Interdisciplinary perspectives on migration and asylum

Migration and asylum are highly complex phenomena that impact many different aspects of social life. Addressing migration and asylum therefore calls for a plurality of analytical perspectives which, taken together, can provide a more comprehensive understanding. Interdisciplinarity is a crucial tool to unravel some of this inherent complexity and can serve to illuminate those aspects of migration and asylum that remain hidden, unknown, or distorted when only using a single lens of analysis. By bringing together empirical insights, theoretical advances, and methodological pluralism across disciplinary boundaries—and extending beyond academia—we can more effectively identify the current shortcomings of migration policy and governance. The upcoming DEMIG Talk series aims to highlight the diversity of disciplines that relate to the field of migration, emphasizing the importance of combining different angles to better grasp human mobility whilst also calling for increasing cross-pollination and knowledge exchange.

The next session of the DEMIG talk series will take place on 13 November 2025 from 15:00 to 16:00 (CET). Join us for a compelling talk by Gisela P. Zapata, Assistant Professor in the Department of Demography at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, who will present findings from her comparative research on Venezuelan migrants’ documentation journeys across eight Latin American countries. Drawing on 143 qualitative interviews, the talk explores how regularization is not a singular legal event but a complex, non-linear process shaped by shifting legal frameworks and fragile documentation systems. The presentation will shed light on the emergence of diverse regularization pathways, transitions between legal statuses, and the lived realities of (ir)regularity in the region.

Complexity and uneveness in migrants’ regularization pathways in Latin America 

Gisela P. Zapata, Federal University of Minas Gerais

Thursday, 13 November 2025, 15:00-16:00 CET | online (Link to the Zoom meeting)

Drawing on qualitative data from 143 interviews with Venezuelan migrants across eight Latin American countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay – this paper presents a comparative analysis of migrants' documentation itineraries vis-à-vis regularisation pathways in these destination countries. While the existing literature has documented shifts in migration and refugee policy over the past decade, less attention has been paid to how such transformations have impacted on migrants’ regularisation pathways. We argue that regularisation is not a singular legal outcome, but a dynamic, often non-linear process shaped by the proliferation of legal-administrative instruments and widespread documentation fragility.

The findings point to a regional trend towards the complexification of documentation itineraries, resulting in the emergence or expansion of irregularity and the development of diverse regularisation pathways. This complexification often involves the succession of temporary and permanent statuses, transitions between administrative and asylum regularisation pathways, and periods of regularity interwoven with irregularity. This complexity contributes to greater legal stratification and increasingly hazardous and prolonged processes for securing permanent legal status. This paper sheds light on the intersection between legal frameworks and individual trajectories, offering new perspectives on (ir)regularity, rights access, and the governance of migration in Latin America. 

Bio: Gisela P. Zapata is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Demography and researcher at the Centre for Regional Development and Planning (CEDEPLAR) at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. She holds a PhD in Human Geography from Newcastle University (UK). She is a fellow of the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and founding member of the Research Group ‘Comparative Analysis on International Migration and Displacement in the Americas’ [CAMINAR]. Her research focuses on international migration and displacement, migration policies, remittances, and the migration-development and humanitarian-development nexus in Latin America.

Migrants’ Political and Social Participation in Rural Italy: Empirical Evidence

Giorgia Zogu, University of Vienna

Thursday, 23 October 2025, 14:00-15:00 CEST | online 

This presentation explores opportunities for political and societal participation of migrants by examining rural case studies from selected regions in Italy. Despite common assumptions about rural political disengagement or populist leanings, rural areas are diverse political and social spaces shaped by socio-economic, cultural, and historical disparities. Through a comparative lens, the webinar analyzes structural conditions, local governance, party system influences, and local and regional actors that support or hinder political and civic engagement, as well as societal participation in rural contexts.

Giorgia Zogu explores how local factors shape immigrant political participation in rural Italy. Comparing nine diverse municipalities, she finds that individual traits (such as language and employment) and community dynamics (including local institutions and social networks) influence engagement.
By focusing on the Italian case, the webinar aims to identify both common patterns and context-specific dynamics that contribute to understanding political behavior and societal engagement beyond urban-centric narratives.

Bio: Giorgia Zogu is a political scientist specializing in migration, minority rights, and political participation. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Vienna and was previously a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at Eurac Research in Bolzano, Italy (Institute for Minority Rights & Center for Migration and Societal Change). Her doctoral research examines the political participation of individuals with immigrant backgrounds in rural areas of Italy, with a particular focus on how rurality influences access to and forms of engagement. Furthermore, she conducted research on the recruitment, representation and political experiences of candidates with immigrant backgrounds in local-level electoral processes. Beyond that, Giorgia Zogu actively engages in science communication through editorial and creative roles, such as in the DoctorIt! (University of Vienna) and AutIn (Eurac Research) podcasts.

Between knowledge and assumptions: The migrant in the eyes of the policymaker

Katharina Natter, Leiden University  

Thursday, 18 September 2025, 14:00-15:00 CEST | hybrid format: University for Continuing Education Krems, Room SE W 1.03 + online 

What role does expert knowledge play in migration policymaking? While previous research focused on differentiating instrumental from symbolic knowledge use, this paper advances scholarly insights into equally important, yet under-theorized knowledge practices: knowledge non-use and misuse. Based on a comparative analysis of justification narratives surrounding Austrian, Italian and Dutch migration reforms since the 2000s, this paper delves into knowledge use dynamics across three policy areas: counter-smuggling, asylum reception, and migrant worker attraction. The analysis shows how “the migrant” is portrayed in fundamentally different ways across policy areas, with clear consequences on whether knowledge is used, cherry-picked, disregarded, or even distorted. 

Bio: Katharina Natter is Senior Assistant Professor at the Institute of Political Science at Leiden University. She researches migration politics from a comparative perspective, with a particular focus on the role of political regimes in immigration policymaking. Katharina’s work seeks to advance migration policy theory and to connect it with broader social science research on modern statehood and political change. Hereby, she also hopes to contribute to the wider academic effort of bridging theorizations of socio-political processes in the ‘Global South’ and the ‘Global North’.

Katharina has conducted extensive field research on the politics of migration in Morocco and Tunisia, but has also worked on European migration policies and on the link between migration and development. She has published in International Migration Review, Population and Development Review, Political Research Exchange, Comparative Migration Studies and the Journal of North African Studies. Her recent book, The Politics of Immigration Beyond Liberal States: Morocco and Tunisia in Comparative Perspective, has just been published by Cambridge University Press.

Katharina received her PhD in Political Sociology from the University of Amsterdam in 2019. Prior to that, she worked at the International Migration Institute (University of Oxford) and studied Comparative Politics at SciencesPo Paris. Since 2011, she is also involved in Asylos, an NGO providing Country of Origin research for lawyers representing asylum seekers.