FOR 5183 | Migration, Intersectionality and Institutional Interaction: Experiences of African Migrants in the United Arab Emirates

Subproject 3 within FOR 5183 Transborder Mobility and Institutional Dynamics

Duration
Funding Phase: 2022- 2026 | Budget Subproject: 375.404 Euro

This project examines the interplay between international mobility and institutional dynamics in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It pursues an intersectional approach and aims to understand how migrants and institutional actors are positioned differently, how their interaction is shaped by different vectors of inequality, and how they make use of their positionalities. The project focuses on institutions of migrant self-organisation and considers the kafala/sponsorship system - widespread in the Arab Gulf region - not only in terms of its restrictive dimensions but also in terms of how migrants productively incorporate it into their strategies. The project focuses on migrants from Africa (specifically from Ethiopia and Cameroon), a group that has received little attention in previous research on the Arab Gulf states. Methodologically, it integrates anthropological and sociological approaches and uses a mixed methods design, which includes, among other things, auto-ethnography as a central method for researching intersectionality.

VW - Research Unit "The Production and Reproduction of Social Inequalities"

Global contexts and concepts of labour exploitation

Project partners: Michaela Pelican (University of Cologne, project lead), Tu Huynh (Jinan University, Guangzhou), Meron Eresso (Addis Ababa University), Ulrike Lindner (University of Cologne)

Duration:
Funding Phase: 2020-2024 (48 month) | Budget 1.258.900 €

The starting point for this project is a very specific conundrum: Why have attempts at increasing equality often contributed to generating more durable inequalities? To shed some light on this question, this research focuses on concepts and actors and their roles in producing and reproducing social inequalities in the context of colonial and postcolonial labour systems and regimes of mobility in the "Global South". In this study, inequalities are understood as relational and historically embedded and as comprising several dimensions, including social, economic, and epistemic inequality. More specifically, the project team focuses on selected concepts that are locally grounded and describe forms of social inequalities linked to different types of labour exploitation, namely "native labour", "new slavery", "human trafficking", and "cheap/abundant labour". The team members investigate - both from a historical and contemporary perspective - how these concepts circulated on a global scale, and were negotiated, translated, and adapted by institutional and individual actors with the aim of challenging social inequalities, while eventually contributing to the production of those same, or new, inequalities. The project intends to reconcile debates on conceptual history, labour history, and inequality and combines perspectives from both South and North. Ultimately, it aims to interpret global labour regimes and to draw lessons from experiences for societies in both the “Global South” as well as the “Global North”.

VW - Research Unit "Special Project on COVID-19"

Communication during and after COVID-19: (re)producing social inequalities and/or opportunities among African migrants in the United Arab Emirates and China

Duration
Funding Phase: 2020-2023  | Budget: 117.600 €

The key questions in this proposed research are: How does the COVID-19 pandemic affect the production and reproduction of social inequalities as well as the emergence of opportunities for especially vulnerable migrants? And which role does communication play in this context? These questions will be studied in relation to the experiences of African migrants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and in China. In addition to showing the pandemic’s differential socio-economic impact on different populations in society, the findings will reveal how solidarity at the grassroots level underlies the successful mitigation of this crisis in at-risk communities. The main impact of the study will lie in translating the findings into practical suggestions on how to improve communication with and within vulnerable migrant communities so as to strengthen their resilience in view of the ongoing pandemic and future crises.

Chinese Immigration Law and Policy (2014-2019)

Perspectives of lawmakers, administrators and immigrants

Duration
Funding phase: 2014-2019; Budget: 333.500 €

Further information:
http://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/258454708
http://www.michaela-pelican.com/research_migration.php#China-immigration

The project studies changes in China's migration policies since 2012 and their impact on the situation of African businesspeople and students in southern China. The following PhD projects are/were conntected to the project: Zhou Yang 'Intercultural Marriage, Legal Status and Social Belonging in China: Chinese-African Couples and Families in Guangzhou' (completed 2017); Séverin Kaji 'Student Migration from Cameroon to China: Government Rhetoric and Student Experiences'; Lai Pik Chan 'Foreign English Teachers in China – Opportunities and Challenges'.

Global African Entrepreneurs (2007-2014)

Postdoc-Projekt mit Feldforschung in Kamerun, Gabun, Südafrika und den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten

Dauer: 2007 - 2014

Das Forschungsprojekt befasste sich mit Süd-Süd Migration innerhalb Afrikas sowie von Kamerun in die Golfstaaten. Im Zentrum standen die unternehmerischen Erfahrungen und Strategien von Migrant*innen, Kommunikation und den Austauschbeziehungen mit Familie und Freund*innen im Herkunftsland, sowie der Einfluss der Migrant*innen auf lokale Vorstellungen zu Identität, Moderne und Bürgerrechte in Kamerun.

Interethnische Beziehungen und Identitätspolitik in Kamerun (2000-2006)

Dissertationsprojekt mit Feldforschung in Kamerun

Dauer: 2000-2006

In meiner Dissertationsforschung beschäftigte ich mich mit der Frage nach Strukturen und Mechanismen, die ein Zusammenleben verschiedener Bevölkerungsgruppen in einem kulturell und ethnisch heterogenen Umfeld positiv oder negativ beeinflussen. Dieser Fragestellung ging ich während vierzehn Monaten Feldforschung (2000-2002) in der Kleinstadt Misaje im anglophonen Nordwesten Kameruns nach.

Wandel der sozioökonomischen Situation seminomadischer Fulbe-Frauen in Kamerun (1996-1999)

Magisterprojekt mit Feldforschung in Kamerun

Dauer: 1996-1999

Meine Magisterforschung untersuchte die pastorale Wirtschaftsweise der Mbororo-Fulbe in Nordwestkamerun. Im Zentrum der Untersuchung standen die geschlechtliche Arbeitsteilung, sowie soziale Veränderungen als Folge der Sesshaftwerdung im Laufe des 20. Jahrhunderts. Besonderes Augenmerk wurde der wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Stellung der Mbororo-Frauen geschenkt.