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Migration and Narrative. Key Terms and Concepts. Revised edition

The Glossary includes key terms from discourses on migration, integration, narrative, and media representation that will be used frequently in Opprtunities. In addition to these thematic areas, the glossary provides relevant terminology from corpus linguistics, quantitaive media studies, and narrative theory. This wide semantic field gives shape to our two core concepts, the Cross Talk and the Level telling Field.

With this glossary we launch a fruitful dialogue we seek to initiate on different levels, on political, societal and scientific level.

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Cross-country comparison of media selection and attitudes towards narratives of migration

In this report, we provide a cross-country comparison of news media consumption patterns and anti-immigrant, refugee, and Muslim sentiments in four European countries: Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Italy. Data were collected among adults aged 25 to 65 through an online survey fielded during three weeks in May and June 2021.

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Trends in attitudes towards migration in Europe A comparative analysis

This report examines the evolution in attitudes towards migrants and migration in Europe. Concretely, the report investigates and discusses the changes in the perception of migrants and attitudes towards migration between 2002-2018 using the European Social Survey data. Both the evolution of migration perceptions within countries and the cross-national evolution across European countries are discussed and illustrated visually. The analyses indicate that most Europeans are either ambivalent or relatively positive about migration. Further, important between-country differences are present in Europe. Central and Eastern European countries are especially negative about migration, and they have also grown more negative in the wake of the 2015-2016 refugee crisis. Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon countries, in contrast, hold more positive views. In fact, in most European countries, citizens have become more supportive of tolerant immigration policies over the examined period, though few are supportive of an open border policy. Finally, certain categories of citizens in the sample tend to exhibit lower levels of support for migration. Citizens with lower levels of income and education, (radical) right-leaning political attitudes, low levels of trust, and the elderly, are on average more negative about migrants and open border policies.

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Narrative Dynamics and Migration Centrifugal vs. Centripetal Forces

Narratives influence the public perception of migration and attitudes towards migrants and refugees, often with unintended and unanticipated consequences. In order to further our understanding of the construction, emergence of, and interaction between different kinds of narratives, this paper proposes a programmatic concept of narrative dynamics. Narrative dynamics research is equally interested in the pragmatics of narrative framing and the grand narratives of human rights, in fake news, propaganda and disinformation, in mundane stories of everyday experience and the intangible myths and masterplots which shape organizations, institutions, and cultures. The paper concentrates on wide-spread phenomena, revealing key features of narratives: event modeling and event management, purpose and chaff, aggregation and normalization, as well as (re)alignment and redirection. In addition to this, the paper focuses on scenarios involving multiple and competing narratives, and it introduces a distinction between centrifugal and centripetal effects. Three examples – German welcome culture in 2015, Matteo Salvini’s confrontation with Sea Watch in 2019, and online hate speech against a Red Cross volunteer in Ceuta in 2021 – demonstrate how these concepts help us to analyse political framings of migration and responses to representations of migration.

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The Twitter Debate on Immigration in Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Italy: Politicians’ articulations of the discourses of openness and closure

The debate between the political left and the political right has increasingly become a debate on the benefits and drawbacks of immigration. In this report we analyze the lexical choices to be found in the Twitter discourse of politicians from four adjacent countries: Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Italy.
Seven Twitter accounts were scrutinised to compare the views of traditional parties (socialist, liberal, and conservative) with those of the “new” far-right, anti-immigration parties. We considered a large sample period going from January 1 st, 2015 to May 1st , 2021 (7,294,569 words). A corpus-based linguistic analysis showed that the concept of “borders” is central to the discourse of the right and far right, while left-wing/centrist politicians favour “integration”. Nevertheless, both far-right and traditional parties use discursive “safety valves” to stave off attacks from the other side. Right-wing/far-right politicians strive to avoid accusations of racism, while left-wing/centrist politicians fear being represented as blindly believing in the benefits of immigration. Regardless of political affiliation, opposition politicians in need of attention also tend to take an antagonistic stance in their communication.

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Beyond Vicarious Storytelling: How Level Telling Fields Help Create a Fair Narrative on Migration. Revised edition

Life stories play a crucial role in migration discourses: they serve as testimony in journalistic work, form the core of ambassadorial storytelling by NGOs, and inspire collaborative projects initiated by writers seeking to express their solidarity. However, this article argues, drawing on migrants’ experiences for such purposes also creates an ethical dilemma: speaking about – or even for – rather than with migrants assigns them a passive role and tends to recycle existing narrative patterns and templates. Starting with a generic distinction between what we call stories of migration (various forms of self-expression granting migrants full authority and control over their narrative) and narratives on migration (external perspectives, e.g. academic, economic, political, and legal approaches, where lived experience doesn’t matter), we explore the extensive middle ground of hybrid forms between these two extremes – i.e. different kinds of vicarious storytelling – before discussing their ethical implications. We further show how the idea of the level playing field, a key
concept in economics, can be used in transdisciplinary research projects to establish level telling fields, i.e. communicative spaces characterized by a fair dialogue on an equal footing for all participants

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Changing attitudes towards migration in Europe. Dynamic analyses (2002-2018).

