Top content

Presentation of results on the topic of poverty and migration at the closing conference of the pilot project ExiTT, December 2019 in Berlin.

Funded by: Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth

Duration: 2020 to 2024

Project leadership: Prof. Dr. Helen Schwenken; Prof. Dr. Andreas Pott

Project staff: Judith Altrogge, Philipp Roman Jung

The joint project TRANSMIT of the DeZIM research community investigates transnational interactions of migration experiences in the countries of origin, transit and destination. By focusing on the contexts of origin, on individual migration motivations and experiences, as well as on the social and political management of migration, TRANSMIT accounts for the complexity of migration.

TRANSMIT was preceded by the 2018-2019 pilot project ExiTT - Exit, Transit, Transformation. This Poster summarizes the results of ExiTT and presents the subsequent progression to TRANSMIT. 

Using a a mixed-methods research design, the project conducts observations along different migration routes. It collects quantitative and qualitative data among migrants during and after their migration, potential migrants and the population in the regions of origin, as well as relevant actors from the political sphere and civil society. A particular attention is devoted to the individual and family level, region-specific migration cultures and political processes. The project aims to establish a data infrastructure.

More precisely, TRANSMIT focus on two regions of origin and transit that are relevant for Europe: West Africa (especially Senegal, the Gambia, Nigeria and Morocco) and the Middle East (especially Lebanon et Turkey). IMIS contributes to the overall joint project with qualitative methods and a focus on migration dynamics in the West African route. In this regard, IMIS addresses three main topics:   

First, we examine the interactions between policy efforts to regulate migration as practices of immobilization and transnational migration processes. In recent years, the political efforts of the EU and its Member States to manage and limit immigration from Sub-Saharan Africa have noticeably intensified. The consequences that programs to "fight the root causes of migration" or for return have had on migration decisions and processes are also significant for the situation of migrants and the services available to them in Germany. 

Second, we address return migration as an integral part of migration cycles. Depending on the motives and trajectories of return, they can have different meanings for the reproduction of migration patterns and thus also influence future migration dynamics. At IMIS, we focus on the factor of (limited) voluntariness in individual return decisions and experiences as well as its social and political consequences.

Third, we analyze narratives and images of migration. We examine how migrants and those living in the context of origin perceive migration, destination countries and return processes. Through an examination of knowledge production processes, we trace how, by what means and when these narratives and images are constituted or change. Ultimately, we examine their significance in the context of migration decisions and processes.

In addition to the cooperation with the TRANSMIT consortium partners, IMIS also cooperates with researchers in West Africa; in Senegal with the Université Assane Seck de Ziguinchor.

Consortium partners from the DeZIM research community involved in TRANSMIT

Berlin Institute for Integration and Migration Research (BIM)
Institute for Employment Research (IAB)
The Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES)
Berlin Social Science Center (WZB)