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Contribution short abstract:

This contribution not only attempts to re-imagine the field of migration studies, but also attempts to re-imagine how all actors interested in decolonizing and de-constructing the long-standing colonial structures inherent in the field have a seat at the table to push us past our own boundaries.

Contribution long abstract:

A recent article asked if, as academics, we should move away from forced migration studies to general displacement (Owen, 2024). However, this is the wrong question and does little to decolonize and re-think ‘the field’. Many African scholars and scholars from the so-named ‘global South’ have been arguing for years that it is high time to decolonize and re-imagine migration studies. Sharam Khosravi (2024) talks about the need in doing migration studies ‘with an accent’. Patricia Daley (2021) speaks to reclaiming mobility using a Pan-Africanist approach as our understanding of migration is Euro-centric and holds political limits to human mobility. Finally, Kudakwashe Vanyoro (2024) argues that chronopolitics posits that one should study movement while abandoning essential terms like ‘border’ or ‘migrant’.

In addition, Amelung et al (2024) question how we can reinvent the politics of knowledge production in migration studies as many non-academic actors produce authoritative knowledge, which has proliferated over the last decade. Also, such knowledge production, whether by academics or non-academic actors is being challenged by social movements and digital information which need to be taken seriously (Amelung et al, 2024).

Therefore, this contribution questions how we can use our imagination not only to re-imagine ‘migration studies’ in the future, but who can be included and how all such actors can participate in a meaningful way. This includes social movements and refugee and community-based organizations which are more likely to contest the colonial history, power structures, and euro-centric bias inherent in the field.