In a growingly diverse Europe, understanding what European citizens think about migrants and refugees becomes increasingly relevant. This report seeks to contribute to a better understanding of migration preferences, by examining the changing attitudes of citizens towards immigrants and migration policies in Europe. The aim of the report is two-fold. First, it seeks to understand how attitudes have changed in the last two decades in Europe (2002- 2018), and what might be driving these changes. Second, the report uncovers individual and country level typologies of migration preferences. Part one of the quantitative analyses builds on group conflict, and contact theory. Group conflict theory argues that intergroup competition influences attitudes towards the representatives of an outgroup, such as ethnic minorities or immigrants. These perceptions are not only influenced by the structural position of the individual (e.g., socio-economic status), but also by contextual factors, such as changes in a country’s economic situation or an influx of migrants. In contrast, contact theory suggests that more diversity can lead to more support for migration through increased intergroup contact between the host nation and immigrants. Building on these theories and using all nine rounds of the European Social Survey (ESS), the analyses delineate the change in attitudes towards immigrants and migration before, during, and after the refugee crisis of 2015-2016, covering the period between 2002 and 2018. The report examines relevant explanatory factors at the individual (e.g., social class) and contextual level (e.g., % of foreign-born population). Mixed evidence is found for the notion that countries that receive more immigrants, or those that experience an economic downturn, are less supportive of migration. Cleavages between citizens in terms of political attitudes and socio-demographic characteristics, on the other hand, appear to be important drivers of migration preferences. The analyses can thus only partially confirm group conflict or contact theory. There are also some indications that migration attitudes in most European countries have become more positive in the last two decades. Part two of the analyses investigates the multidimensionality of attitudes towards migration in the European population, through creating a typology of different perspectives on migration. Analyses are based on the European Social Survey’s 2002 module, which focuses on attitudes towards migration and asylum policy, and on the 2016 module, which was fielded after the 2015-2016 refugee crisis. These analyses provide evidence for three distinct individual level profiles. Most European citizens can be classified as having either out spokenly open, or restrictive attitudes about migration, and do not distinguish between the type of immigrant, or the aspects of migration citizens find the most threatening. A sizeable group of citizens, moreover, is selective about migration. They are supportive of migration in general, but also fear the impact of immigrants on their society. Hence, most European citizens remain luke warm about migration, and this pattern is also reflected at the country level.

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Cross Talks in African countries. Adapting the Cross Talk methodology.

The Cross Talk methodology aims at creating a Level Telling Field and establishing the conditions for
a “fair dialogue” between migrants and persons or institutions who can have an impact on the lives of
the migrants. It seeks to answer the question of how a society can be inclusive. The key question of the
Cross Talks is developed from a European perspective.
In an African context this key question is only one out of many questions. Moreover, there are other
questions that are more urgent. These manifold questions come from a wide and diverse group of
migrants: internal migrants, emigrants, transmigrants, regular and irregular migrants, returning (forced
or voluntary) migrants. The various groups have their own aspirations and try to live a life that they
have reasons to appreciate.
In an African context super-diversity is the main characteristic. The Cross Talk methodology must
therefore be adjusted to answer this super-diversity. This includes a broadening and a multiplication of
the dialogue sessions, the use of more and more different methods, and the involvement of the wider
community.
In the African context the Cross Talks want to mobilise the entire society to realise real change for the
African people and all the persons with aspirations to migrate.

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Synthesis of changing attitudes towards and news media representations of immigrants

This synthesis report should be read as a “living document” that will be edited and supplemented each time tasks are completed. In this synthesis you will find following articles:

  1. Descriptive analysis of trends in attitudes towards migration
  2. EU-wide longitudinal analysis of determinants of changes in attitudes towards immigrants and migration
  3. Typology of attitudes towards immigrants and migration
  4. Cross-national online survey on the associations between individual (news) consumption and attitudes towards migration and migrants
  5. Cross-national corpus-assisted discourse analysis of tweeting politicians on migration-related topics
  6. Social network analysis of the online networks of politicians tweeting on migration-related topics
  7. Additional sources on the journalistic infrastructure in each of the four OPPORTUNITIES countries
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Navigating Political Waters: Network Analysis of the Syrian and Ukrainian Refugee Influxes in the Italian Discourse on Social Media

