May 3, 2019 – Istanbul
Migration has been an important issue since the emergence of nation-states and their borders. However, recently, with the technological developments in transportation and communication channels as well as the wars, conflicts and economic and ecological problems, migration has started affecting more lives than ever. Parallel to that has been the increase in the scholarly interest in migration. Nevertheless, gender both as a subject and as an analytical category is a relatively new topic in migration studies.
May 3, 2019 – Istanbul
Migration has been an important issue since the emergence of nation-states and their borders. However, recently, with the technological developments in transportation and communication channels as well as the wars, conflicts and economic and ecological problems, migration has started affecting more lives than ever. Parallel to that has been the increase in the scholarly interest in migration. Nevertheless, gender both as a subject and as an analytical category is a relatively new topic in migration studies. This field first started focusing on women’s migratory experiences and later started covering topics such as masculinities, LGBTI+ experiences. Today, in international literature, it is increasingly recognized that there is a close, reciprocal and dynamic relationship between the causes, conditions and experiences of migration and migrants’ genders, sexual orientations, assigned and/or adopted gender identities. For example, people can migrate due to gender-based restrictions and oppression, or their gender roles and performances might gender where they arrive.
Gender as a subject is also relatively new in Turkish migration studies. Similar to international literature, in Turkey, studies focusing on migrant women’s experiences came forward first. For instance, as of 1990s, we saw numerous researches on migrant women in Turkey in the context of internal migration and urbanization; or forced migration and displacement, as well as in the context of migration of women from former Soviet countries to work in various sectors in Turkey. Following the Syrian migration which started in 2011, gender perspective gained significance since almost half of the migrant population were women and girls. Recently we also see new research on LGBTI+ migrants as well as on masculinities in the context of migration. However, while “subject” oriented studies maintain its dominance, studies with a critical gender lens are still limited in number.
“Migration Research in Turkey from Gender Perspective” workshop will be organized with the partnership of Sabancı University Gender and Women’s Studies Center of Excellence and Association for Migration Research (GAR). The main objective of the workshop is to get familiar with the research conducted on gender and migration in Turkey; relating and connecting various research projects with each other; and providing a platform in which gender and migration is discussed not only as a research agenda but also for elaborating on the needs and priorities which will help to raise public awareness on the subject.
Workshop themes include but not limited to:
- Gender roles and migratory experiences of male, female and LGBTI+ refugees.
- Gender in the context of economic migration, forced migration, and other migratory experiences
- Domestic work, care labor, and migration
- Sexual and gender-based violence and human smuggling
- Sexuality- and/or marriage-based migrations and changing forms of privacy
- Transnational networks, diaspora, and gender
- City, migration, gender and solidarity networks/places
- Migrants’ access to health care services and gender
- Migration policies, programs, and gender
- Feminist methodologies/epistemologies and ethics in migration studies
The workshop will be held in Turkish.
