Research team
Expertise
I am a sociologist of migration with a particular expertise in ethnography, refugee studies and the Horn of Africa. I am currently working on a project about refugee families' reunification procedures in Belgium and Italy. Over the past 10 years, my primary concerns of investigation have been the drivers and the dynamics of forced and high risk-migrants; migrant smuggling; gender and migration; secondary movements of asylum seekers and refugees within Europe; Dublin Regulations and its implications; home and housing studies. Most of my empirical work has been based on qualitative methods such as life-stories collection, qualitative interviews and, most notably, multi-sited ethnography. I have done fieldwork in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands from 2012 onwards. My research settings included refugee camps, asylum centers, and urban diverse neighbourhoods.
Migration and Global Mobility.
Abstract
The Migration and Global Mobility Network aims to produce cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research on a wide range of themes, such as global mobility and governance, migration and health, migration and education, migration-related diversity and the city. Building on the expertise of different research groups of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the collaborations with local, national and international partners, the UA network represents a point of reference for migration and mobility scholars and provides an important source for knowledge-based policies. The network strives for engagement with civil society and institutions at local, national and international levels.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Belloni Milena
- Fellow: Belloni Milena
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project
The multi-levelled politics of national refugee policies: A case study of Uganda.
Abstract
Refugee policies in the Global South have increasingly become the focus of international interest. However, there is little understanding about how these policies are shaped and managed in these Southern countries. This doctoral project aims to understand how national refugee policies are the outcome of political negotiations between different levels, and what implementation effects this has. Taking the national refugee policy as a vantage point, this project aims to understand the entire policy process of refugee policies at the global, national and local: In what way do these different levels influence each other, and what is the effect on the national and local refugee policy? Thus, this project aims to understand how refugee policies emerge, are negotiated and implemented. This novel approach has not been taken before, and will be done by using a case study: Uganda's refugee policy. The country is seen as a 'success story' in refugee governance: it is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees flagship country for its key-policy, which was implemented in 2017. This project aims to conduct multi-sited field research at different levels: at the global level (New York and Geneva), the national level (Kampala) and the local level (two Ugandan refugee settlements). This will result in a ground-breaking research that provides more insights in the ways in which these different levels impact both on each other, and ultimately, on the quality of refugee policies itself.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Titeca Kristof
- Co-promoter: Belloni Milena
- Fellow: Derrix Roos
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project
Exiled and separated: a multi-sited ethnography of Eritrean refugees and their families attempting to reunite.
Abstract
Most European states allow refugees to access a facilitated procedure to reunify with their family members. Many studies, however, high-light how issues of timing, documentation and economic resources often make family reunions extremely difficult, if not impossible. If much has been written on the obstacles faced migrants in this regard, little is known about the specific case of refugees. Through a multi-sited ethnographic study with refugees and their families, this project aims to reconstruct the complexity of power-relations, social expectations and structural impediments that impact on refugees' right to family life.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Verschraegen Gert
- Fellow: Belloni Milena
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project