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Year of Mygration

Migrants and migration matter to The Open University and to all of us.

The Open University's Year of Mygration stands as a remarkable introduction to diverse perspectives of migrants and migration. The Open University is ‘open to people, places, methods and ideas’ so has always welcomed migrants as students and staff, and has encouraged pioneering methods of learning, teaching, research and engagement around the themes of migration, refugees, mobility and belonging. 250 separate contributions have been gathered under the heading of a Year of ‘My-gration’ to emphasise that we are all affected by migration, whether or not we ourselves or immediate families are migrants. The issues of migration are vital to understanding not just current UK politics but also the world’s economies and communities.

The origins of this Year of Mygration are in a collaboration between the Citizenship & Governance and the International Development & Inclusive Innovation Strategic Research Areas of the OU. The idea was to share a reflection every day, Monday to Friday, for 50 weeks of a year, on the broad theme of migration which showcased the work of the OU academics and our partners, be it a short blog, podcast or archive clip, a tweet or a link to a longer article. We numbered the posts from 1 to 250 partly so that anyone can start their own Year of Mygration in any year and at any point in any year. We appreciate that migrants and the whole world live with migration 7 days a week for the whole 52 weeks of the year but we believe that there is a value in this exercise and we would welcome anyone creating their own sequels. As the OU enters our 50th anniversary year, 2019, we remain committed to being ‘open to people, places, methods and ideas’.

Covers of two books

Day 229, Year of #Mygration: Critical Race/Religion Readings of ‘White Crisis’ in Science Fiction Dystopia

Dr Syed Mustafa Ali, Lecturer and Convenor of the Critical Information Studies Research Group at The Open University traces the history of 'White Crisis' and reminds us of the importance of being open to diversity in today’s globalised world

20th November 2018
Photo outside a job centre

Day 228, Year of #Mygration: A window of opportunity or trap? Refugees’ employment in migrant support organisations

In today's post, Dr Sara de Jong, Visiting Fellow at The Open University, discusses the concept of “refugeeness”, highlighting how refugees are often locked in frontline services rather than having mobility in the organisations employing them

19th November 2018
An image of a Yarl's Wood detainees hands - taken by Frazer Waller of Yarl's Wood Befrienders

Day 227, Year of #Mygration: Welcome to the UK! How long will you be staying?

OU PhD student Jo Vincett shares insights into her research coupled with her learning as a befriending volunteer at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre. She outlines the current state of affairs of immigration-related detention in the United Kingdom

16th November 2018
Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, author of the report

Day 226, Year of #Mygration: When Facts Don’t Matter

Yesterday's blog explored how migration terminology mirrors the way the majority population perceives 'foreigners'. A report by Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan discusses the challenges faced by migration & integration advocates in the era of alternative facts & fake news

15th November 2018
Paradise beach

Day 225, Year of #Mygration: Changing the migration narrative

Today's blog explores how the migration narrative influences the reception and integration of foreigners, including why migrants from the West are called expatriates while those from Developing countries are often given disparaging labels

14th November 2018
Image of Rashida Tlaib

Day 224, Year of #Mygration: American Elections reminds us that "Muslim women are not monolithic: they are more than headscarves"

Today's blog explores how the election of the first two Muslim Women to the US House of Representatives brings new dawn to the debates on religiosity in US politics & beyond. It also discusses how the election of Rashida Tlaib led to celebrations in Palestine

13th November 2018
Photo of Ilhan Omar smiling

Day 223, Year of #Mygration: American elections inspires residents in Ifo refugee camp 8,000 miles away

In today’s blog post, Dr Fidèle Mutwarasibo, Visiting Research Fellow in the OU's Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership explores how Ilhan Omar, through her election to the US House of Representatives, inspired refugees in a refugee Camp she left behind twenty years ago

12th November 2018
Photo by Sean Brown on Unsplash

Day 222, Year of #Mygration: Why we should be slow to judge migrants

In this powerful blog, we learn about an encounter OU PhD student Carlos Azevedo had when serving as a lawyer. It was while representing a migrant mother, detained after a police raid at a brothel, that he was reminded him why we should never judge migrants

9th November 2018
Photo of a hand with a bracelet saying race with the word hate crossed out

Day 221, Year of #Mygration: The marriage of migration and traffickers and human slavery - is that migration?

Ganiat Omolara Kazeem, a research student at the OU discusses an exploratory study into the prospects of using information & communications technologies (ICT) to trace, track and enumerate victims of trafficking, and the activities of traffickers of human beings

8th November 2018
IOM logo

Day 220, Year of #Mygration: Migration 2018 - What's currently happening?

In today’s post, we delve into statistics on people risking their lives to reach Europe through the Mediterranean Sea. The data compiled by the International Organization for Migration is accessible on the OU's OpenLearn platform

7th November 2018

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