This study compares Italian Twitter discourse during the 2015 Syrian and 2022 Ukrainian refugee influxes from a network analysis perspective. Analyzing political community-building dynamics, it explores user opinions, prevalent communities, opinion leaders, and agenda-setting strategies. This research contributes to our understanding of social media dynamics during moments of rapidly-evolving refugee developments within a country. The dataset consisted of about 400,000 tweets and 200,000 user data points. Networks of approximately 70,000 nodes and 200,000 edges were generated using the data. Our findings align with the “silent majority” and the “amplification of the right” theses. Despite not comprising the largest cohorts, anti-refugee communities, spearheaded by charismatic far-right leaders with issue ownership and populated by right-wing users, witness a magnification of their voices through a high level of user engagement within their community. The emergence of the Ukrainian crisis acts as a catalyst, reconfiguring this discursive landscape and signifying dynamic shifts in positions and strategies. Our findings underscore the significant role of digital platforms in the diffusion and transformation of political opinions by an indebt analysis of two communication networks.

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Unveiling Discursive Dynamics in Political Communication Networks: Exploring Syrian and Ukrainian Refugee Influx Discourse through Mixed-Methods on Social Media

Through the integration of a mixed-methods approach, this study embarks on an exploratory journey,
delving into the intricate dynamics that drive the political discourse surrounding refugee influxes. It
operates at both the informational flow and textual levels, dissecting the pivotal occurrences of two
crucial events. Focusing on the Syrian and Ukrainian refugee waves, which peaked in September 2015
and March 2022 respectively, our research capitalises on the capabilities of the Twitter API, facilitating
the collection of approximately 800,000 tweets. In its initial stage, retweets were transformed into a
network structure, enabling a comprehensive analysis of the framework and identifying influential nodes
within it. Subsequently, using a community detection algorithm, the data is segregated into clusters.
Concurrently, a corpus-assisted linguistic analysis was conducted on the complete collection of retweets
emanating from the principal pro and anti-groups and country-based corpora. The specific subject of
focus within the analysis was the concept of “help”, facilitated through the use by the SketchEngine tool.
The outcomes of our network analysis reveal that the online anti-refugee community is comparatively
smaller, yet more dynamic and transnational, setting it apart from its counterparts. Meanwhile, the results
of the corpus linguistic analysis indicate that certain terms like “Hilfe”, “Understützung,” and “Mensch”
align with pro-refugee sentiments, while others like “Platz”, “Wohnung,” and “Arbeit” highlight concerns
among opponents. Financial considerations and negative connotations are also evident in the language
used, suggesting varied perspectives on refugee reception and integration. These insights underscore
the importance of amplifying pro-refugee voices on social media and advocating for the enhancement
of moderation practices for a more inclusive virtual public sphere.

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Public perceptions on migration and journalistic roles: Recommendations for media professionals

For many years, migration has been a highly salient topic in societal and political debates in the European Union (EU). However, since 2015-2016, when a large number of refugees and asylum seekers entered the EU as (amongst others) a result of the Syrian civil war, the situation has increasingly been characterized as a ‘crisis’ by media and political actors, and as a result, by the public as well. Over time, this crisis narrative has deepened existing cleavages, or opened up new ones within the EU. There was a lack of cross-country coordination in the reception and integration of these many asylum seekers and refugees. Thus, the migration crisis evolved into a crisis of the EU as well. The ambition of the OPPORTUNITIES project is to develop a ‘new’ narrative on migration that acknowledges that every crisis is also an opportunity: a chance to revisit foundational principles, create new knowledge and initiate forward looking narrative strategies which allow us to come to terms with a world in flux. Grounded in an ethics of dialogue and a human rights approach, the narrative of OPPORTUNITIES redirects attention to the benefits of migration, as suggested in the European Agenda for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals (2011) and moves towards a more successful integration of migrants. The objectives of the project are eight-fold, but this report geared towards media professionals.

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Narrating Diaspora. The African Diaspora as a Counter-Narrative

This paper’s central goal is to examine the role that narratives, collective or otherwise, play in the construction of diaspora as an epistemic formation. In particular, we are interested in exploring the interplay between dominant narratives on diaspora and competing counter-narratives of diaspora. In order to do this, we resort to the concept of “imagined communities” by Benedict Anderson, arguing that the sense of a communion among members of communities is buttressed in collective narratives based on shared knowledge, values, norms, and culture. Furthermore, the paper draws on a typology developed by Carolin Gebauer and Roy Sommer which differentiates between narratives on and stories of migration. Adopting this distinction, we argue that narratives on diaspora provide a primarily etic (i.e., outsider) perspective on diasporic formations, as they emphasize group cohesion and a sense of shared group consciousness that unites members of diasporic communities. Such narratives are often found in academic scholarship and in public discourses about diaspora. By contrast, narratives of diaspora refer to discourses that provide an emic (i.e., insider) perspective, acknowledging the diversity and historicity of diasporic formations and their roles as epistemic communities. This emic perspective foregrounds historical ‘moments’ that have led to the development of the African diaspora in Germany, which articulates counter-narratives to various discourses, especially anti-Black racism

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Figures de candidats sénégalais à la migration

In this paper migration in Senegal is explained: trends, reasons, populations, ... This paper is in French.

