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/
 

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

AMICALL report launched in Brussels

The AMICALL report was launched in Brussels on 25 October. 

The report is the culmination of the project Attitudes to Migrants, Communication and Local Leadership, an eighteen-month transnational project seeking to provide a platform for the sharing of good practice and the development of new strategies for the promotion of positive attitudes towards migrants and towards migrant integration at the local and regional level.

The event was attended by an international audience with migration, integration and local authority interests. In addition to the presentations by project partners the audience also had the opportunity to listen to talks from speakers from the Migration Policy Institute, the Council of Europe, The Gallup Organisation Europe, and the City of Ghent about research results and local experiences in relation to xenophobia and shaping positive attitudes at the local level.

The full final transnational report, executive summaries, and country reports are all available online.

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Migration Journeys

COMPAS Seminar Series Michaelmas Term 2012
Thursdays 14:00 - 15:30, starting 11th October.
Seminar Room, Pauling Centre, 58a Banbury Road, Oxford 

Convened by the COMPAS Flows and Dynamics cluster

The field of migration studies has tended to explore the causes and outcomes of migration to the neglect of the conditions and practice of movement itself. The literature has looked at what drives migration and the decision to move, and placed emphasis on what happens afterwards in terms of integration, exclusion and so on. This 8-week series will consider what happens 'in between' this 'before and after' - migrants' journeys - which has received much less analytical attention, in contrast to the quite extensive literary, biographical and film exploration of such journeys.

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 discussion around the seminars.

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Migration Film Showings: Journeys

Thursdays, Michaelmas Term, 16:00 - 18:00
Seminar Room, 64 Banbury Rd

Convened by Mette Louise Berg, this educational film series explores migration journeys alongside our seminar series this term.

Week 2 (18/10): In this world, Michael Winterbottom (2002)
Week 4 (1/11): Balseros, Carles Bosch and Josep Maria Domènech (2002)
Week 6 (15/11): Migrant Express, Mumin Shakirov (2009)
Week 8 (29/11): Adio Kerida, Ruth Behar (2002)

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The injustices of high- versus low-skilled temporary labour migration programs: With evidence from Canada

23 October, 12:00 - 13:00
Seminar Room, 43 Banbury Road OX2 6PE

Speaker: Patti Tamara Lenard, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa

Among critics of temporary labour migration programs (TLMP), it is common to describe them as exploitative, rights-violating, and unfair. Often, however, these critics fail to distinguish between high- and low-skilled TLMP, the stipulations of which are often quite distinct. Where they do distinguish between them, the common conclusion is that only low-skilled TLMP pose problems of justice which require immediate action. Patti Lenard will examine these assumptions. She argues that both low- and high-skilled TLMP often pose problems of justice, and that while some of these apply only to high- or low-skilled programs, there are others which apply to both. She will illustrate these dilemmas by reference to the Canadian case, where the government has expanded the number of migrants participating in TLMP significantly over the last 10 years.

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Turkish Migration Studies Group Workshop

29 October, 13:00 - 17:30
Mawby Room, Kellogg College, 60 Banbury Road, OX2 6PN

Speakers:
Emine C. Acar, Sussex University: The impact of immigration regulations on the Turkish and South Asian student labour force in London – between regularity and irregularity

Can Aybek, Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung and fellow at Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg: Marriage migration: Risk and Uncertainty among Transnational Couples from Turkey and Germany

Martin Lemberg-Petersen, Copenhagen University: Military-industrial actors in the changing Turkish borderscape

Giovanna Marconi, SSIIM Unesco Chair at Venice University: The transit trap: invisible immigrants in Istanbul/Turkey and Tijuana/Mexico

To attend, please contact Franck Düvell, franck.duvell@compas.ox.ac.uk

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Turkish Migration in Europe: Projecting the next 50 years

7 - 9 December 2012
Regent's College London, Inner Circle, Regent's Park, London

Turkey’s population doubled over the past half century to 74 million. Turkey is expected to surpass Germany to become the second-most populous country in Europe (after Russia) by 2020. With almost 4 million Turkish citizens abroad, mostly in Europe, there are fears of more migration from Turkey. Turks continue to migrate, now favouring destinatins such as Russia and the Middle East. Despite Turkey becoming a net immigration country there are significant fears of Turkish migration. This conference examines current and potential future Turkish migration in Europe over the next half century. 

Further information

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COMPAS Breakfast Briefings

Topical, cutting edge research on migration and migration related issues is provided in an accessible format for policy makers and other research users.

The third COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series will run September 2012 - June 2013. 

Upcoming Briefings:

19 October: What works in integration?
16 November: What is the evidence about migrant living conditions in the private rented sector and how could they be improved?

Podcasts of previous presentations are available.

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PREVIOUS EVENTS

COMPAS September Breakfast Briefing

The first briefing of this series was given on September 21 by Jon Simmons, Head of Home Office Migration and Border Analysis on "What is the latest picture from migration statistics?".

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Meet the Directors

On October 4 new students in the academic year 2012-2013 were given an opportunity to meet the centre directors for IMI, COMPAS, and RSC. 

Michael Keith (COMPAS, Hein de Haas and Oliver Bakewell (IMI), and Dawn Chatty (RSC) introduced centre work to the University's new MSc in Migration Studies students. 

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NEWS & NOTICES

COMPAS Photo Competition

Only a few days left to submit! The closing date is Friday 12 October 2012, so find your migration related photos and send them in to us now! 

For this year's photography competition COMPAS is looking for images that reflect the theme of 'New Lives and Dreams'.

We are particularly looking for images that depict the  impact that migration has on people’s lived experiences, both in terms of hopes and reasons for moving, as well as the effect that migration has on life in work, communities and homes.

Prizes: £250 and £100 for winning entries and £50 for 10 runners-up. 

