I work as senior researcher in the Global Transformations Research Unit at the Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen. My research interests include international migration in relation to mobility regimes; return migration, especially deportation; diaspora mobilization; and states' migration-development policies. I am particularly inspired by theories on gender, hope, (im)mobility, social fields, social recognition and positioning, and belonging. My recent research analyses the social effects of migration management for West Africa, particularly in relation to involuntary return to Ghana. Another long-term project is Somali diaspora mobilization.
How do migrants enact their mobilities in contexts where formalized labor migration is minimal, a... more How do migrants enact their mobilities in contexts where formalized labor migration is minimal, and where the European fight against irregular African migration is restricting the possibilities for informal border crossings? And which roles do cultural norms, social institutions, and individual agency play in facilitating migration? To answer these questions, this article offers a comparative reflection on the growing interest in the mediation of migration that emphasizes the actors and structures that shape and facilitate a migrant trajectory. Drawing on our own research in various West African contexts, and on a broader reading of research evoking the mediation of mobility, we engage primarily with the emerging scholarship on migration infrastructures. As a contribution to the study of how mobility is mediated by actors and structures external to the migrant, we suggest that it is important to move beyond the tendency to restrict analysis in a migrant-/institution-centric trade-off in which emphasis is either placed on migrant aspirations and capabilities or the institutionalized mediation of migration. We further propose to analytically distinguish between the mediation of migration-denoting the processes of facilitation and restriction of mobility through institutions, external interventions, and socio
This chapter explores highly skilled male return migration to Ghana, with focus on two aspects: f... more This chapter explores highly skilled male return migration to Ghana, with focus on two aspects: first how return migrants are engaged in governing and contributing to development in their hometown through engagement in politics, chieftaincy affairs, migrant associations and elite clubs; and second how they perceive their engagement, responsibilities and the challenges they face. The chapter shows that the returnees in case are embedded in several transnational and (trans)local fields and that they articulate their retun in line with local notions of big men as well as policy discourse on migrants as development agents.
This introduction sets the stage for the volume Hope and Uncertainty in Contemporary African Migr... more This introduction sets the stage for the volume Hope and Uncertainty in Contemporary African Migration (Kleist and Thorsen eds., 2017, Routledge). It discusses hope as an analytical prism through which to examine African migration and (im)mobilities in a context of stratified globalization, inequality and restrictive mobility regimes. While images and visions of the good life elsewhere are circulated at the global level, the vast majority of Africans are excluded from the circuits of legal international migration beyond their home region. Hope, characterized by simultaneous potentiality and uncertainty, lends itself to analysis of how and if people keep on having faith in migration as a way of coping with uncertainty and difficult life situations.
Deportation has become a widespread way for destination and transit migration countries to manage... more Deportation has become a widespread way for destination and transit migration countries to manage and deter irregular migrants, in both Europe and Africa. Yet, post-deportation life – especially for deportees expelled from countries in the so-called global south – remains an understudied area. This chapter addresses the topic through an analysis of life after deportation among expelled Ghanaian labour migrants, who have engaged in high-risk migration across the Sahara to Libya and in some cases across the Mediterranean to Europe. The chapter is published in the volume Hope and Uncertainty in Contemporary African Migration (Kleist and Thorsen eds., 2017, Routledge).
The paper analyses the meaning of ‘the Somaliland diaspora’, not as a nostalgic and aesthetic com... more The paper analyses the meaning of ‘the Somaliland diaspora’, not as a nostalgic and aesthetic community, but as a moral community engaged in a transnational political struggle. It analyses how different meanings of diaspora are employed and performed among Somalilanders on one specific event: the demonstration held at Parliament Square in London for the recognition of Somaliland on the 17. of March 2004. The paper unfolds the demonstration and the events relating to this event and argue that a possible and fruitful way of studying issues relating to ‘diaspora’ is by exploring the ways the term is performed and actively used in transnational political mobilisations. In focusing on one specific event the paper shows how a diasporic event is constructed not only by a shared and publicly performed identity, often anchored in shared symbols and a communal history of suffering and a vision of return, but also by conflicting meanings and practices that exist within diasporas themselves and...