"Au cours des dernières années, le Sénégal est fortement marqué par la migration. Par conséquent, celle-ci est au centre des discussions des populations et au cœur de l’actualité. Fait social majeur, son importance s’est davantage accrue avec le fait sensationnel de migration par les pirogues. Elle est devenue un des rares thèmes de discussion avec les séances de lutte capable de réunir toutes les franges locales quels que soient l’âge, le sexe, le groupe ethnique, le niveau scolaire, le statut professionnel, etc. C’est ainsi que dans les journaux sénégalais, il est récurrent de lire dans la rubrique réservée aux "Faits divers" des scènes affairant à la question du voyage comme en témoignent ceux-ci :  « Abus de confiance : Il vend les 20 tonnes de ciment de la dame et voyage en Espagne (Le Soleil du mercredi 31 octobre 2007) ... Ces situations laissent penser à quel point la migration est au cœur des quotidiens des populations sénégalaises. Elle mobilise toutes les couches sociales avec une présence importante de jeunes originaires à la fois des zones rurales et urbaines, certains disposent de riches capitaux scolaires d’autres non et il en est de même pour les capitaux professionnels depuis plusieurs années. "

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CARNETS DE ROUTE : RECITS ET FIGURES D’EMIGRES SENEGALAIS

In this paper the route of migration in Senegal is explained. Testimonies are used to decribe the different trajects. ... This paper is in French.

"Les points exposés dans ce documents sont « pourquoi partir ? », les « destinations rêvées », les « préparatifs du voyage », les « difficultés rencontrées au cours du voyage » et l’ « expulsion : entre échec et source de motivation de l’émigré ».

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MIGRANTS SENEGALAIS : PASSER PAR LE NIGER POUR ATTEINDRE L’EUROPE

In this paper on route of migration via Niger is explained. Testimonies are used to understand the reasons and the difficulties and barriers to migrate. ... This paper is in French.

"Cette recherche s’intéresse aux migrants sénégalais qui se rendent au Niger par voie terrestre en espérant, un jour, atteindre l’Europe à la suite de plusieurs escales. En route, les migrants sénégalais s'installent fréquemment dans des carrefours migratoires pour travailler et financer les prochaines escales. C’est ainsi que depuis le Mali (Bamako, Bougouni et Sikasso) ou au Burkina Faso (Bobo-Dioulasso, Ouagadougou, etc.), etc. des migrants sénégalais sont retrou-vés dans l’artisanat, la maçonnerie ou la vente ambulante, etc. Au Niger, ils sont souvent à Niamey ou à Agadez, deux grands carrefours historiques où ils se débrouillent pour leur sur-vie.

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An introduction to level playing field: from a sporting metaphor to a social policy instrument

This paper provides a short introduction to the concept of level playing field (LPF) and how it has travelled from a sporting metaphor to other social spheres to invoke the need for the setting up of common rules to achieve equality of opportunity for all. The paper starts with a discussion of some of the conceptual issues of LFP (section 2) that lead us directly to one of the most important applications of LPF in economics in general (section 3) and international trade in particular. The latter pays particular attention to the principle of LPF in the setting up and evolution of the European Union (section 4). The paper also provides case studies of the application of LPF in other areas such as education (with a focus on the role of families) (section 5), labour market (with a focus on the relationship between LPF and discrimination) (section 6) and digital media (section 7). In section 8 the paper provides some thought on the nexus of LPF and level-telling-field. The final concluding section 9 provides some tentative general lessons emerging from the discussion of the nexus of LPF and LTF.

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Je voyage, donc je suis!

« Nous avons toutes les raisons de partir ! Imagine-toi un homme de mon âge qui part en Europe sans diplôme sans formation et au bout de deux ans il revient au Sénégal pour construire de belles maisons, conduire de belles voitures, etc. Il revient au pays trouvant ses amis surdiplômés et surqualifiés mais qui vivent dans la galère. Il y a de quoi se demander si celui qui préfère rester au pays n’est pas en train de perdre son temps malgré les études faites. À la longue, les gens peuvent même se dire avec certitude que les jeunes qui ont choisi de migrer ont raison sur les autres. Voilà̀ une chose qui aiguise l’appétit de vouloir migrer »
(Amadou, 17 ans, Candidat à la migration).

