Migration and Im/Mobility in the Global South during a Pandemic (DFG Network)

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has led to unexpected and novel experiences of isolation, mobility restriction and new forms of political, social, economic and legal exclusion worldwide. Early on, measures that were aimed at containing the virus actually legitimised massive restrictions on urban, regional and international mobility. While curfews, quarantines, social distancing and mobility controls are experienced worldwide, mobile populations are particularly affected when borders are closed and migrants are turned away, commuters are denied border crossings, resettlement measures are suspended or unlawful deportations of refugees are justified by pandemic-related risks. In the course of such measures, mobile population groups and non-citizens are more than ever the target of xenophobia.

This situation challenges us to develop alternative research approaches to a) collect data, b) gain new knowledge about the impact of the pandemic on societies of the Global South and c) contribute to theory building within the social sciences in order to programmatically reorient migration and im/mobility research.