Unit 1: The Ethical and Methodological Challenges of Research in times of War and Displacement
What’s next?
Viktoriya Sereda; Oksana Mikheieva; and Varvara Konstantynova (Student Assistant)
We hope you have enjoyed following this unit.
Here are some Multimedia Resources you might want to refer to for further information on what you have studied. Key resources are in bold:
- Immigration Bureaucracies, Categories of Exclusion, and Superdiversity: Cecilia Menjívar at IRiS@10 (keynote)
- UNHCR ‘Refugees’ and ‘Migrants’: Frequently Asked Questions (website)
- International Organization for Migration (IOM) Glossary on Migration (publication)
- IMISCOE (International Migration Research Network): The Migration Podcast (podcast)
- Challenges of surveys in Ukraine under conditions of war: The future of social research in and on Russia and Ukraine (presentation)
- War, Migration, and Resilience: New Perspectives on Ukraine’s IDP Crisis (interview)
- Unequal Citizenship and Transnational Mobilisation of Polish, Czech and Ukrainian Roma in the Face of the War in Ukraine (research project)
Reading List
The reading list for this unit is divided according to the three areas studied. Key texts are in bold.
On language sensitivity, particularly in relation to defining and categorizing
Bivand Erdal, M. and Oeppen, C. (2018) Forced to leave? The discursive and analytical significance of describing migration as forced and voluntary, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 44(6): 981-998, DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2017.1384149
Crawley H, Skleparis D (2018) Refugees, migrants, neither, both: categorical fetishism and the politics of bounding in Europe’s “migration crisis”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 44(1): 48–64.
Huhn, S., & Rass, C. (2024). Displaced person(s): the production of a powerful political category. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2024.2404488
Tsymbalyuk, Darya. (2017). “Reluctance of self-identification with the name displaced and the question of agency.” Naukovi zapysky Natsionalnoho universytetu Ostrozka academia. Seria: Kultorolohia, 18, 9-12. https://eprints.oa.edu.ua/id/eprint/5924/1/5.pdf
Tyushka, Andriy. (2023). ‘In ‘crisis’ we trust? On (un)intentional knowledge distortion and the exigency of terminological clarity in academic and political discourses on Russia’s war against Ukraine.’ Journal of International Relations and Development, 26, 643-659.
On quantitative studies of displacement at times of war
Dembitskyi, S. (2024). Surveys in Ukraine in the Context of the Russian Full-Scale Invasion: Organizational Problems and Methodological Challenges. Ukrainian Analytical Digest, 6, 13-14. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000675216
Kit Rickard, Gerard Toal, Kristin M. Bakke, John O’Loughlin. “How Reliable Are Polls In Wartime Ukraine?” PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 830, February 2023 https://www.ponarseurasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Pepm830_Rickard-Toal-Bakke-OLoughlinl_Feb2023-1.pdf
Kuzemska, Lidia (2023). Politics of Distorted Numbers: How Russia is Counting Displaced Ukrainians and Why?, in: TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research, 02.11.2023, https://trafo.hypotheses.org/49068
Schiefer, David; Düvell, Frank; Sağıroğlu, Ali Zafer; Mann, Lena (2023). Sampling refugee groups: The example of Syrians in Turkey. International Migration. DOI: 10.1111/imig.13130.
Volosevych, Inna (2024). Conducting Surveys During Wartime: A Personal Reflection. Ukrainian Analytical Digest, 6, 5-8. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000675216
On qualitative studies of war and displacement
Acar, Yasemin Gülsüm, Sigrun Marie Moss, and Özden Melis Uluğ. (2020). Researching Peace, Conflict, and Power in the Field. Methodological Challenges and Opportunities. Cham: Springer, 105-149.
Axyonova Vera & Lozka, Katsiaryna. 2023. ‘‘We are at war’: Reflections on positionality and research as negotiation in post-2022 Ukraine.’ Journal of International Relations and Development, 26, 711-721.
Howlett, Marnie, Lazarenko Valeria. 2023. ‘How and when should we (not) speak?: Ethical knowledge production about the Russia–Ukraine war.’ Journal of International Relations and Development, 26, 722-732.
Stepaniuk, N., & Niazi, G. (2024). Reflections on Researcher’s Positionality and the Evolving Role of Research Participants. Middle East Law and Governance, 16(3), 387-399. https://doi.org/10.1163/18763375-20241497
Zadhy-Çepoğlu AN (2023) Reflexive reciprocity under an ethics of care: reflections from the field for refugee studies. Migration Studies 12(3): 1–18.
You’re now ready to move into Unit 2: The Visual Politics of Migration: Constructing the Representation of Refugeehood and Displacement.
