MiCoNet Talks: February

The Center on Forced Displacement fosters interdisciplinary research and engagement with the global challenge of forced displacement. We bring together multidisciplinary teams of researchers, practitioners, and artists from across schools and colleges at Boston University, around the country, and around the world.

Center on Forced Displacement

From migration routes to migration corridors in Africa and the Mediterranean with Iván Martín

The objective of this presentation is to engage in a brainstorming session regarding the concept of corridors, drawing upon Ivan Martin's extensive practical experience and expertise. The discussion will encompass various scales of operationalization, with a focus on the political, economic and social visions that inform them. Additionally, the presentation will address the relationship between the structure of corridors and the agencies within them, offering a reflection on the utility of corridors as a category of analysis and for comparative research. Drawing upon Ivan Martin's background, the presentation will offer concrete empirical illustrations of the African-Mediterranean corridor and engage in a thorough discussion of the initial six premises of MiCoNet. Zoom Link:<a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bostonu.zoom.us/j/95431208640?pwd%3D2uDhTSZnuULr19FbrqfaDXTS2cK7K1.1&amp;sa=D&amp;source=calendar&amp;ust=1739908183753334&amp;usg=AOvVaw3aMMLvwYqBRtxbolFEo-c8" title="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bostonu.zoom.us/j/95431208640?pwd%3D2uDhTSZnuULr19FbrqfaDXTS2cK7K1.1&amp;sa=D&amp;source=calendar&amp;ust=1739908183753334&amp;usg=AOvVaw3aMMLvwYqBRtxbolFEo-c8" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"> https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bostonu.zoom.us/j/95431208640?pwd%3D2uDhTSZnuULr19FbrqfaDXTS2cK7K1.1&amp;sa=D&amp;source=calendar&amp;ust=1739908183753334&amp;usg=AOvVaw3aMMLvwYqBRtxbolFEo-c8</a>Passcode: 050188 <h4>Speaker</h4>Iván Martín is an economist. He is a Adjunct Professor at the Pompeu Fabra University, where he teaches a course on Comparative International Labour Migration Policies in the Master in Migration Studies, and Associate Researcher at the GRITIM-UPF and EuroMedMig. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South and teaches at the Master in Global Affairs of the Université Mohamed VI Polytechnique in Morocco. Between 2013 and 2016 he was Part-time Professor at the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) of the European University Institute in Florence, as well as member of the Expert Group on Economic Migration of the European Commission and Key Expert on Labour Migration providing External Technical Expertise on Migration to DG DEVCO of the European Commission (ETEM V Project). Formerly, he has been Senior Research Fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs-CIDOB (2014), where he was the scientific coordinator of a FP-7 project on Arab Youth; Associate Research Fellow at the Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales in Madrid (2008-2013); Research Administrator at the College of Europe, Natolin Campus, Poland (2010-2011); Director of the Socio-Economic Forum of Casa Árabe (Arab House) and its International Institute for Arab and Muslim World Studies in Spain (2006-2008); and Adjunct Professor at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (2002-2006). He has coordinated several international research projects on labour migration and since 2010 he has worked as consultant and trainer on labour migration, youth employment and migration and development in more than 20 countries in Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa and in Latin America for the International Organization for Migration, the International Labour Organization, the European Commission (DG DEVCO and EU Delegation in Morocco), the European Training Foundation, the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, the EuroMed Migration project and the Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat, as well as AECID, GIZ and the Swiss Development Cooperation.Web: <a href="" title="https://wwwupf.academia.edu/IvánMartín" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://wwwupf.academia.edu/IvánMartín</a> <h4>MiCoNet</h4>MiCoNet (Migration, Corridors Network) is a group of scholars working on migration from different parts of the world. They are interested in developing scientific advances on migration corridors. MiCoNet was set up after a workshop on 'Corridors' organised by the Center on Forced Displacement (CFD) from Boston University (USA) and the Migration Research Center (MiReKoc) from Koç University (Istanbul, Turkey) at the Boston University Center on Forced Displacement on 17-18 October 2024. After a first discussion on the concept of 'corridors' and how it differs from other terms like 'route', 'trajectory' and 'journey', we looked at how the category of corridors can help migration studies. We acknowledge that this concept remains a contested and evolving framework, does not capture the full complexity of the journey of people on the move, and demands a more nuanced and robust theoretical conceptualization. As such, we are