IMAGINE: Bridging Borders in Migration Studies

What is the IMAGINE project about?

IMAGINE unites leading European research centers in migration, law and cultural studies (CESSMIR-Ghent, CeMig-Göttingen, IPL-Bern, ICR-Tartu, and HuMM-Groningen) and their societal partners to shape the future of migration studies; creating an agenda for future-orientated and equitable migration research and education.

IMAGINE engages with the current political, social and cultural dynamics by focusing on the politics of knowledge production in society and migration studies alike. Thereby, IMAGINE brings together two fields of expertise and research, that are commonly discussed separately: socio-legal research addressing legal reasoning, norm making and rights, and research on cultural memory and representation addressing belonging, heritage and identity formations. Both fields shape the meanings of "migration," "politics," and "society" within socio-cultural and political contexts through categorizations and us/them differentiations, backed by historical and cultural influences.

By merging these two research fields, IMAGINE equips a diverse group of researchers including PhDs and ECRs, educators and practitioners with conceptual, pedagogical and communication tools drawing from the intersection of ethnographic fieldwork, oral histories, visual analysis, and legal interpretations; thus achieving to analyse and respond to fault lines connected to migration. Outputs include academic and practitioners’ workshops and conferences, PhD and ECRs webinars, summer and winter schools, and publications.

Why this particular project?

The team chose the project for three reasons:

Firstly, the urgency of the project objective - equitable migration studies (research and education), as sometimes science and education have become increasingly contested and delegitimized by right wing and populist politics. 

Secondly, the network - which brings together leading centres for migration studies at the intersection of legal and memory approaches. 

Thirdly, the potential for further cooperation in research and education as this project will establish research infrastructure [across institutions].

What will be the impact of this project for the UG?

1. Strengthening visibility of the RUG in migration studies and consolidation of different cross-faculty research in the HuMM Lab at the Agricola School

2. Further funding - COST action submitted.

3. Research/teaching output: 2 conferences, 4 workshops, 4 summer schools and publications that arise from these meetings including journal articles, edited volumes and societal-impact based publications.

The team at UG 

• Alina Achenbach
• Basak Bilecen
• Jonas Bornemann
• Çiğdem Bozdağ
• Renata De Figueiredo Summa
• Jeanette den Toonder
• Guilherme Dos Santos Marques Pedro
• Tilman Lanz
• Marek Neuman