Skip main navigation
Home / Politics & Society / Professional Development for Teachers / Teaching Migration Through Data and Storytelling / Why do we need new data on migration?

Why do we need new data on migration?

South-south migration is under-explored; MIDEQ will create new data on this migration flow.
View transcript
0.2
(upbeat music)
7.4
<v ->Despite the significance of SSM, South South migration.</v> We know relatively little as compared with South North migration. So that perspective, this Eurocentric perspective has, colored or diminished the significance that it otherwise, it warrants. Also another reason why we should be interested in SSM is because it is part of broader migration patterns and responses as well, and knowing about SSM also helps us understanding other categories of migration as well. This kind of mutual influence how understanding South South migration helps us understand South North migration.
53.3
So it’s what’s happening in the South North migration like for instance, the selectivity and the securitization in the SNM somehow contributes what I some people or some migrants or also reroute and then kind of like go to, to South South migration kind of. For some South South migration is a transit migration. So they use it as a stepping stone also to migrate to the global North kind of stuff. So it’s in that sense, it is, they are interrelated. So they, this kind of like, or having a broader understanding of the migration landscape is is very important. And for that we can use SSM as an entry point for to see the bigger picture, so to speak.
98
Policy makers in the West or in the global North, why they are interested in South South migration is not for what it is or in on itself, but also kind of like what I call Container Approach somehow yeah. So there’s kind of there’s a political assumption and project that by supporting South South migration, fewer people would make it to the global North sky. This will not happen, and we are interested in that, not just to contain people in the global South, but just because it’s important for what it is, kind of it. And, it’s kind of like to too a bit problematizing this approach which I call this the Container Approach.
136.9
Because of this proximity, most of the south south migration happens across immediate borders so to speak. In that sense, there is kind of greater flow, and the ease at which this is happening, makes it a bit more kind of irregular migration as compared with North South migration yeah? And not all, the majority of them are not documented and because they are not documented, there is an added layer of vulnerability of migrants in the South South migration as compared with North South migration <v ->As we all known from recent research,</v> migration impacts not only the migrants work like you know all those who are left behind.
181.6
So be children being the spouse, be it the parents, but it also has an impact on the community. So previous to my previous to media, we did another research where we looked at, what is the impact of migration on women’s wellbeing? Like in the psychosocial, their decision making, their participation in the community. But we also look at what is the impact on the community as a whole? So, and we see that there’s a lot of impact. There’s a lot of impact both positive and negative. So it’s a question of like, it’s a question about a lot of aspects of life. So many times like here we start research not on migration angle but from a social norms angle.
218.4
And we look at poverty and life but migration always comes, and then we have to divert into like, you know, looking at migration. <v ->First we need to understand, and to, for us to understand</v> we need to give it the attention that it deserves. So there’s kind of this marginalization of knowledge production in the global South or in SSM or in South South migration. So the very fact that we are focusing on that, this is already a start. But once we focus, which is a strategic decision, it maybe it could have been done kind of you know, Ghanaian migrants in Germany, for instance, which is a well established topic.
258.8
And, you know, just simply with a Google search you have tons and tons of studies in peer reviewed journals and books after books written somehow. So we need to generate more knowledge, more understanding, and then given that some of the unique challenges or the specificities of the South South migration medic is also interested in, it has a practical side. It’s not just simply a merely an academic exercise, it has an applied side as well. It wants to contribute to the improvement of the lives of migrants, their families, and the communities they live in. (upbeat music)
MIDEQ aims to shift the production of knowledge about migration and its consequences towards the countries where most migration takes place, in doing so decolonising the process of research, data collection and storytelling.

There is no one meaning of ‘decolonising’ – it is a contested term. But it represents the effort to interrogate institutional and structural legacies of colonialism.

It begins with the assumption that global histories of Western colonial domination have had the effect of limiting what counts as knowledge, whose knowledge is recognised, what schools or universities teach and how they teach it.

For more information on decolonising the curriculum download SOAS’s Toolkit for Learning and Teaching.

It is aimed at university teaching, however it provides a useful framework for beginning to question what we teach and how we teach it in ways that are more responsive to the problems of colonial and racialised privilege.

Watch this final video from our MIDEQ experts and in the discussion below reflect on your motivations for completing the course and your experience. How has this changed?

Want to keep
learning?

This content is taken from
SOAS University of London online course,

Teaching Migration Through Data and Storytelling

View Course

In the discussion below, you should also write a question you would like to ask Gameli, Anita, Dejere, or Heaven about their research and plans for MIDEQ.

Want to keep learning?

This content is taken from SOAS University of London online course
Teaching Migration Through Data and Storytelling
View Course
See other articles from this course
This article is from the online course:

Teaching Migration Through Data and Storytelling

Created by
Join Now
This article is from the free online

Teaching Migration Through Data and Storytelling

Created by
Join Now
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now

Register to receive updates

  • Create an account to receive our newsletter, course recommendations and promotions.

    Register for free