International Migration Institute (IMI) researchers as part of the THEMIS (Theorizing the Evolution of European Migration Systems) project partook in the three day conference presenting three papers and convening a roundtable ‘Explaining the growth and decline of migration: the role of feedback mechanisms – A roundtable with evidence from the THEMIS project’.
The THEMIS roundtable, chaired by IMI’s co-director Oliver Bakewell, addressed two key questions: How do the migration processes of yesterday influence those of today? What are the mechanisms by which the knowledge and practices of one set of migrants help to shape those who come after them? These are key questions for the THEMIS project, which has been exploring how enduring patterns of migration emerge, are sustained and decline. Drawing on evidence from movements between Ukraine, Brazil and Morocco to the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the UK, the roundtable discussion examined how migrants’ experiences of economic conditions, state policies, and new connections created by social media generate feedback that shapes subsequent migration.
IMI and THEMIS Research Officer Agnieszka Kubal, was one of three THEMIS groups that discussed their research. Agnieszka briefly presented THEMIS empirical findings on ‘Semi-legality and the role of the state governance frameworks in conditioning migration in Europe’ as part of the panel, before the roundtable was opened for discussion. The session attracted many discussants from different parts of the world and academia, and included useful exchanges between quantitative and qualitative migration scholars.
Related links and resources
Within and beyond citizenship – Migrants’ trapped in legal ambiguity? A blog by Agnieszka Kubal
Read more about Migrants’ Relationship with the Law in this article by Agnieszka Kubal
Read IMI working paper 'The differential role of social networks: strategies and routes in Brazilian migration to Portugal and the Netherlands' by THEMIS members Masja van Meeteren and Sonia Pereira