Welcome to the latest COMPAS Update
Please find below the latest COMPAS Update on all our recent research activities, events and publications, as well as plans for the future.
This email contains hyperlinks which are highlighted in blue and will open in new windows. If you have difficulty following the links, please visit our online version at:
http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/publications/updates/
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No recourse to public funds: two projects
Sarah Spencer (Principal Investigator) and Jonathan Price (Research Officer) have been awarded funds for two projects looking at local authority responses to migrant families who have no recourse to public funds.
One study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, is exploring the differing ways in which local government institutions – statutory social care services in particular – address the welfare needs of migrant families with dependent children who are excluded from accessing public funds in the UK. A smaller, comparative study, funded by the Open Society Foundations, is exploring related issues in Madrid and Berlin.
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Xiang Biao awarded William L. Holland Prize
Xiang Biao won the eleventh William L. Holland Prize for best article for his article 'Predatory Princes and Princeley Peddlers: The State and International Labour Migration Intermediaries in China' (Pacific Affairs, 2012, Volume 85 No.1, 47-68), hailed as “a sterling combination of in-depth ethnographic research and theoretical sophistication…the rich fieldwork contributes new knowledge for specialists of China, while the argument provides a refinement of and a challenge to the existing analyses of not only migration brokers but also state-society relations.”
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Romanian and Bulgarian migration to Britain: facts behind the fear
In an article for Open Democracy's
"Our Kingdom" Franck Düvell explores the facts behind the fear of Romanian and Bulgarian migration to the UK. The article considers the actual expected impact of the lifted restrictions on migration from A2 countries. He raises issues of historical context, migration potential and actual numbers, what countries migrants would actually choose to go to, and whether migrants would actually (as feared by many) come to the UK to claim benefits.
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Complexities and challenges in Afghan Migration
COMPAS research work on Afghan migration and diaspora was strongly represented at a recent workshop on Afghanistan held in Brussels, 8-9 April.
Organised by the migration studies group at Maastricht University and held in the Dutch delegation to the European Commission, the workshop looked ahead to the likely consequences for migration of the withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan in 2014. Nick Van Hear discussed papers on Afghanistan’s demography and economy and on migrant decision-making, while COMPAS doctoral students Esra Kaytaz and Morwari Zafar
and IMI student Carolin Fischer presented their work in a session on the Afghan diaspora. Former COMPAS colleague Liza Schuster (City University) also presented findings based on recent fieldwork in Afghanistan.
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Bridget Anderson gives keynote in Toronto
Bridget Anderson will give a keynote at the 2013 RCIS conference "Immigration and Settlement: Precarious Futures?", held on 15-17 May. The conference is dedicated to advancing innovative and interdisciplinary research from diverse critical and institutional perspectives in the areas of immigration and settlement, international migration, integration, and diaspora and refugee studies. It aims to integrate theory with practice on international migration issues based on values of inclusion and respect for cultural diversity.
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Rethinking Migration
COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2013
Thursdays 14:00 - 15:30,
25 April - 30 May
Seminar Room, Pauling Centre, 58a Banbury Road, Oxford
The aim of this series is to explore how migration research has re-configured the social sciences over the past 10 years and in turn how changes in the social sciences have influenced the study of mobility and migration, their patterns, consequences and policies. Each seminar will focus on one of the six COMPAS core research themes; flows and dynamics, labour markets, citizenship and belonging,
urban change and settlement, welfare, and the Migration Observatory.
All are welcome to attend and there is no need to register. Podcasts will be available shortly after each seminar.
Please add your comments to our Facebook page and follow our live tweets (#COMPASseminars) during the seminars.
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Migration: Theory and Practice
Saturday 4 May 2013, 8:45-17:30
Manor Road Building, Oxford
This conference, run by the Oxford University Migration Studies Society, will explore different approaches to understanding migration, highlight the way practice can inform theory, and discuss how academic theory can be used in practical situations to.
A keynote lecture on the topic will be given by Robin Cohen, Emeritus Professor and Former Director of the International Migration Institute, University of Oxford and Habib Rahman, Chief Executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI).