also aware that it requires ongoing critical engagement to account for the hyper-complex, fluid, and continually shifting realities it seeks to address. However, to better capture the complex dynamics of transnational mobility and border regimes operating across various regions, we argue that the corridors concept still offers significant epistemological, ontological, and methodological advantages.The objective of these MiCoNet talks is to pursue this preliminary line of reflection in a more structured and institutional manner, and to explore opportunities for engagement in academic activities and international projects. MiCoNet is based on six initial premises that highlight research gaps in migration corridor-focused research:<ol><li>Corridor as a category of analysis for theory-building: Only a few academic studies deal with the concept of the corridors as an analytical category; rather it has been used as a geographical metaphor. The term “migration corridors” needs to be further developed. There should be more focus on the theoretical elaboration of the concept and its differentiation from similar and/or overlapping terms.</li><li>Interconnectedness: Research studies in the field of migration often focus on destination countries. Scholars of migration and forced displacement need to recognize the interdependencies and flows that link various stages of migration. Therefore, the concept of corridors enables us to illustrate the interconnectedness between origin, transit, and destination countries in migration corridors. This concept is also utilized by different disciplines and could serve as a basis for more interdisciplinary work and collaborations.</li><li>Comparative regional dynamics: Current studies on migration corridors overemphasize some specific corridors that are mostly in relation to the Global North, such as EU-Balkan-Turkey, Mediterranean-southern EU and US-Mexico. Expanding the focus to include less-studied corridors facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of global migration flows. On the other hand, most studies look at isolated parts of a single corridor, overlooking the different regional dynamics that lead to interconnectedness across corridors. Without falling into the “one-size-fits-all” model of diverse migratory contexts, there is a need to conduct comparative research on migration corridors and connect various agents (collective actors to individuals) and contexts (local to global), demanding an interdisciplinary approach.</li><li>Historical processses behind corridors: There is a lack of attention to underlying economic, political and historical processes that create (or break) corridors. There is a need for historicizing the social production of migratory corridors, tracing its connections with histories of colonialism, post-colonialism, and neo-colonialism, underlying its materiality, and understanding its embeddedness in uneven geographical development and capitalist world systems.</li><li>Beyond Methodological nationalism: There is a risk of methodological nationalism, where researchers mostly take nation-states as their unit of analysis. By shifting the focus from methodological nationalism to methodological cosmopolitanism, corridors allow us to examine migration within a transnational, contested space of inequality. This perspective reveals a complex interplay of mobility and control exerted not only by states but also by para-state, criminal, and other non-state actors.</li><li>Methodological challenges and innovations: To fully capture the complexity of migration corridors, multi-sited, multi-temporal, and digital ethnographies are needed. Developing a comprehensive methodological “toolbox” that includes qualitative, quantitative, and historical approaches is critical to advancing our understanding of migration through the corridors’ perspective. Besides, it is essential to deepen our engagement with the ethics of conducting research within migration spaces, with particular attention to reflexivity and positionality. This includes actively challenging the common research practice designed in the Global North and applied in the Global South and working to strengthen the people on the move and their movements.</li></ol>

Our {communityGuidelinesLink} describe the sort of content we prohibit on Eventbrite. If you suspect an event may be in violation, you can report it to us so we can investigate.

To report other categories of prohibited or illegal content, submit {link}

MiCoNet Talks: February

More events from Center on Forced Displacement

Discover more events from Center on Forced Displacement, from Government to other experiences you might love.

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all online events to browse and filter by date, category, and more.

MiCoNet Talks: February

More events from Center on Forced Displacement

Discover more events from Center on Forced Displacement, from Government to other experiences you might love.

You might also like...

Browse more events with different dates, prices, and formats to find your next great experience.

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all online events to browse and filter by date, category, and more.