Migration and Im/Mobility in the Global South during a Global Pandemic

SARS-CoV-2大流行在地球仪各地产生了意想不到的和新颖的隔离、禁闭以及社会、经济和法律的排斥经历。限制城市、区域和国际流动是合法的，目的是遏制病毒。宵禁、隔离、社交距离和其他流动性控制措施已在全球范围内实施，但对某些人来说，流动性是一项必不可少的行为，他们受到的影响比其他人更严重。关闭边境和禁止入境政策，甚至是推回甚至非法驱逐出境都是有道理的，因为与流行病有关的健康风险。关于这种固定措施，移动的人口和非公民已成为更大的怀疑、仇外心理和敌意的目标。此外，在研究这一大流行病的社会后果方面，我们注意到社会科学领域片面关注全球北方。许多研究人员失去了与他们在南半球的研究地点的直接联系，只能从远处和/或通过媒体跟踪事态发展。这种现状促使我们开发替代方法，以便a）收集数据，B）产生关于大流行病对某些研究领域影响的新知识，以及c）促进社会科学中新理论的形成，这将以编程方式重新定位迁移，这一科学网络的目的是有效地利用目前的停滞作为一个机会，汇集不同的经验，理论观点。我们将研究我们在多大程度上正在处理脱钩，隔离和结构性生成等待的正常化。我们还感兴趣的是，这种“新常态”是否会导致一个“静止的时代”，以及我们如何在概念上加强这一点。我们的研究结果将被用来把不同规模的不动和迁移（微观，中观和宏观）到一个共同的理论框架。与此同时，我们希望通过对这些新的全球扭曲现象进行批判性分析，为提高对这一问题的认识作出重要贡献，在三年的时间里，该网络的参与者将共同调查目前全球固定化在多大程度上可能改变移徙和不流动的规范、做法和经验。一系列的五个讲习班和外部专家的参与将有助于交流想法和经验，促进联合出版物和提高公众认识。

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has produced unanticipated and novel experiences of isolation, confinement, as well as social, economic and legal exclusion around the globe. Restrictions of urban, regional and international mobility were legitimized with the intention to contain the virus. Curfews, quarantine, social distancing and other mobility controls have been implemented globally, but certain people for whom mobility is an essential act have been affected more severely than others. Border closures and non-entree policies, but even push-backs or even illegal deportations were justified with the help of with pandemic-related health risks. In regard to such immobilization measures, mobile populations and non-citizens have become even greater targets of suspicion, xenophobia, and hostility. In addition, in regard to researching the social consequences of the pandemic, we note a one-sided focus on the Global North within the social sciences. Many researchers have lost direct contact to their research sites in the Global South and can only follow developments from afar and/or through the media. This current situation drives us to develop alternative approaches in order to a) collect data, b) produce new knowledge about the impact of the pandemic on certain research areas and c) contribute to formulation of new theories within the social sciences, which will programmatically re-orientate migration and im/mobility studies.This scientific network aims to productively use of the current standstill as an opportunity to bring together different empirical experiences and theoretical perspectives. We will examine the extent to which we are dealing with a normalization of decoupling, isolation, and structurally generated waiting. We are also interested in whether this “new normal” will lead to an “age of immobility” and how we can conceptually sharpen this. Our findings will be used to bring different scales of immobility and migration (micro, meso and macro) into a common theoretical framework. At the same time, we wish to make an important contribution to increasing awareness of the problem through a critical analysis of these new global distortions.Over the course of three years, the participants of this network will jointly investigate to what extent the current global immobilization might transform norms, practices and experiences of migration and im/mobility in the long term. A series of five workshops and the involvement of external experts will facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences, promote joint publications and raise public awareness.