This will be followed by four subject panels with student presentations, as well as input from leading academics and practitioners. Topics covered will include: labour migration, diaspora and return, religious and family life, globalisation and technologies.
Register online / Further details / Contact the organisers
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Integration, Disadvantage and Extremism
Wednesday 8 May 2013, 13:00 - 17:45
Attlee Suite, Portcullis House, House of Commons, London
The aim of this symposium is to reflect on the government's integration strategy and to do so in the light of both contemporary developments and recent scholarship, bringing the most current evidence-based research to bear on urgent issues of policy for an invited audience of academic experts, policy makers and parliamentarians. The symposium is organised into three panels on integration and disadvantage today, integration and extremism, and is localism sufficient?
The symposium is being organised by the Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London and COMPAS, University of Oxford, in partnership with the All Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism.
Please note, places are limited and by invitation only. If you would like to participate please contact pearsinstitute@bbk.ac.uk, stating your institutional affiliation and/or area of interest.
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Building Regionality into Immigration Policy: Does it Work? Evidence from Canada
Monday 20 May 2013, 14:00 - 15:30
64 Banbury Road, Oxford
Speaker: Robert E. Wright, University of Strathclyde
Most European countries are ageing rapidly, with population and labour force decline being expected in the near future. The governments of most of these countries view managed immigration as being the main way to expand their labour forces. However, most of these countries do not have in place immigration systems that "select the best". However, this is changing.
Using micro-data collected in Canadian censuses, and matching methods, this talk attempts to evaluate empirically whether such programmes are effective. The main aim of the analysis is to consider whether "lessons can be learned" from the Canadian experience that can be applied to the UK and other countries where points-based immigration systems are being introduced.
Attendance is open to all.
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Rethinking Diaspora
1 - 2 July 2013
St. Annes' College, Oxford
This conference is jointly organized by COMPAS and the Oxford Diasporas Programme (ODP). It will focus on fundamental dynamics relating to the formation, maintenance, and impacts of diasporas.
This conference aims to integrate humanities and social science perspectives in order to investigate the impacts of these dynamics of diaspora.
Limited places at this conference will be open for registration on 1 May 2013.
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Call for Papers: "Fielding challenges, challenging the field: The methodologies of mobility"
27 - 28 September 2013
Oxford
Ethnography has long been the hallmark of anthropology, and most social science disciplines now routinely employ qualitative ethnographic research methods. While the ethnographic method has adapted to shifts within the discipline, growing interest in mobility-related research prompts new methodological questions in the field(s) of anthropology.
The EASA Anthropology and Mobility Network invites papers that explore how ethnographers are responding to questions being raised in the study of mobility, in particular, in the 'zones of awkward engagement' between mobility's methods and the production of ethnographic theory, and the ways in which ethnographies of movement may provide novel theoretical horizons for anthropology. Papers that grapple with mobility at any scale and in both classic and unexpected settings are welcome.
Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words to easamobworkshop@gmail.com by Friday, 17 May, 2013. Include your name, institutional affiliation, paper title and contact details in your email. Funding for travel and accommodation is available for EASA-member participants.
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COMPAS Photo Competition
COMPAS will soon be announcing the details of its Photo Competition 2013. Keep your eyes peeled, and for inspiration have a look at our previous competitions.
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International Migration and Human Rights: Critical Research and Policy Perspectives
COMPAS Seminar Series Hilary 2013
This seminar series questioned the relationship between international migration and human rights commitments. Some migration issues are commonly framed in terms of human rights. Human rights norms and ideals are frequently invoked to challenge states’ harsh treatment of migrants. Yet, in other contexts, state sovereignty appears to be given great sway, and the connections between international migration and human rights are less apparent. The series aimed to re-examine familiar issues in a new light, and open up new frontiers in the interaction between international migration and human rights.
Podcasts from this series will soon be available.
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Latin American and Caribbean migration research workshop
11 March 2013, Oxford
In recent years research on Latin American migration flows towards Europe and, more recently, the reversal of such flows in the wake of the economic crisis, has proliferated. This event brought together researchers and doctoral students based in Oxford to share ideas and research interests and to bring out interconnections, contrasts and points of comparison within our research. Participants are now discussing ways of facilitating collaboration and networking within and beyond Oxford.