Au Sénégal, au cours de ces dernières années, la migration a suscité de nombreuses interrogations et recherches qui ont influencé des politiques. Néanmoins le phénomène demeure difficile à cerner à cause des ambiguïtés qui se cachent derrière certains concepts. Si la sécheresse ou les crises politiques sont des raisons fréquemment évoquées pour expliquer les migrations sénégalaises, bien d'autres facteurs entrent
en jeu et échappent souvent aux analyses mécanistes qui tentent d'expliquer les choix des destinations migratoires.

Ce document de travail donne une vue d'ensemble des causes de la migration, des causes qui sont plus larges que ce que l'on pense habituellement en Europe.

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Expressions artistiques sur les causes profondes des migrations

Demander aux enfants de dessiner sur les causes de la migration est un exercice passionnant. En effet, il suffit de créer une situation motivante à travers la mobilisation d’une série de questions, afin qu’ils parviennent à produire une pensée créative et à réfléchir de manière critique sur la question migratoire. C’est donc un exercice d’éveil qui contribue au développement et à l’épanouissement de l’enfant. En d’autres termes, il forge un destin d’homme capable de participer pleinement à la marche de sa société et de son histoire.

Dessiner des images peut être un outil puissant d’expression et de communication visuelle pour les enfants du Club d’éducation artistique plastique du Collège d'Enseignement Moyen André Henry Louis Guillabert de Saint-Louis du Sénégal.

Les images dessinées par les enfants aident ceux-ci à s'exprimer diversement :

  • Communication non verbale : Dessiner des images, offre aux enfants une autre façon de communiquer leurs pensées et leurs sentiments sans se fier uniquement aux mots.
  • Expression créative : Dessiner des images, encourage les enfants à utiliser leur imagination et leur créativité pour transmettre leurs idées et leurs sentiments.
  • Libération émotionnelle : Dessiner des images, fournit un exutoire sûr et constructif pour des émotions négatives comme la colère, la frustration ou la tristesse.
  • Découverte de soi : en dessinant des images, les enfants explorent leur propre identité et leur sens de soi. Les enfants expérimentent différents styles, couleurs et supports, et les utilisent pour exprimer leur individualité et leurs préférences personnelles.
  • Compétences en communication : Dessiner des images, aide les enfants à développer leurs compétences en communication en les encourageant à réfléchir sur la manière de transmettre efficacement leurs idées.

Dans l'ensemble, dessiner des images est un outil puissant permettant aux enfants du Club d’éducation artistique plastique du Collège d'Enseignement Moyen André Henry Louis Guillabert de Saint-Louis du Sénégal de s'exprimer librement en développant une gamme de compétences émotionnelles, créatives et communicationnelles. Le dessin permet ainsi à l’enfant de développer son imagination, son sens d’observation et son habileté manuelle.

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Analyse des migrations sénégalaises : entre deconstruction et decentration empirique des causes

Presentation of a survey on reasons to migrate. Presentation given as an introduction to the discussion with political representatives in Dakar, Senegal, February 2023.
Professor Aly Tandian

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Beyond Viral Exemplarity: Critical Storytelling Practices in a Post-Truth World

Paper presented at the MLA conference 2023 (San Francisco, January 5-8)

Marco Caracciolo, Ghent University

How can story be deployed in responsible and critical ways? My paper approaches that question by surveying three strategies that narrative can implement to move beyond “viral exemplarity.” I suggest calling these strategies “non-narrative corroboration,” “spatiotemporal network,” and “intersubjective confrontation.”

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Re-penser la liberté de circulation : contributions de la société civile pour la consolidation de migrants-citoyens

PPT d' Aly Tandian presented à Nouakchott, 17 -20 juillet 2023 Sénégal on the question of free mouvement or the right to be mobile

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Narrative Maps: Perspectives on Migration from Africa

One of the key concepts of the OPPORTUNITIES project is the distinction between narratives on migration and narratives of migration. The former discuss migration from an observer’s perspective, for instance from the point of view of journalism, migration studies, or migration policies. In order to create a more balanced view of migration, the OPPORTUNITIES project programmatically includes what we call narratives of migration. This move towards strategic multiperspectivity in migration discourses involves, on the one hand, an inclusion of neglected media and genres. These are narrative resources which capture and portray first-hand experience of migration and the lived experience of migrants and refugees. The paper explores how the topic of migration has been dealt with in proverbs and songs from Senegalese poets and artists since the 1980s. While the songs by Senegalese artists in the 1980s seem to praise and celebrate migration, increasing criticism of young people that continue to undertake the increasingly dangerous journey to Europe has characterized some songs from the 2000s onwards. The paper also discusses ways that migration negotiated in Ghana and Senegal using novel and a travelogue as case studies. The multiple perspectives towards migration in the two texts make apparent the need to include different media and genres as well as the perspectives of migrants in migration discourses