Abstract This paper examines social and migratory trajectories of involuntary return, with a focu... more Abstract This paper examines social and migratory trajectories of involuntary return, with a focus on Ghanaian labour migrants who have engaged in high-risk and precarious migration projects. Four types of involuntary return are identified, based on state involvement and forced relocation processes: deportation by air, overland deportation, evacuation and flight from conflict. I show that migrants may go through several – and different modes of – involuntary returns, sometimes over just a few years. Though different ways of returning have implications for future legal mobility, it is less pertinent for migrants' post-return life where the main question confronting them is what they brought back. That involuntary returnees are seen as successful if they manage to return with money, skills or exposure reflects that migration constitutes local collective hope – an imagined pathway to transform one's life and establish a better future for one's family and oneself. Following returnees over time, I distinguish between three overall trajectories: continued precariousness, re-migration, and social and economic regeneration. Some returnees find themselves in the same or worse social and economic situations as prior to migration. Others succeed in social and economic regeneration, establishing livelihoods and (re-)positioning themselves as respectable persons. However, in many cases, post-return life is characterized by uncertainty and many returnees are engaged in several migration projects over time, regardless of the mode of involuntary return. Hence, involuntary return disrupts, slows and hampers migration projects but it does not necessarily end them.
This article contributes to the theorization of involuntary return and moral economies in the con... more This article contributes to the theorization of involuntary return and moral economies in the context of economic crisis and vulnerability prompted by restrictive migration regimes and conflicts. Drawing on fieldwork in a rural town in Ghana where international labour migration is an established livelihood, it analyses deportations from North Africa, Israel and Europe and emergency return from Libya following the civil war in 2011. The article argues that return to the home town, rather than being detained or stuck en route, constitutes a particular context precisely because migrants face family and community expectations upon their return. Involuntary return constitutes a disruption of migration projects when migrants return empty-handed, going from being remitters to burdens for their families. This creates conflicts and disappointments within family and the local community, especially in relation to norms of provision and gender ideals. The paper highlights three effects of the m...
Following years of civil war, many Somalis are displaced in Western countries as refugees or fami... more Following years of civil war, many Somalis are displaced in Western countries as refugees or family re-unified persons. This situation has caused multiple losses of social position and upheavals in gender relations. Although both men and women are subject to these changes, Somalis describe the situations of men as more difficult. Taking departure in multi-sited fieldwork in Copenhagen, Somaliland and London, this article explores how Somalis negotiate respectable masculinity in the Diaspora, arguing that men’s difficulties are articulated as a transfer of male authority to the welfare state, reflecting female empowerment and male misrecognition. However, the focus on men’s loss can also be understood as processes of positioning and of re-instituting a ‘traditional’ gender baseline in which the positions of respectable versus failed masculinity are established. Finally, the article argues that Somali men negotiate and enact respectable masculinity through associational and community ...
In the afternoon of the 17th of March 2004, thousands of Somalilanders were waving their flags an... more In the afternoon of the 17th of March 2004, thousands of Somalilanders were waving their flags and banners and singing Somaliland slogans in Parliament Square in London. The crowd had started gathering outside the Home Office at about 10 in the morning, but, as it grew larger and larger during the day, had been relocated by the Metropolitan Police to Parliament Square. Not quite familiar with the colours and slogans of the crowd, most of the parliamentarians in Westminster and Portcullis House, and most of the people passing by the square, wondered who they were and what they were demonstrating for or against. To the media in the UK, the 17th of March 2004, was an important day, not because of the demonstration taking place in Parliament Square, but because the budget was presented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to Parliament and the public. To the demonstrators and Somalilanders all over the world, however, the day was important for reasons, that had very little to do with the ...
This article examines how Northwestern European development aid agencies support the development ... more This article examines how Northwestern European development aid agencies support the development activities of diaspora organisations, especially in fragile situations. The article interrogates the perceived relationship between diaspora involvement and development, and how this perception is reflected in the ways in which development agencies collaborate with diaspora organisations through mainstream funding schemes, special diaspora initiatives and network support. Three tendencies are identified: a high emphasis on technical fixes; a tension between perceptions of diaspora organisations as special development agents and a mainstreaming ideal; and, finally, that diaspora organisations appear as particularly risky recipient groups to some development professionals because of their personal involvement in the country of origin. The article further argues that policy incoherence as well as underlying notions of development as planned, professionalized and based on a sedentary bias co...
