Politicization and Instrumentalization of Migration Research: Ethical Challenges

Abstract

Migration research has received remarkable attention in the last decade, and it has become a central research field in which researchers widely adopt qualitative research methods. Research practices such as ethnographic studies adopting micro perspectives and bottom-up approaches necessitate a detailed analysis. Related methodological issues and ethical concerns are waiting to be unpacked in a comprehensive and critical way. From a critical perspective, this article discusses the relationship between research methodology and ethical challenges based on asymmetrical power relations, positionalities of researcher and participants, and the problem of over-research. It is argued that global transformations and migration policies have a profound impact on migration research and might cause an instrumentalization of it. The instrumentalization of the researched populations works in a complex set of asymmetrical relationships in different contexts based on the perception of migration as a security threat. It eventually produces ethical concerns over researchers' epistemological and methodological perspectives. These ethical problems occur in a politically dynamic setting. Therefore, questioning the political aspects of the production of scientific knowledge and the positionality of the researcher have the capacity to challenge the mainstream perception of migration and the instrumentalization of migration research. Keywords: Migration Research, Ethics, Asymmetrical Power Relations, İnstrumentalization, Positionalit

Keywords

• Migration Research
• Ethics
• Asymmetrical Power Relations
• İnstrumentalization
• Positionality.

Politicization and Instrumentalization of Migration Research: Ethical Challenges

Abstract

Migration research has received remarkable attention in the last decade, and it has become a central research field in which researchers widely adopt qualitative research methods. Research practices such as ethnographic studies adopting micro perspectives and bottom-up approaches necessitate a detailed analysis. Related methodological issues and ethical concerns are waiting to be unpacked in a comprehensive and critical way. From a critical perspective, this article discusses the relationship between research methodology and ethical challenges based on asymmetrical power relations, positionalities of researcher and participants, and the problem of over-research. It is argued that global transformations and migration policies have a profound impact on migration research and might cause an instrumentalization of it. The instrumentalization of the researched populations works in a complex set of asymmetrical relationships in different contexts based on the perception of migration as a security threat. It eventually produces ethical concerns over researchers' epistemological and methodological perspectives. These ethical problems occur in a politically dynamic setting. Therefore, questioning the political aspects of the production of scientific knowledge and the positionality of the researcher have the capacity to challenge the mainstream perception of migration and the instrumentalization of migration research.

Keywords

• Migration Research
• Ethics
• Asymmetrical Power Relations
• İnstrumentalization
• Positionality.

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