Research Project: Advancing Alternative Migration Governance
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Contributors
Funders
ID
EC.00117
Authors
Üstübici, Ayşen
Faculty Member
Publications
How COVID-19 financially hit urban refugees: evidence from mixed-method research with citizens and Syrian refugees in Turkey
(Wiley, 2021) Elçi, Ezgi; Üstübici, Ayşen; Kirişçioğlu, Eda; Department of International Relations; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; Yes; College of Administrative Sciences and Economics; GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
Peering through a lens of disasters and inequalities, this article measures the financial impacts of Covid-19 on citizens and refugee communities in Turkey during a relatively early phase of the global pandemic. Our data comes from an online survey (N = 1749) conducted simultaneously with Turkish citizens and Syrian refugees living in Turkey, followed by in-depth online interviews with Syrian refugees. Our findings indicate that the initial Covid-19 measures had a higher financial impact on Syrians than on citizens when controlled for employment, wealth, and education, among other variables. In line with the literature, our research confirms that disasters' socio-economic effects disproportionally burden minority communities. We additionally discuss how Covid-19 measures have significantly accelerated effects on refugees compared to the local population, mainly due to the structural and policy context within which forcibly displaced Syrians have been received in Turkey.
Migration aspirations in relation to border closures, employment opportunities and risk-taking attitudes: lessons from an online survey experiment
(Routledge Journals; Taylor and Francis, 2024) Üstübici, Ayşen; Taşan, Eda Kirişçioğlu; Elçi, Ezgi; Department of International Relations; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; Yes; College of Administrative Sciences and Economics; GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
This article investigates the effect of structural and individual factors on migration aspirations in a secondary migration context. Through an online survey experiment conducted with Syrian migrants (N = 551) living in Turkey, we unpack factors explaining aspirations to stay and move onward from the current country of residence. The findings indicate that open borders alone do not compel migrants to move onward. Instead, employment opportunities in their current residence play a crucial role in shaping aspirations to stay put. Moreover, individuals inclined to take risks are more likely to migrate, even when strict border controls are in place. By highlighting the question of what motivates migrants to stay as well as to move onward, this research emphasizes individual differences in forming migration aspirations and contributes to migration aspirations literature in the secondary migration context.
Stuck in a whirlpool? The role of hope and despair in dealing with risks during Afghan migration journeys
(OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 2024) Taşan, Eda Kirişçioğlu; Van Heelsum, Anja; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; No; GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
Migration journeys are full of risk, navigated not just by physical obstacles but also by emotional tides. This study explores how the fluctuation of hope and despair plays a role in dealing with risks. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with Afghans in Turkey, this paper demonstrates that hope and despair fluctuate along migration journeys contingent upon three elements: (1) empirical evidence about the future, (2) (un)certainty and potential in the future, and (3) the agency or capability to act. The research finds that hope arises when the future is perceived as uncertain, offering individuals alternative pathways and restoring a sense of agency by transforming uncertainty into potentiality. Conversely, despair sets in when individuals perceive their near future as certain, devoid of alternatives. This sense of certainty about the near future leaves migrants feeling trapped, akin to being stuck in a whirlpool.
Daring to aspire: theorising aspirations in contexts of displacement and highly constrained mobility
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2023) Üstübici, Ayşen; Mueller-Funk, Lea; Belloni, Milena; Department of International Relations; Yes; College of Administrative Sciences and Economics
Binary distinctions between 'refugees' and 'economic migrants' continue to prevail in humanitarian discourse, with asylum policies heavily focusing on refugees' vulnerabilities and reduced choices. By addressing the paradox between vulnerability and agency embedded in the international protection regime, this article aims to lay the foundations for reconceptualising aspirations in contexts of displacement and highly constrained mobility. First, we analyse how the current asylum regime selectively encourages certain aspirations among refugees and delegitimises others which do not fit the image of the hopeless refugee deserving assistance. Then, we pursue three new analytical avenues in adding nuance to previous versions of the aspiration-capability framework. First, we discuss the importance of aspirations to stay in contexts of displacement and suggest that they and aspirations to stay and to migrate should not be seen as mutually exclusive. Second, drawing on psychological studies, we highlight that aspirations can be an emotional resource even in contexts where their realisation seems to be or certainly is unreachable. Lastly, we propose looking at the political dimensions of individual and collective aspirations to understand how displaced people can strive to induce social and political change despite the structural constraints they face.
