An Ethnographic Investigation of Recent Shifts in Migration from the Global South

该奖项支持的研究将调查来自全球南方的移民流动模式的最新变化。在过去几十年中，国际移徙流动不仅在数量上有所增加，而且在比以往任何时候都更广泛的国家之间建立了联系。这些变化似乎有多种原因，包括：新的工业生产中心;不断变化的贸易流;西欧和北美以外国家的收入增加;长途旅行的更多机会;以及新的通信技术。然而，这些笼统的说法掩盖了移徙动机和结果的巨大差异。如果要制定既能满足移徙者的需要又能满足许多可能欢迎或不欢迎他们到来的国家的需要的政策，就需要更多地了解移徙者为什么选择离开家园、去哪里以及他们的情况。这项研究的目标就是满足这一需求。研究人员将把重点放在研究不足的撒哈拉以南非洲移民人口上。他将把研究基地设在土耳其的欧亚城市伊斯坦布尔，这是一个新兴的制造业区，吸引了越来越多的非难民移民。研究人员将采用定性方法收集有关移民行为者的主观态度，他们的社会经济特征，他们对影响其在土耳其和其他潜在目的地前景的结构性因素的看法，他们的移民决策历史以及这些决定对个人及其家庭的影响的数据。他将以400名移民为样本，通过参与式观察、密集的扩展访谈和生活史汇编来收集数据。这些数据将用于评估研究人员的假设，即撒哈拉以南非洲的移徙是一种中产阶级现象，由于原籍国和目的地国之间的国民收入水平差异很大，这一现象被错误地认识。这项研究的结果将有助于制定动态方法，以了解当代世界移徙的复杂性。这对有关移徙问题的决策者十分重要，也符合美国的国家利益。

The research supported by this award will investigate recent changes in the mobility patterns of migrants from the global South. Over the past few decades, flows of international migration have not only increased in volume, they also have created ties between a wider range of countries than ever before. The shifts appear to have multiple causes, including: new industrial production centers; changing trade flows; improved incomes in countries outside Western Europe and North America; greater access to long-distance travel; and new technologies of communication. However, these generalizations mask considerable diversity of migrant motivations and outcomes. If policy is to be developed that will serve the needs both of the migrants and of the many countries that may or may not welcome their arrival, much more needs to be known about why migrants choose to leave home and where to go, and what becomes of them. The goal of this research is to fill that need.The researcher will focus on the understudied population of migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa. He will base the research in the Eurasian city of Istanbul, Turkey, an emerging manufacturing zone that has attracted increasing numbers of non-refugee migrants. The researcher will employ qualitative methods to collect data on the subjective attitudes of migration actors, their socioeconomic characteristics, their perceptions of structural factors affecting their prospects in Turkey and other potential destinations, their migration decision histories, and the consequences of these decisions for individuals and their families. Targeting a sample of 400 migrants, he will collect data through participant observation, intensive extended interviews, and the compilation of life histories. These data will be used to evaluate the researcher's hypothesis that sub-Saharan migration is a middle-class phenomenon, which is misrecognized because of the large national income level differences between origin and destination nations. Findings from this research will contribute to developing dynamic approaches to understanding the complexities of migration in the contemporary worlds. This will be of importance for policy makers concerned with migration and is in the United States national interest.