Knowledge, Power, and Migration: Contesting the North/South Divide(18 McGill-Queen's Refugee and Forced Migration Studies)

As the field of migration studies has grown, the asymmetrical relationship between researchers in the Global North and in the South has produced a body of work that centres the concerns of the former. Those from the Global North and wealthier countries continue to produce the greater portion of this research, while research from Global South scholars with lived experiences as migrants is received as anecdotal or too niche to have universal application. Knowledge, Power, and Migration assembles researchers from across the divide to question the ways in which research practices can change the conversation on immigration. It encourages a necessary curiosity about how scholarship in the field can shape global, social, and epistemic justice. Migration is a constant in human history, but the sharp decline in permanent resettlement options, increasingly selective criteria, and violent enforcement measures of the twenty-first century constitute a crisis of immigration policy. Only by redressing the inequalities it shares with global governance structures can the discipline confront this historic challenge. Research on immigration can occasion reflections and practices that challenge epistemic injustices. Knowledge, Power, and Migration contributes to this ongoing project while offering insights on the practical organization of new forms of dialogue on migration in a largely unequal world.

About the Author :
Yasmeen Abu-Laban is Canada Research Chair in the Politics of Citizenship and Human Rights at the University of Alberta. Mireille Paquet is Concordia University Research Chair on the Politics of Immigration. Ethel Tungohan is Canada Research Chair in Canadian Migration Policy, Impacts and Activism at York University.

Review :
“Knowledge, Power, and Migration makes a significant contribution to decolonizing knowledge production, a critical and emerging theme across the social sciences. It offers valuable insights for policymakers, encouraging them to unlearn entrenched perspectives, challenging and expanding their understanding of global issues.” Dereje Feyissa, College of Law and Governance, Addis Ababa University “A fascinating and ambitious volume that will inform and challenge students and researchers. Its introduction offers a robust methodology for confronting the North/South divide, and its contributors demonstrate the richness of that tool.” Catherine Dauvergne, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia