Current Research Projects
These are current projects I work on independently as well as through the Center on Forced Displacement at Boston University.
Research Interests
​Displacement; borderlands; border regimes and migration management; social inequalities; civil society organizing; solidarity; nationalism and extremism; intersectional justice; interdisciplinary, multimethod research.
My dissertation considers the impact of securitization, broadly conceived, on the response of a wide range of civil society actors to migration-related challenges in the borderlands. Since the “long summer of migration” of 2015, when a large number of migrants reached EU borders seeking asylum, migration has been labeled as a crisis, especially in the European Union and the United States. The arrival of a large number of people at the US and the EU borders has been treated as a security threat, allowing for the legalization and institutionalization of actors such as Frontex and practices that were previously considered inhumane, such as family separation at the border, increased, unlimited detention and deportation, violent push-backs at the borders, outsourcing migration management to other countries or private security companies, etc. The evolution of these practices has been studied well, especially as related to the evolution of restrictive government policies and increased militarization of border control. However, far less attention has been given to the civil society actors also involved in this “crisis management.” Therefore, this study aims to closely analyze the impact of “crisis labeling” on the civil society response to migration. This dissertation draws on a wide range of literature focusing on humanitarianism, as well as social movements and civil society to understand if and how the "migration crisis" impacted civil society response in the US and the EU borderlands.
Forced Displacement in the Time of Migration Securitization and Climate Change
With Carrie J. Preston, Associate Director, Center on Forced Displacement, Boston University​
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Academic research, large international organization reports, and popular media discourse have increasingly focused on climate-related events' presumed impact on migration and displacement. The predominant narrative predicts the movements of large numbers of people across national borders due to climate change. This narrative has often been used to justify the securitization of migration and policies directed at limiting mobility. This article presents a systematic review of the academic literature on climate migration and analyzes the research findings published in the last ten years. We provide a critical analysis of the research to date, the main challenges and priorities related to climate and multi-layered migration challenges, and their impact on the mobility and immobility of impacted populations. Our main finding demonstrates that contrary to the popular media discourse, climate-related events do not produce huge numbers of international migrants. Yet, current migration policies compound vulnerabilities and increase the immobility of the most vulnerable populations. Our study demonstrates the need for more population-centered research and policy that considers the needs and coping strategies of the most impacted when trying to address forced displacement and migrations.
Learning Through Engagement With Complex Systems: Iterations Across Programs Created by BU’s Center on Forced Displacement
With Carrie J. Preston, Associate Director, Center on Forced Displacement, Boston University​
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Through this project, Boston University’s Center on Forced Displacement assesses the impact of two new experiential learning programs through surveys and semi-structured interviews with students and university and NGO partners. Our Border Studies Program introduces students to US migration with partners at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, and NGOs such as Team Brownsville and Catholic Charities. Students attend a semester-long weekly class at BU and participate in a 9-day intensive program in Texas during Spring Break. Similarly, our two-week Summer School on Forced Displacement in Belgrade, Serbia, is organized with the University of Belgrade as well as local NGOs such as Grupa 484, KlikAktiv, Atina, and Belgrade Center for Human Rights. Through these educational programs and our related research, we de-emphasize frameworks like “fieldwork” and “engagement with refugees” and center conversations around ethical complexity and voluntourism/disaster tourism. Preliminary analysis of the data we gathered indicates that students are learning while local universities and NGOs benefit from their engagement through our programs. We believe our findings can help others seeking to provide students with learning opportunities beyond the classroom and engagement with complex, evolving, social, political, and human rights issues. We presented this preliminary research at the ISA 2024 conference and will participate in the panels and conversations focusing on pedagogy and teaching in complex environments in ISA 2025, where we will introduce our new paper focusing on this topic.
International Institute of New England (IINE) and Center on Forced Displacement (CFD) Education Project
With Carrie J. Preston, Associate Director, Center on Forced Displacement, Boston University​
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This project is a collaboration between the Center on Forced Displacement and the International Institute of New England (IINE), seeking to provide a unique learning and discussion space for the IINE staff engaged in resettlement work. IINE is a non-profit organization that offers humanitarian relief, English language learning, employment, skills training, and immigration legal services to more than 10,000 people from 70+ different countries. They have approached our Center to co-create a series of modules and workshops for their staff, helping them with personnel education regarding global refugee systems, the US resettlement system, humanitarian work with the displaced populations, etc. As part of this project, we are implementing a survey and conducting interviews with the IINE staff selected to participate in our workshops. This survey will help evaluate and improve our workshops as well as to gather data about the knowledge gaps and learning needs of resettlement workers in the US. At the moment, we are designing a second iteration of this workshop and writing a paper about educational gaps and obstacles faced by resettlement agencies when working with the displaced populations in the US.