5th Conference of the German Network for Forced Migration Studies

Welcoming Ceremony and Keynote

Maarit Thiem (bicc), coordinator of the conference, welcomed our guests and gave stage to Tamirace Fakhoury from the Fletcher School at Tufts University for her keynote on Geographies of Refuge: Contexts, Challenges, Solutions. 

The keynote did unpack the politics of research and policy knowledge on refugee-hosting geographies. It looked at how policy expectations and research assumptions construct certain geographies of refuge as (a)typical or (in)visible, either highlighting or obscuring knowledge about their contexts and challenges within the international refugee regime. Building on various examples from different world regions across the North–South divide, the presentation interrogated the policy and research infrastructure that constructs modes of territorial ordering that put certain places of refuge center stage while overshadowing others. In doing so, it joined the conversation on “pluralizing geographies of refuge” (Cole, 2020) and revisits the “geopolitics of knowledge production” (Spijkerboer, 2021) as well as ‘knowledge’ and ‘nonknowledge’ on refuge (Krause, 2022).

Inspiring contributions by State Secretary Philippi, principal Professor Hoch of Bonn University, Ms Shaza Alrihawi, co-Chair EU-COMAR, Dr Christiane Fröhlich, chair of the German Network for Forced Migration Studies, Professor Conrad Schetter, bicc Director and FFVT project leader made the first event of our conference a full success. 

We were deeply honoured that the Mayor Katja Dörner welcomed the conference participants at the Old Town Hall.

3 days of fruitful discussions and exchange

We analysed global, regional and local facets of displacement, including the causes and trends that force people into mobility and immobility. What geopolitical, societal and social factors contribute to forced migration and displacement worldwide. How different state and non-state actors do respond to migration and what strategies have been developed in different geographical contexts to address the challenges of displacement.

Watch the Video here: 

FFVT auf X: „It’s a wrap!  🎉 We‘re so grateful for all the thought-provoking discussions and connections made at our Conference. Thanks to everyone who took part and made this event such a success. See you next time!   Your FFVT-Team @Fluchtforschung @UniBonn @BICC_Bonn @EucEuropean https://t.co/OFiR1ZEDjK“ / X

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Force, Persecution, Violence and Multiple Mobilities: Questioning Linear Understandings in ´Forced Migration` Research

Session Chairs: Prof Dr Conrad Schetter & Dr Benjamin Etzold (bicc)

• A Journey of a Lifetime: Displaced People‘s Struggles for Home
Luis Eduardo Perez Murcia (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity)

• Biographical Projects and Violence Experiences of Forced Migrants in the Case of Transit Countries
Ludger Pries & Berna Safak Zülfikar Savci (Ruhr Universität Bochum)

• Conflict, Violence and (De)coloniality in Refugee Shelters
Fabricio Borges Carrijo (Polish Academy of Sciences) • The Crisis of Forced Displacement and Resettlement of the Bakassi People of Nigeria-Cameroon Borderlands Geoffrey Nwaka (Abia State University, Nigeria)

Looking Back on Going Back: Methodological Challenges in Research on Return Migration

Session Chairs: Zeynep Sahin-Mencütek & Ruth Vollmer (bicc)

• “We have Nothing to Hide”: Knowledge Production, Researcher Positionality and the Ethics of Accessing Deportation Regimes Laura Cleton (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

• Be Ready to Lose the Track: Highly Fragmented Data Landscape About Returns Fatma Yilmaz-Elmas (Horizon Europe Project GAPs, Turkiye)

• Families’ Navigation of Readmission and Reintegration in Serbia Nodira Kholmatova (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) • Studying the Life Course and Return Aspirations of Forced Migrants in Germany Lukas Marian Fuchs (DeZIM)