Associated Works

Refugee camps explained: why South Africa has avoided them

Franzisca Zanker and Ulrike Krause

In July 2026, South Africa started processing undocumented migrants at a temporary repatriation centre in Musina, a border town with Zimbabwe. This followed weeks of intensified anti-migrant rhetoric and xenophobic violence. The facility has raised questions about whether the country could be moving towards a more camp-based approach. This would mark a significant departure from South Africa’s post-apartheid refugee policy. South Africa has generally allowed refugees and asylum seekers to live, work and study in urban centres rather than confining them to designated refugee camps. Full article available on The Conversation.

Identity, Agency, and Self-Stigmatization: Narratives of Women Migrants in Freiburg

Su Gökyokuş

This master thesis examines how migrant women experience and negotiate stigma and agency in everyday life. Migrants often anticipate judgement shaped by negative narratives on migration and internalize these perceptions, leading to self-stigmatization. The study argues that self-stigmatization and agency are not separate processes but are experienced as intertwined in participants’ narratives. Rather than indicating a loss of agency, self-stigmatization can become part of a strategic adaptation. In this sense, agency and stigma are in continuous dialogue.

‘Uganda likes refugees too much’: domestic narratives on refugee protection

Franzisca Zanker and Ronald Kalyango Sebba

As one of the largest hosts of refugees in Africa and globally, Uganda has been studied from a variety of perspectives. However, one major research gap is the domestic political role of refugees in Uganda — how are refugees considered in domestic narratives, and to what political gain? We show that two dominant, politically influential positive narratives focus on the benefits of community development and shared Pan-African identity. Negative narratives do exist, but focus more on perceived deprivations for Ugandans, not on blaming refugees. Article available on Oxford Academic.

Ecowas without the Sahel states: how the split is testing free movement and regional legitimacy

Amanda Bisong, Franzisca Zanker and Leonie Felicitas Jegen

New governments in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso formally left the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) a year ago. The repercussions of the breakup of Ecowas are still unfolding, but one area that will likely be affected is migration and free movement in the region. We argue that though free movement is still technically possible at the moment, it is rapidly changing. Considering the recent changes from the vantage point of mobility also reveals the wider institutional fragility of Ecowas, which was established to enhance cooperation between the states in… Full article available on The Conversation.

The limits of counting: What Europe misses about African mobility

Amanda Bisong and Franzisca Zanker

European migration debates have become fixated on one metric: reducing the number of people arriving. But numbers alone cannot explain why people move, how they navigate increasingly restrictive systems, or what happens to them along the way. This is precisely why African migration research matters. That is, research on migration in and from Africa, in particular by Africa-based scholars. Such research reveals the dynamics that numbers obscure, challenges the assumptions that shape European policy-making, and brings into focus the lived experiences of people whose mobility is far more complex… Full article available at the website of the Migration Policy Centre.

Refugee protection in Egypt: what’s behind the return train to Sudan

Dina Wahba and Franzisca Zanker

Egypt has hosted more Sudanese refugees than any other country since the start of the 2023 civil war. However, Egypt has a contentious history of refugee protection. In recent years, refugees have faced hostile sentiments from host communities and rising xenophobia. Sudanese refugees in particular have been denied access to public spaces or rental property, and have faced physical violence. Now they are being “voluntarily”returned to Sudan via a special train. Full article available at The Conversation.

Feminist Migration Futures? Reflections on a Feminist Migration Policy (2024)

Toni Cela, Anita Ghimire, Meena Poudel, Sarah Scuzzarello, Mary Setrana, Marcia Vera Espinoza and Franzisca Zanker

Feminist migration scholars have long discussed how to best understand and mitigate the effects of intersectional experiences of oppression on the lives of migrants. With the newly emerging debates and practices out of the field of feminist foreign policy, the authors decided to hold a roundtable discussion at the 21st IMISCOE Annual Conference in Lisbon – in a hybrid manner – to consider what a feminist migration policy might look like and whether it is even feasible. This blog post summarises their conversations. Full article available at Sussex Centre for Migration Research Blog

Contested Mobility Norms in Africa: Reconciling Visions, Policies and Practice (2024)

Franzisca Zanker and Amanda Bisong

Migration from Africa will not only occupy European politics in the future; it is already shaping politics in Africa today and is an important factor for economic development. Migration partnerships could be beneficial for both continents. This report offers a differentiated understanding of migration and mobility on the African continent in order to develop meaningful strategies for migration-related cooperation between European and African countries. Full report available at the Heinrich Boell Stiftung.

Too many nerds in one room: Theories, theorization, and deconstructing categories (2023)

Franzisca Zanker and Paolo Gaibazzi

In March 2023, 25 AMMODI members and associates met to discuss the research, topics, categories, theories and methodologies of Africanist migration research, including structural inequalities that play into what is researched, written and heard about. The linked post is based on the discussions in one of the three breakout groups on who makes theories, what can they explain, and who listens to them, as well as how categories are made. Full text available on the AMMODI Blog

Protective exclusion as a postcolonial strategy: Rethinking deportations and sovereignty in the Gambia (2022)

Franzisca Zanker and Judith Altrogge

In 2019, the tiny West African country of the Gambia imposed a moratorium on all deportation flights from the EU. Though West African countries are notoriously reluctant to cooperate on forced returns, such a moratorium was unheard of and caused an uproar within diplomatic circles in Europe. In the age of deportability, why is deporting ‘unwanted’ migrants an illustration of a nation’s sovereign rights, yet refusing to accept deportees is not? Article available at Security Dialogue