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Narrative, Scale, and Two Refugee Crises in Comparison in the Italian Media

Bringing together narrative theory, migration studies, and contemporary discussions in the environmental humanities, this article considers the significance of the concept of scale for media narratives on migration. The starting point is that migration is a multiscalar phenomenon that ranges from migrants’ personal experience to the global factors (such as poverty and climate change) that shape migration on a planetary scale. Media narratives are often unable to bring together those scales, privileging the scale of regional or national debates at the expense of migrants’ experience or global phenomena. We demonstrate that idea through the qualitative analysis of migration coverage in the Italian media, focusing on two newspapers (Corriere della sera and Il Giornale) and two periods in 2015 and 2022. We thus compare what is frequently described as the refugee “crisis” of 2015 and the wave of migration created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The analysis shows that, in both newspapers, migration coverage in 2015 was marked by a disconnect between local and global events, whereas in 2022 the event structure of the war afforded closer integration between scales. This suggests that, even when no simple causal linked can be established between the causes of migration and its effects, more efforts are needed to project a complex, nuanced image of migration in media storytelling.

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Narratives of Crisis vs. Narratives of Solidarity. Analyzing Discursive Shifts in Austrian Media Coverage of Refugee Movements from Middle Eastern Countries (2015) and Ukraine (2022) from an Interdisciplinary Perspective

When unprecedently large numbers of refugees from Middle Eastern countries fled to Europe in the years 2015 and 2016, the media depicted these events as a moment of crisis that put European cohesion to the test. Ever since the beginning of the so-called refugee crisis, framing migration as a problem that requires solving had been a common practice in European media. Yet media coverage of migration drastically changed in February 2022: After Russia had invaded Ukraine, causing millions of Ukrainians to flee their
home country, the persistent crisis narrative eventually made way for a narrative of solidarity.
The working paper traces the reasons and outcomes of this discursive shift by examining, from the perspective of interdisciplinary narrative research, how migration was framed and presented in journalistic interviews published in Austrian newspapers, including tabloids and broadsheets, in September 2015
and March 2022. The paper’s combination of methods from the social sciences and the humanities offers an analysis of not only the migration frames and the speakers’ positioning that become manifest in the interview sample (qualitative content analysis), but also the narrative strategies and stylistic devices that are used in the migration narratives emerging from these texts (discourse analysis and narrative analysis). The benefits of this innovative interdisciplinary multi-method approach, the paper argues, is a comprehensive discussion of migration narrative in media that also addresses frequent shortcomings of disciplinary analysis.

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German Welcome Culture Then and Now. How Crisis Narration Can Foster (Contested) Solidarity with Refugees

The initial response of German civil society to the so-called European refugee crisis in 2015/2016 is often framed as a welcome culture. How does this narrative of solidarity relate to the narrative of crisis which dominated European migration policy at the time, giving rise to right-wing populism in several member states of the European Union? And how does it differ from the narrative of solidarity we have been recently witnessing in the wake of the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has caused new refugee movements toward
Europe? This article sets out to investigate the dynamics of narratives of solidarity with refugees in the German public by juxtaposing what is now often called the “long summer of migration” with representations of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Drawing on insights from crisis research and
interdisciplinary narrative research, I will first argue that framing of historical conditions as crisis situations is based on the interplay of retrospective and prospective worldmaking – a key concept in the philosophy of mind and cognitive narrative theory – which sets in motion a complex (counter-)narrative dynamics. I will then proceed to investigate how such dynamics played out in the periods under investigation: Public debates of the refugee ‘crisis’ of 2015/2016, I will show, produced diverging counter-narratives (i.e., pro-migration vs. anti-refugee narratives) that competed for discursive hegemony, whereas representations of the war in Ukraine generated a widely shared narrative of solidarity with refugees

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Migration and Narrative Ecologies. Public and Media Discourse in the EU