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Within and beyond citizenship: Lived experiences of contemporary membership
11-12 April, Oxford
This symposium investigated the interplay between forms and modes of contemporary membership, migration governance (both immigration and emigration), and the politics of belonging.
The event was a great success, bringing together over 60 researchers with varying perspectives on belonging. A glimpse of the conference can be seen on it's Storify board.
This was the first of two international symposia investigating the relationship between legal status, rights and belonging. The symposia are jointly organised by the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford with the School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, COMPAS, and the Oxford Institute of Social Policy, University of Oxford.
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Turkish Migration Studies Group Seminar
26 April 2013, Oxford
The 8th in the series of Turkish Migration Studies Group (TurkMiS) seminars included four presentations on issues of Turkish migration, such as the making of asylum policies, internal displacement, and welfare.
Details of TurkMiS activity, relevant news, and sources can be seen on the TurkMiS web page.
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Context, institution or accountability? Exploring the factors that shape the performance of national human rights and equality bodies
A new article by Sarah Spencer and Colin Harvey compares six statutory human rights and equality bodies in the UK and Ireland, exploring the range of factors that shape their performance.
The article argues that developing an understanding of the factors that shape the performance of statutory human rights and equality bodies is fundamental to debates on the establishment, reform or merger of such bodies at the national, international and European and levels.
Sarah Spencer and Colin Harvey, Policy & Politics (2013, ISSN 0305-5736, Online ISSN: 1470-8442)
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Marriage-Related Migration to the UK
Nick Van Hear has published a new article on marriage migration. By bringing together immigration statistics with information from academic and third-sector sources, this article attempts to provide a more balanced and nuanced portrayal of patterns and practices of marriage-related migration to the UK, than currently exists. The article reveals important nationality and gender differences in migration flows and considers how varying marriage practices, social and political contexts, and policies of both receiving and sending countries may work to influence marriage-related migration streams.
Charlsey, K., Van Hear, N., Benson, M. and Storer-Church, B. (2012) 'Marriage-related migration to the UK', International Migration Review, 46(4): 861-90. DOI: 10.1111/imre.12003
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Ukraine, migration, early 20th century to present
The history of Ukraine is characterized by discontinuity and the endeavors of foreign rulers during the past centuries. Bastian Vollmer examines the history of the Ukraine with particular focus on the country's migration history and developments.
Vollmer, B. (2013) 'Ukraine, migration, early 20th century to present', in Ness, I. (Ed.) The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, New York: Wiley-Blackwell
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Towards a post-2015 development agenda: What role for migrant rights and international labour migration?
Martin Ruhs has written this background paper for the European Development Report 2013.
Martin calls for the creation of a global migrant rights database that could be used for systematic analysis of migrant rights restrictions for different groups of migrants, both across and within countries. For more analysis of migrant rights, labour migration and development, see Martin’s forthcoming book The Price of Rights: Regulating International Labor Migration (Princeton University Press, September 2013).
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A new journal of Migration Studies
Migration Studies, a new journal from Oxford University Press is now available. To learn more about the journal and view the inaugural issue free of charge online, visit the website. The journal's Editor-in-Chief, Alan Gamlen is a COMPAS Research Associate and COMPAS Researcher, Carlos Vargas-Silva, is an Associate Editor.
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New COMPAS Working papers 2013
There have been three new COMPAS Working Papers in 2013:
- The Christianisation of Afghan and Iranian transit migrants in Istanbul: encounters at the biopolitical border by Shoshana Fine
- Deterring the ‘Boat People’: Explaining the Australian Government’s People Swap Response to Asylum Seekers by Reza Hasmath
- Frenzied, Decelerating and Suspended: the Temporal Uncertainties of Failed Asylum Seekers and Immigration Detainees by Melanie Griffiths
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COMPAS Social Media
COMPAS offers an interactive element to its website via our Facebook and Twitter pages. This involves general updates about events, a discussion forum for our seminar series and posts about COMPAS news and publications.
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