Since the early 1990s, the concept of diaspora has propagated in migration studies and gradually ... more Since the early 1990s, the concept of diaspora has propagated in migration studies and gradually been appropriated by many migrant groups, who describe themselves as ‘diasporas’ in relation to political mobilisation and self-portrayal. In this article, claims made in the name of diaspora and their conditions for possibility are analysed through a focus on Somali migration. Two main arguments are presented. Firstly, that the identity category of ‘the Somali diaspora’ is constituted between marginalisation and invocations of a transnationally committed community, dedicated to the development of the homeland. Secondly, that the proliferation of diaspora claims can be understood as part of a broader societal development where migrant groups are seen as potential political actors. On the one hand, it is suggested this relates to the so-called ‘recognition turn’ where potential political legitimacy is ascribed to social struggles driven by experiences of misrecognition or marginalisation,...
... Boafo-Arthur, 'Chieftaincy in Ghana'; Alex ... more ... Boafo-Arthur, 'Chieftaincy in Ghana'; Alex B. Asiedu, Kwame A. Labi and Brempong Osei-Tutut, 'An Asanteman-World Bank heritage ... See also Richard Crook and Gideon Hosu-Porblev, 'Transnational communities, policy processes and the politics of development: the case of ...
How do migrants enact their mobilities in contexts where formalized labor migration is minimal, a... more How do migrants enact their mobilities in contexts where formalized labor migration is minimal, and where the European fight against irregular African migration is restricting the possibilities for informal border crossings? And which roles do cultural norms, social institutions, and individual agency play in facilitating migration? To answer these questions, this article offers a comparative reflection on the growing interest in the mediation of migration that emphasizes the actors and structures that shape and facilitate a migrant trajectory. Drawing on our own research in various West African contexts, and on a broader reading of research evoking the mediation of mobility, we engage primarily with the emerging scholarship on migration infrastructures. As a contribution to the study of how mobility is mediated by actors and structures external to the migrant, we suggest that it is important to move beyond the tendency to restrict analysis in a migrant-/institution-centric trade-off in which emphasis is either placed on migrant aspirations and capabilities or the institutionalized mediation of migration. We further propose to analytically distinguish between the mediation of migration-denoting the processes of facilitation and restriction of mobility through institutions, external interventions, and socio
This chapter explores highly skilled male return migration to Ghana, with focus on two aspects: f... more This chapter explores highly skilled male return migration to Ghana, with focus on two aspects: first how return migrants are engaged in governing and contributing to development in their hometown through engagement in politics, chieftaincy affairs, migrant associations and elite clubs; and second how they perceive their engagement, responsibilities and the challenges they face. The chapter shows that the returnees in case are embedded in several transnational and (trans)local fields and that they articulate their retun in line with local notions of big men as well as policy discourse on migrants as development agents.
This introduction sets the stage for the volume Hope and Uncertainty in Contemporary African Migr... more This introduction sets the stage for the volume Hope and Uncertainty in Contemporary African Migration (Kleist and Thorsen eds., 2017, Routledge). It discusses hope as an analytical prism through which to examine African migration and (im)mobilities in a context of stratified globalization, inequality and restrictive mobility regimes. While images and visions of the good life elsewhere are circulated at the global level, the vast majority of Africans are excluded from the circuits of legal international migration beyond their home region. Hope, characterized by simultaneous potentiality and uncertainty, lends itself to analysis of how and if people keep on having faith in migration as a way of coping with uncertainty and difficult life situations.
Deportation has become a widespread way for destination and transit migration countries to manage... more Deportation has become a widespread way for destination and transit migration countries to manage and deter irregular migrants, in both Europe and Africa. Yet, post-deportation life – especially for deportees expelled from countries in the so-called global south – remains an understudied area. This chapter addresses the topic through an analysis of life after deportation among expelled Ghanaian labour migrants, who have engaged in high-risk migration across the Sahara to Libya and in some cases across the Mediterranean to Europe. The chapter is published in the volume Hope and Uncertainty in Contemporary African Migration (Kleist and Thorsen eds., 2017, Routledge).
The paper analyses the meaning of ‘the Somaliland diaspora’, not as a nostalgic and aesthetic com... more The paper analyses the meaning of ‘the Somaliland diaspora’, not as a nostalgic and aesthetic community, but as a moral community engaged in a transnational political struggle. It analyses how different meanings of diaspora are employed and performed among Somalilanders on one specific event: the demonstration held at Parliament Square in London for the recognition of Somaliland on the 17. of March 2004. The paper unfolds the demonstration and the events relating to this event and argue that a possible and fruitful way of studying issues relating to ‘diaspora’ is by exploring the ways the term is performed and actively used in transnational political mobilisations. In focusing on one specific event the paper shows how a diasporic event is constructed not only by a shared and publicly performed identity, often anchored in shared symbols and a communal history of suffering and a vision of return, but also by conflicting meanings and practices that exist within diasporas themselves and...
