Although migration between the countries of the Global South is increasingly significant in terms of its scale, complexity and consequences, migration research typically focuses on the movement of people to the countries of the Global North reflecting, in significant part, the empirical, political and policy interests of researchers and funding bodies.
Since 2018 I have been Director of the Migration for Inequality and Development (MIDEQ) Hub. which aims to address this gap. Funded by UKRI as part of its Global Challenges Research Fund, MIDEQ is the largest of 12 global interdisciplinary research hubs which aim to address global challenges by working primarily with countries and partners in the Global South as part of the UK’s ODA commitment.
The aim of the MIDEQ Hub is to unpack the complex and multi-dimensional relationships between migration and inequality in the context of the Global South. These relationships have largely been neglected in favour of policies approaches that focus on border controls and migration management – in other words, addressing the movements of people but not the reasons why they feel compelled to leave their homes and countries in the first place. Drawing on the experience and expertise of the project’s partners across 12 countries, MIDEQ builds an evidence-based understanding of the relationships between migration, inequality and development. The project aims to transform understanding of the relationship between migration and inequality in the context of the Global South by decentring the production of knowledge about migration and its consequences away from the Global North towards those countries where most migration takes place. The ultimate aim is to translate this knowledge into concrete policies and practices which improve the lives of migrants, their families and the communities in which they live.
The project has literally hundreds of outputs including books, special issues, journal articles, blogs and animations, and extensive engagement with communities in the Global South through our programme of impact interventions. You can read more about MIDEQ’s work on the project website and find a list of resources with which I have been directly involved below. Some of the key ones include a Special Issue of Zanj: The Journal of Critical Global South Studies on the relationships between migration and inequality in the Global South and The Palgrave Handbook of South-South Migration and Inequality.
Leading the MIDEQ Hub has not been without its challenges. These include a global COVID-19 pandemic which arrived as our partners were about to begin their data collection, and a £6.2m funding cut which arrived with one day’s notice as a result of the reduction in the UK’s ODA commitment from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI. Moreover, the project’s researchers have been in an almost constant tussle with dominant assumptions about what and whose knowledge ‘counts’, how to ensure ‘equitable partnerships’ in the context of deep and long-standing inequalities access to resources for the production of knowledge, and how to address the migration-related inequalities which often stretch beyond borders in contexts where the political focus is on national interests and priorities. I spoke about some of these challenges at the IGDC Annual Lecture 2021: Decentering Migration Research: The Challenges of Walking the Talk
Together with Dr Karl Landström, I also wrote about these challenges in our contribution to the Palgrave Handbook of South-South Migration and Inequality, which showcases the work of the MIDEQ Hub and other Global South scholars. You can read our chapter entitled Migration Research, Coloniality and Epistemic Injustice here.
Resources
Crawley, H., Doughty, J., Netshikulwe, A. and Nyamnjoh, H. (2024) “No Papers, No Rights”: Access to Documentation as a Pathway to Justice for Ethiopian Children in South Africa, MIDEQ Research Report, Coventry: MIDEQ
Doughty, J. and Crawley, H. (2024) Using Justice Chain Analysis to Unlock Access to Justice for Migrants in the Global South, MIDEQ Policy Brief, Coventry: MIDEQ
Crawley, H. and Teye, J.K (Eds) (2024) The Palgrave Handbook of South-South Migration and Inequality, Springer Publishing
Crawley, H. and Teye, J.K. (2024) Migration and inequality in the Global South: an introduction. In: H. Crawley and J.K. Teye (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of South-South Migration and Inequality, Springer Publishing
Bruey, V. F. and Crawley, H. (2024) ‘The enduring impacts of slavery: an historical perspective on South-South migration’. In: H. Crawley and J.K. Teye (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of South-South Migration and Inequality, Springer Publishing
Landström, K. and Crawley, H. (2024) ‘Migration research, coloniality and epistemic injustice’. In: H. Crawley and J.K. Teye (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of South-South Migration and Inequality, Springer Publishing
Hujo, K. and Crawley, H. (Eds.) (2023) Migration and Inequality in the Global South: Evidence from the MIDEQ Hub, Geneva: UNRISD
Crawley, H., Seaman, M., Ghimire, A., Rbihat, R., Sangli, G. and Zeleke, M. (2023) From Left Behind to Staying Back: Changing How We Think About Children in Migrant Households, UNU-CPR Discussion Paper, New York: UN University
Nalule, C., Crawley, H and Zacca Thomaz, D. (2023) Shrinking the Justice Gap: Rethinking Access to Justice for Migrants in the Global South, UNU-CPR Discussion Paper, New York: UN University
Crawley, H., Garba, F. and Nyamnjoh, F. (2022) ‘Migration and (in) equality in the Global South: intersections, contestations and possibilities’, editorial introduction for Special Issue of Zanj: The Journal of Critical Global South Studies, 5(1/2), 1-13
Sithole, T. and Crawley, H. (2022) ‘The language of migration’, Zanj: The Journal of Critical Global South Studies, 5(1/2), 14-21
Crawley, H. (2021) ‘The politics of refugee protection in a (post)COVID-19 world’, Social Sciences 10(3), 81
Heaven Crawley 