Visual Methodology in Migration Studies

This open access book explores the use of visual methods in migration studies through a combination of theoretical analyses and empirical studies. The first section looks at how various visual methods, including photography, film, and mental maps, may be used to analyse the spatial presence of migrants. The second section addresses the processual building of narratives around migration, thereby using formats such as film and visual essay, and reflecting upon the ways they become carriers and mediators of both story and theory within the subject of migration. Section three focuses on vulnerable communities and discusses how visual methods can empower these communities, thereby also focusing on the theoretical and ethical implications of migration. The fourth section addresses the issue of migrant representation in visual discourses. Based on these contributions, a concluding methodological chapter systematizes the use of visual methods in migration studies across disciplines, with regard to their empirical, theoretical, and ethical implications.  Multidisciplinary in character, this book is an interesting read for students and migration scholars who engage with visual methodologies, as well as practitioners, journalists, filmmakers, photographers, curators of exhibitions who address the topic of migration visually.

• Open access
• The use of visual methods
• Migration studies
• Methodological studies
• Population mobility
• Visual sociology
• Visual anthropology
• Visual ethnography
• Film-making
• The media
• Immigrant minorities
• Visual methods
• Local immigration politics
• Audiovisual accounts
• Participatory method and co-creation
• Audio-visualised migration era
• People on the move

• University of South-Eastern Norway, Drammen, Norway

  Karolina Nikielska-Sekula

• Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

  Amandine Desille

Karolina Nikielska-Sekula is Associate Professor in Human Geography at the University of South-Eastern Norway. Her current scholarly research focuses on migration studies (Central and Western Europe, and Turkey), urban sociology, heritage studies, ethnographic methods, and visual and sensory sociology. She received MA degree in Sociology from AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, and her PhD in interdisciplinary Culture Studies from the University of South-Eastern Norway. She was also affiliated with the Migration Research Center at Koç University (MiReKoc) in Istanbul and the Pedro Arrupe Human Rights Institute at the University of Deusto.

Amandine Desille is a Marie Curie Individual Fellow at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning at the University of Lisbon, where she conducts a project entitled ‘MigRural: Return mobilities to rural Portugal, an assessment of the production of place’. Her research interests include return migration, local governance and small and mid-sized cities. Among her most recent publications is the co-edited volume International Migrations and Local Governance: a Global Perspective published by Palgrave in 2018. She holds a PhD in geography from the University of Poitiers (France) and the University of Tel Aviv (Israel). Previously, she has worked with NGOs and UN agencies on topics related to immigration, local economic development and urban planning.