Although storytelling plays a central role in policymaking and communication efforts surrounding migration, the use of the concept of narrative has so far only received little attention in academic debates on transnational mobility. This survey article sets out to pave the way for a new exchange between
migration studies in the social sciences and narrative research on migration in the humanities by introducing the concept of a narrative ecology of migration. Taking our cue from previous research on cultural, media, and narrative ecologies, we argue that narratives on migration travel through different cultural and discursive contexts where they encounter other stories which either sustain or challenge their significance. Our argument unfolds in two steps: After first providing a survey of previous research on narrative ecologies, which we see as a subset of media ecologies, we will describe the different levels of the narrative ecology of migration by discussing the ways in which different narratives on migration interact with each other on local,
national, and European levels

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Migration from Africa: Narrative Dynamics in the German Public Sphere

The term Fluchtursachenbekämpfung (which can be loosely translated in English as: addressing the root causes of irregular migration) has become a buzzword for development policies in Germany that are geared at curbing migration from Africa by attempting to ‘solve’ the root causes of irregular migration in home countries. Using the idea of narrative dynamics (Sommer, “Migration”), this paper aims at showing that such a one-sided, Euro-centered perspective on migration from Africa to Europe side-steps the potential for other perspectives about (irregular) migration that focus on possible contributions of (long-standing) African diasporic communities to economic growth in the host and home countries. Secondly, by pointing out the blind spots of a Euro-centered perspective on migration, the paper opens up the possibility of transforming the debate on migration in Germany’s public sphere from narratives that merely talk about migrants to narratives that engage with migrants and long-standing diasporic communities in order to explore the debate on migration from the perspective of migrants

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Analyse des migrations sénégalaises : entre deconstruction et decentration empirique des causes

PPT introducing policy dialogue with stakeholders in Dakar, at the Dakar consortium meeting February 2023. See also newsletters

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"Voies et voix de jeunes du Sahel : entre mobilités et migrations sous le prisme d’insécurité

PPT by Aly Tandian about "Ways and voices of young people in the Sahel: between mobility and
migrations under the prism of insecurity" given at the 

FORUM INTERNATIONAL AFRIQUE-EUROPE DE MADRID, Sécurité, migrations et développement en Afrique-Europe. Madrid, les 20 et 21 septembre 2023

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Hungary’s ‘Rebalanced’ Media Ecology. Toxic Narratives on Migration, Gender, and Europe

Hungary has the most restrictive migration policy in the European Union, and its discriminatory LGBT law and anti-European rhetoric keep alienating more liberal member states. Starting with a survey of Hungary’s ‘rebalanced’ media landscape, this essay explores the narrative dynamics of Viktor Orbán’s nationalist rhetoric. We focus on the government’s manipulative ‘national consultation’ strategy and billboard campaigns to show how new communication channels are established which allow the government to address its national audience directly, making it largely independent from both legacy media and social media. We further argue that the “immigration and terrorism” narrative of 2015 is designed to fuel ontological insecurity and, like the toxic narratives on gender and Brussels initiated by Orbán, serves a dual purpose: it fosters the centripetal dynamics of Hungary’s nationalist narrative while fueling the centrifugal dynamics of an anti-liberal vision of Europe

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Policy brief: Cross-country comparison of media selection and attitudes towards narratives on migration

Based on an OPPORTUNITIES survey on media consumption and attitudes towards migrants, OPPORTUNITIES formulates a first set of recommendations on how politicians and media should communicate.

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Policy Statement. Unaccompanied Children Outside the Level Telling Field and Protection Systems

There are large groups of minors and juniors who need protection but lack carers and representatives with voice. These groups do not merely operate on the margins of the level telling, but they are out-side it. They are completely excluded despite the facts that they are physically present in societies, socially entangled, and that their life worlds are directly affected by the structures and systems of society. We are referring, here, to unaccompanied migrant and refugee children in the European Un-ion’s Member States. For those children fleeing prosecution in their home countries, the asylum regimes of the host coun-tries provide, and/or ought to provide, a level of protection. The degree to which this level of protec-tion is acceptable and holistic remains debatable and needs to be verified by statistics on whether minors’ applications for refugee status are increasing, processed without obstacles and are successful. But migrant children who are not in the asylum system remain exposed to very serious, and often life threatening, risks. They have travelled to the EU alone, may lack documentation, are alone in host countries and face serious risks of exploitation, abuse and neglect. In this Policy statement we suggest national strategies based on both horizontal and vertical objectives to raise the voice of children

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Policy Statement. SOCIAL COOPERATION REQUIRES AN EQUAL TELLING FIELD

In this Policy Statement we discuss the need of social cooperation. The narratives on migration as a threat to societal survival, on the one hand, and as an enabler of societal renewal, on the other, show the importance of the existence of a democratic public sphere which can expose irrationality and prejudice in various arguments by persistent appeals to justice and reason. Narratives on migration are necessarily conditioned, circumscribed and shaped by both ideologies and historical contexts and, by ensuring that there exists a level telling field, well-informed policies and sustainable solutions can be appropriately devised. Instead of societal survival, it is more accurate to refer to societal renewal and processes of change in social relations particularly since the latter ensure the continuity of societies in the long run. Instead of the mandatory integration of new-comers, it might be better to talk about the inclusion and equal participation of all residents. It is true, one cannot legislate away prejudice. But, instead of divisions between ingroups and outgroups, it is advisable for political communities to promote an ethic of listening, respect for human dignity and fundamental rights, to acknowledge the inevitability of the fluidity of society and to seek to transform differences, tensions and conflicts into creative communal conversations.

