Revisiting migration and security in a global world’ (ReMiSec)
Revisiting migration and security in a global world (ReMiSec)
Description of the project:
After the so called ‘refugee crisis’ in 2015, migration has been increasingly framed in a security discourse referring to crime threats and social economic costs of arriving asylum seekers. Although EU migration policies are increasingly responding to subjective threats, many of the current migration related topics can be framed in a positive security approach. According to this interdisciplinary epistemological objective, security, as a stirring wheel in policy objectives, should be interpreted in constitutive ways, focusing on local capacity building as a source of security.
This initiative aims to develop a positive, inclusive security research framework around migration
With the cooperation of NGOs, civil society, and migration scholars at Utrecht University, the central aim of this initiative is to activate joint research and to consolidate the aforementioned collaboration into a publicly accessible body of knowledge. Through different forms of educative and research activities, this initiative attempts to challenge existing exclusionary notions of transnational mobility and develop a positive, inclusive security research framework around migration.
Based on the Dutch National Research Agenda, this research initiative aims to develop an interdisciplinary migration project to contribute to inclusive societies through a constructive approach on conflict and security. By engaging the existing migration network from previous research activities, ReMiSec purports to establish a research/education-oriented consortium by, firstly, organizing a seminar which will bring UU scholars together and operationalise the thematic outlooks of ReMiSec. A joint workshop will follow to discuss the thematic tenets of research with the participation of civil society representatives to establish connections between the different participants.
Activities:
- January 2018: A two-day seminar organised to invite academic scholars to solidify a research consortium and to further develop the research objective based on shared migration research activities and UGlobe mission.
- April 2018: A joint workshop that brings together multiple stakeholders from the participants’ networks: NGO representatives, social workers, media representatives (e.g. Dutch Refugee Council, Dutch Association for Migration Research, European institutions, IOM, UNHCR). The focus of this workshop will be a positive constructivist understanding of security to media and NGOs representatives. The core sessions shall define how this perspective will be utilized in the respective migration domains.
To contribute to society’s ability to adapt, reflect and improvise
Societal relevance:
The project brings together scholars from the realms of Law, Criminology, Public Governance, Anthropology and Human Geography with NGOs and Media representatives. Such a ‘polyphonic’ context, both in terms of theoretical standpoints and methodological modus operandi, warrants a constructive contribution and intervention in the perpetual diptych of security and insecurity. The project maintains its gaze towards the development of resilient societies – societies capable to withstand rapid changes. ReMiSec is significant insofar it purports to contribute in society’s ability to adapt, reflect and improvise. In that sense, it constitutes a comprehensive, innovative effort to indicate a pathway towards an open, inclusive society.