Centre for Global Migration Studies (CeMig)

13th Migration Research Lab: “Conducting Qualitative Research in Contexts of Violence”

07.05.2025 16:00-18:00 (CET) Venue: KWZ 1.601 (Heinrich-Düker Weg 14)

with Jacopo Anderlini , Research Fellow in Sociology of Cultural and Communication Processes at the University of Parma

Registration: To participate, we kindly ask you to register via the form below by 04.05.2025. To facilitate the exchange among each other, we will circulate the submitted short descriptions of the research projects to all participants in advance.

This Migration Research Lab is designed to initiate exchange about research experiences in contexts characterized by structural, social, and diffuse violence.

In his presentation Jacopo Anderlini will examine methodological approaches: Drawing on two case studies from Tunisia, he will explore how creative, participatory methods on the one side, and ethnographic techniques on the other, can generate knowledge while navigating complex ethical and practical challenges. The first case study analyzes the application of Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed methodology with young Tunisians contemplating migration, revealing how embodied, performative approaches enable participants to articulate experiences where futures appear simultaneously foreclosed between post-colonial disillusionment and intergenerational tensions, and demanding to be imagined otherwise. The second case study examines ethnographic fieldwork investigating what he terms the “deportation/departure complex” affecting sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia – a dual system comprising dangerous maritime departure infrastructure alongside state-sanctioned repression, detention, and collective expulsions. Anderlini will discuss how ethnographic methods must adapt to document violence while protecting participants and researchers.

Based on these experiences, the floor will be opened for joint discussion to explore together methodological orientations for research in violent contexts: approaches which are contextual and emerge from social relations situated in the field and oriented by an ethics of care and practices responsibility. Researchers in all stages of their careers (advanced Master students, PhD students, postdoctoral researchers) will be invited to contribute and share their own research experiences, challenges and open questions.


Here you can register for the 13th Migration Research Lab "“Conducting Qualitative Research in Contexts of Violence”:

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