czaika, Marie-Laurence Flahaux, Edo Mahendra, Katharina Natter, Simona Vezzoli, As the DEMIG (Determinants of International Migration) has come to a close,

Charles Heller and Antoine Pécoud explore ways in which statistics on border deaths can be re-politicised to challenge states' immigration policies in Europe. Click here to read Counting Migrants' Deaths at the Border: from Civil Society Counter-Statistics to (Inter)Governmental Recuperation.

By studying the linkages between education and migration aspirations, alongside other development indicators like wealth, employment, and levels of self-efficacy, Sonja Fransen and Kerilyn Schewel challenge the common assumptions that migration is simply driven by poverty in poorer countries . Click here to read Formal Education and Migration Aspirations in Ethiopia.
Finally Katharina Natter investigates the broader role of political systems in immigration politics and provides food for thought for a more global theorisation of immigration policy. Click here to read Immigration Policy Theory: Thinking Beyond the 'Western Liberal-Democratic' Box.

If you'd like to submit a paper to the new IMIⁿ Working Paper Series, click here to read about our guidelines.

Call for Submissions

Call for Papers & Good Practice for the 10th Anniversary of the DialogForum

The upcoming DialogForum 2018 will focus on the complex interactions and repercussions between migration and (dis‐)integration processes in countries of origin, transit and destination. The aim of this conference is to facilitate a fruitful dialogue between researchers, policy‐makers, and civil society on this subject from a transdisciplinary perspective taking into account economic, social, legal, and political dimensions. For more information on the conference themes and deadlines, please click here.

New Publications

Forging African Communities

Mobility, Integration and Belonging

This book draws renewed attention to migration into and within Africa, and to the socio-political consequences of these movements. In doing so, it complements vibrant scholarly and political discussions of migrant integration globally with innovative, interdisciplinary perspectives focused on migration within Africa. It sheds new light on how human mobility redefines the meaning of home, community, citizenship and belonging. The authors ask how people’s movements within the continent are forging novel forms of membership while catalysing social change within the communities and countries to which they move and which they have left behind. For more information, click here.

If you would like to announce a call for submissions, or share your most recent publications, please send an email to info@imi-n.org