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Policy Statement. INTEGRATION POLICY FIELD: DOERS, SAYERS AND WITNESSES

In this Policy Statement we give five policy recommendations to articulate a fairer narrative on migration and integration. As stated in ‘Migration and Narrative: Key Terms and Concepts’, ‘integration policies, and the demands made by states for (better) integration of migrants, often fall short of treating migrants as full members of, and equal participants, in the community’. This presupposes not only the promotion of intercultural under-standing, but also the creation of a public arena which subscribes to the principles of a ‘level telling field’. A level telling field is open to all participants and permits the sharing of experiences, rights claims, arguments and perspective with a view to designing policies and strategies that are fair and respectful of the values of the European Union, such as, respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.

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Newsletter 10. The right to be mobile

In this newsletter you find the minutes with pictures of the consortium meeting of Dakar, February 2023

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Policy brief: The right to Mobility

The Policy Brief on the Right to Mobility is a summary of discussions and conversations OPPORTUNITIES held in Dakar with NGOs and policy makers. 

The right to mobility is an essential component of a fair development policy based on prevention through investment in African countries and on regular migration. Social policies are needed to stop irregular migration.

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Policy brief: Trends in attitudes towards immigrants and migration in Europe

The aim of this policy brief is to summarize how attitudes towards immigrants and migration have changed in the last two decades in Europe (2002-2018), and what is driving these changes. It summarises the main results of two policy reports that have been published in the framework of the Opportunities
project.

In particular, the policy brief addresses the following objectives:

  • Understand the evolution in changing attitudes towards migration across European countries.
  • Understand the impact of the refugee crisis of 2015-2016 on citizens’ perceptions of migration and migrants.
  • Identify how factors at the individual and at the contextual levels influence citizens’ perceptions of migration and changes therein.
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Policy brief: Climate Migrants vs. Political Refugees: Unravelling Perceptions and Communication Patterns on Migration

In this Policy Brief we aim to explore how people perceive climate migrants and compare it with the perceptions of political refugees and migrants in general. By examining the current perceptions and potential future trends, we seek to understand the evolving attitudes towards climate migrants. Additionally, we will investigate the relationship between perceptions, attitudes, and communication to gain insights into the dynamics of public opinion and the potential impact of communication
strategies on attitudes towards climate migrants.
The findings from this study have significant implications for both policymaking and journalism. Policymakers and journalists, depending on their contexts and motivations, can either reinforce existing perceptions, which may vary between dimensions such as world-orientation and ethnocentrism, compassion and pragmatism, social utopianism, and selfishness, or they can work towards adapting or even reversing these attitudes. However, it is crucial to recognize that reinforcing existing attitudes is relatively straightforward, while changing them can be a challenging task. Through this text, we aim to provide guidance on potential strategies to achieve such adaptations or reversals.

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Policy brief: The Level Telling Field and EU policy responses to the Ukrainian displacement.

This Policy Brief uses the concepts developed during the OPPORTUNITIES study to analyse the consequences of the Russian invasion in Ukrain which 10 million people sought refuge in EU member states.

The Policy Brief shows how narratives on migration (from an outside (etic) perspective seeking to devise policy solutions that reflect the concerns of the host society or of the interlocutor) and narratives of migration (that is, stories reflecting the lived experience of migration and present mobility from an inside (emic) perspective) clarifies political choices for temporary protection.

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Policy Statement: Recommendations for journalists

Mass media often frame migration as a crisis. The OPPORTUNITIES project wants to shed another light on migration, seeing it rather as an opportunity. Journalists often share this concern and want to develop alternative views on migration. They want to speak on behalf of migrants, but speaking on behalf of migrants does not come without risks. To counter the risks of “vicarious storytelling”, the OPPORTUNITIES team has developed recommendations and an alternative strategy of “allied storytelling”.

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Policy Statement: How to Empower Migrants to Share Their Stories in Public Discourses on Migration and Integration. Recommendation for Action for Journalists, Representatives of NGOs, and Activists

In this policy statement you find a Step-By-Step Guide to Allied Storytelling.