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MSc in Migration Studies

The University of Oxford is currently accepting applications for the MSc in Migration Studies 2013-2014. Forthcoming application deadlines for entry in 2012 are 20 January and 9 March 2012.

More information about the course can be found through Migration Oxford.

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Grant awarded for border security research

Bastian Vollmer has been awarded a 3- year Fellowship by The Leverhulme Trust for research on border security. The Fellowship, looking at 'Border security: discourses and practices in the UK', will begin in April 2013.

The nature and rationale of border security has changed over the past decade. Intensifying transformations challenge border security in the UK and across the globe - an issue that has a high public profile. It raises questions regarding the understanding, meaning and reality of border security in the UK. Bastian's research will test if and how narratives or 'discourses' match with the reality at UK borders using a mixed-methods, multi-dimensional, multi-actor research design. Based on new empirical data the project will revisit the relation between border, territory, sovereignty and security. The outcome will be a new theorisation of border security.

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Bastian Vollmer and Franck Duvell write for the Atlantic Community

Bastian Vollmer  and Franck Düvell have contributed opinion editorials for the think tank Atlantic Community. 'Governing Irregular Migration: No Power Politics but Deliberation' by Bastian Vollmer discusses the need for a deliberative and balanced approach to illegal migration in the US and the EU, instead of policies created by career-based and political motives.

 "EU Fares Better in Preventing and Reducing Irregular Migration than the US" by Franck Düvell compares irregular migration in the US and the UK.

Atlantic-community.org is an online platform for transatlantic debate on key issues of international politics and globalization.

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Oxford MSc in Migration Studies podcast

A new podcast gives insight into the MSc in Migration Studies offered at Oxford University. The podcast, the first in a series related the MSc programme, allows you to listen to a discussion with lecturer Mette Louise Berg and four students: Saskia Blume, Tess Hellgren, Katyana Melic, Gustavo Rangel Guerrero.

The podcast is available through a dedicated MSc in Migration Studies feed through both the University of Oxford and through iTunesU.
 

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New TurkMiS Webpage

The Turkish Migration Studies Group (TurkMiS) now has a dedicated webpage. On this page you can find out the Group's activities, and the latest news, events, and publications relevant to Turkish migration world wide. You can also sign up to the Group's newsletter, and find further resources about Turkish migration.

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COMPAS Blog

The COMPAS Blog provides information and discussion points about work taking place at COMPAS. It allows our researchers to share what they thinking about, working on, and reactions to migration issues taking place globally.

Recent topics have included The Love of Learning: Migrants and Education, From the Great Wall to maze pipelines, Integration and neighbourhood relations in South London, and Dr Who and The Migrants.

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COMPAS podcasts

A large number of COMPAS podcasts are now available, from previous Seminar Series, Breakfast Briefings, and one-off events. Visit the COMPAS feed on the University of Oxford podcasting page or the COMPAS iTunesU feed to listen. 

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COMPAS Social Media

COMPAS offers an interactive element to its website via our Facebook page. This involves general updates about events, a discussion forum for our seminar series and posts about COMPAS news and publications.

Do visit and 'like' the COMPAS facebook page. Please let us know whether this online forum is worthwhile and what you would like from it.

COMPAS is also available to follow on Twitter as compas_oxford.  

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PUBLICATIONS

The Sweden Democrats: Anti-Immigration Politics under the Stigma of Racism

COMPAS Working Paper: WP-12-97

By Vidhya Ramalingam

This paper explores the construction of social stigma against the political party the Sweden Democracts and examines the conceptual boundaries of the term ‘racism’ in the Swedish national imaginary. 

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Population, Space and Place Special Issue on Immigration Detention

This special issue originated from a symposium on the meaning and practice of immigration detention held in May 2010.  It includes articles by COMPAS Phd students. 

Stephanie Silverman co-authored the article 'Why Immigration Detention is Unique'. Cetta Mainwaring contributed "Constructing a Crisis: the Role of Immigration Detention in Malta". The article "Anonymous Aliens? Questions of Identification in the Detention and Deportation of Failed Asylum Seekers" was written by Melanie Griffiths.

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UNHCR policy paper provided by Nora Danielson

COMPAS student Nora Danielson has published the policy paper "Urban refugee protection in Cairo: the role of communication, information and technology" with the UNHCR. 

It explores what the dynamics, gaps and constraints of asylum-related information delivery in Cairo have been, and what impact they have had on refugee protection and service provision. It also examines how communication channels are being used to provide information to refugees and asylum seekers, and what capacities and cautions should be considered for each. 

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Migration and Economic Growth

 Migration and Economic Growth was co-edited by Carlos Vargas-Silva, COMPAS Senior Researcher, and Mathias Czaika, International Migration Institute.

The book comprehensively examines the role of economic growth as a driver of migration, as well as the impact of migration on economic growth in receiving and sending countries.

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Physical Insecurity and Anti-Immigration Views in Western Europe

COMPAS Working Paper: WP-12-98

Mihail Chiru and Sergiu Gherghina

This article assesses the effect of feelings of physical insecurity on the perceived consequences of immigration and the preferred level of restriction in this policy area.

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Vile liars and truth distorters

Melanie Griffiths, DPhil student at COMPAS, has published an article in Anthropology Today, Volume 28, Issue 5. 

"Vile liars and truth distorters’; Truth, trust and the asylum system" draws on ethnographic research to explore how those within the asylum system experience, understand and explain the bureaucracy they are embedded in. It suggests that deception, uncertainty and mistrust are as much characteristics of asylum seekers' perspective of the immigration system as of the reverse.

The journal also includes an article by COMPAS Research Associate Nando Sigona on "Deportation, non-deportation and precarious lives: The everyday lives of undocumented migrant children in Britain".

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