Abstract This paper examines social and migratory trajectories of involuntary return, with a focu... more Abstract This paper examines social and migratory trajectories of involuntary return, with a focus on Ghanaian labour migrants who have engaged in high-risk and precarious migration projects. Four types of involuntary return are identified, based on state involvement and forced relocation processes: deportation by air, overland deportation, evacuation and flight from conflict. I show that migrants may go through several – and different modes of – involuntary returns, sometimes over just a few years. Though different ways of returning have implications for future legal mobility, it is less pertinent for migrants' post-return life where the main question confronting them is what they brought back. That involuntary returnees are seen as successful if they manage to return with money, skills or exposure reflects that migration constitutes local collective hope – an imagined pathway to transform one's life and establish a better future for one's family and oneself. Following returnees over time, I distinguish between three overall trajectories: continued precariousness, re-migration, and social and economic regeneration. Some returnees find themselves in the same or worse social and economic situations as prior to migration. Others succeed in social and economic regeneration, establishing livelihoods and (re-)positioning themselves as respectable persons. However, in many cases, post-return life is characterized by uncertainty and many returnees are engaged in several migration projects over time, regardless of the mode of involuntary return. Hence, involuntary return disrupts, slows and hampers migration projects but it does not necessarily end them.
This article contributes to the theorization of involuntary return and moral economies in the con... more This article contributes to the theorization of involuntary return and moral economies in the context of economic crisis and vulnerability prompted by restrictive migration regimes and conflicts. Drawing on fieldwork in a rural town in Ghana where international labour migration is an established livelihood, it analyses deportations from North Africa, Israel and Europe and emergency return from Libya following the civil war in 2011. The article argues that return to the home town, rather than being detained or stuck en route, constitutes a particular context precisely because migrants face family and community expectations upon their return. Involuntary return constitutes a disruption of migration projects when migrants return empty-handed, going from being remitters to burdens for their families. This creates conflicts and disappointments within family and the local community, especially in relation to norms of provision and gender ideals. The paper highlights three effects of the m...
Following years of civil war, many Somalis are displaced in Western countries as refugees or fami... more Following years of civil war, many Somalis are displaced in Western countries as refugees or family re-unified persons. This situation has caused multiple losses of social position and upheavals in gender relations. Although both men and women are subject to these changes, Somalis describe the situations of men as more difficult. Taking departure in multi-sited fieldwork in Copenhagen, Somaliland and London, this article explores how Somalis negotiate respectable masculinity in the Diaspora, arguing that men’s difficulties are articulated as a transfer of male authority to the welfare state, reflecting female empowerment and male misrecognition. However, the focus on men’s loss can also be understood as processes of positioning and of re-instituting a ‘traditional’ gender baseline in which the positions of respectable versus failed masculinity are established. Finally, the article argues that Somali men negotiate and enact respectable masculinity through associational and community ...
In the afternoon of the 17th of March 2004, thousands of Somalilanders were waving their flags an... more In the afternoon of the 17th of March 2004, thousands of Somalilanders were waving their flags and banners and singing Somaliland slogans in Parliament Square in London. The crowd had started gathering outside the Home Office at about 10 in the morning, but, as it grew larger and larger during the day, had been relocated by the Metropolitan Police to Parliament Square. Not quite familiar with the colours and slogans of the crowd, most of the parliamentarians in Westminster and Portcullis House, and most of the people passing by the square, wondered who they were and what they were demonstrating for or against. To the media in the UK, the 17th of March 2004, was an important day, not because of the demonstration taking place in Parliament Square, but because the budget was presented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to Parliament and the public. To the demonstrators and Somalilanders all over the world, however, the day was important for reasons, that had very little to do with the ...
This article examines how Northwestern European development aid agencies support the development ... more This article examines how Northwestern European development aid agencies support the development activities of diaspora organisations, especially in fragile situations. The article interrogates the perceived relationship between diaspora involvement and development, and how this perception is reflected in the ways in which development agencies collaborate with diaspora organisations through mainstream funding schemes, special diaspora initiatives and network support. Three tendencies are identified: a high emphasis on technical fixes; a tension between perceptions of diaspora organisations as special development agents and a mainstreaming ideal; and, finally, that diaspora organisations appear as particularly risky recipient groups to some development professionals because of their personal involvement in the country of origin. The article further argues that policy incoherence as well as underlying notions of development as planned, professionalized and based on a sedentary bias co...
Since the early 1990s, the concept of diaspora has propagated in migration studies and gradually ... more Since the early 1990s, the concept of diaspora has propagated in migration studies and gradually been appropriated by many migrant groups, who describe themselves as ‘diasporas’ in relation to political mobilisation and self-portrayal. In this article, claims made in the name of diaspora and their conditions for possibility are analysed through a focus on Somali migration. Two main arguments are presented. Firstly, that the identity category of ‘the Somali diaspora’ is constituted between marginalisation and invocations of a transnationally committed community, dedicated to the development of the homeland. Secondly, that the proliferation of diaspora claims can be understood as part of a broader societal development where migrant groups are seen as potential political actors. On the one hand, it is suggested this relates to the so-called ‘recognition turn’ where potential political legitimacy is ascribed to social struggles driven by experiences of misrecognition or marginalisation,...
... Boafo-Arthur, 'Chieftaincy in Ghana'; Alex ... more ... Boafo-Arthur, 'Chieftaincy in Ghana'; Alex B. Asiedu, Kwame A. Labi and Brempong Osei-Tutut, 'An Asanteman-World Bank heritage ... See also Richard Crook and Gideon Hosu-Porblev, 'Transnational communities, policy processes and the politics of development: the case of ...
Hope and Uncertainty in Contemporary African Migration, 2017
This volume examines the relationship between hope, mobility, and immobility in African migration... more This volume examines the relationship between hope, mobility, and immobility in African migration. Through case studies set within and beyond the continent, it demonstrates that hope offers a unique prism for analyzing the social imaginaries and aspirations which underpin migration in situations of uncertainty, deepening inequality, and delimited access to global circuits of legal mobility.
The volume takes departure in a mobility paradox that characterizes contemporary migration. Whereas people all over the world are exposed to widening sets of meaning of the good life elsewhere, an increasing number of people in the Global South have little or no access to authorized modes of international migration. This book examines how African migrants respond to this situation. Focusing on hope, it explores migrants’ temporal and spatial horizons of expectation and possibility and how these horizons link to mobility practices. Such analysis is pertinent as precarious life conditions and increasingly restrictive regimes of mobility characterize the lives of many Africans, while migration continues to constitute important livelihood strategies and to be seen as pathways of improvement. Whereas involuntary immobility is one consequence, another is the emergence and consolidation of new destinations emerging in the Global South. The volume examines this development through empirically grounded and theoretically rich case studies in migrants’ countries of origin, zones of transit, and in new and established destinations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Latin America and China. It thereby offers an original perspective on linkages between migration, hope, and immobility, ranging from migration aspirations to return.
This volume examines the relationship between hope, mobility, and immobility in African migration... more This volume examines the relationship between hope, mobility, and immobility in African migration. Through case studies set within and beyond the continent, it demonstrates that hope offers a unique prism for analyzing the social imaginaries and aspirations which underpin migration in situations of uncertainty, deepening inequality, and delimited access to global circuits of legal mobility.
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Papers by Nauja Kleist
The volume takes departure in a mobility paradox that characterizes contemporary migration. Whereas people all over the world are exposed to widening sets of meaning of the good life elsewhere, an increasing number of people in the Global South have little or no access to authorized modes of international migration. This book examines how African migrants respond to this situation. Focusing on hope, it explores migrants’ temporal and spatial horizons of expectation and possibility and how these horizons link to mobility practices. Such analysis is pertinent as precarious life conditions and increasingly restrictive regimes of mobility characterize the lives of many Africans, while migration continues to constitute important livelihood strategies and to be seen as pathways of improvement. Whereas involuntary immobility is one consequence, another is the emergence and consolidation of new destinations emerging in the Global South. The volume examines this development through empirically grounded and theoretically rich case studies in migrants’ countries of origin, zones of transit, and in new and established destinations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Latin America and China. It thereby offers an original perspective on linkages between migration, hope, and immobility, ranging from migration aspirations to return.