Evren Yalaz | Pompeu Fabra University (original) (raw)

Papers by Evren Yalaz

IMISCOE research series, 2022

The unprecedented demographic transformations due to global human mobility and its multifaceted s... more The unprecedented demographic transformations due to global human mobility and its multifaceted social, political, and economic consequences in both countries of reception and origin, have motivated an increase of interest in having reliable information and deeper knowledge about migratory patterns and the subsequent accommodation of diversity issues both by policymakers and scholars. This is especially true considering that there is a general consensus that this phenomenon is a long-term trend of our more recent history, and it is featured by being complex and unpredictable while giving rise to a permanent atmosphere of uncertainty. We need methodological tools for increasing the understanding of our basic questions on why people move, why they move to certain countries rather than others, what we can do about forced migrants' vulnerable situations, and how we can link cohesion and diversity, human rights, and security, and a long list of issues and frameworks that shape migration studies today. To have a universal toolkit for producing knowledge is almost a naive request. What we have learned after several decades of research is that migration research needs to be sited and contextualised (King, 2018), and always placed within a given process (Zapata-Barrero, 2018). Most migration-related problems have to do with how people perceive them and behave accordingly, rather than having objective value-free understandings. In other words, migration research is mostly about interpretations rather than facts. Hence, there is an importance to digging into a methodological technique that has a particular role in producing knowledge by analysing how people, institutions, and governments interpret human mobility and diversity dynamics. The use of qualitative research (QR) is one of the key imprints of how migration research has been developed over recent decades (Yalaz & Zapata-Barrero, 2018). The prominence of qualitative research in the research database of the Migration

IMISCOE Research Series, 2018

Qualitative Research Journal, 2020

PurposeThis article aims to set a roadmap for an ethical programme, which we call “qualitative mi... more PurposeThis article aims to set a roadmap for an ethical programme, which we call “qualitative migration research ethics” (QMRE). It is a scoping review that maps current ethical challenges that migration scholars often face and provide guidance, while acknowledging the fact that many researchers deal with ethical issues on a case-by-case basis.Design/methodology/approachBy connecting three lines of debates – ethics in social sciences, in qualitative research and in migration studies – this article addresses the following core questions: What are the particular ethical dilemmas in qualitative migration research (QMR)? How do migration researchers deal with these ethical dilemmas? What is the role of universal ethical codes of conduct and case-by-case ethical considerations in dealing with particular situations?FindingsThis review demonstrates that special aspects of migration research context, e.g. participants' mobility, potential vulnerability and migration as a politicized is...

Ethnic and Racial Studies

IMISCOE Research Series, 2018

When conducting qualitative research, migration scholars are often confronted with particular eth... more When conducting qualitative research, migration scholars are often confronted with particular ethical issues. Since migration researchers often work on vulnerable, hard-toreach, and sensitive populations, the protection of participants and their information may become a challenging task. The exploratory and flexible nature of qualitative research proves that standardized codes of ethical conduct cannot adequately address emerging issues during the qualitative research process. This article aims to map current ethical challenges that migration scholars often face as well as to provide some guidance while acknowledging the fact that many researchers deal with ethical challenges on a case-bycase basis. It starts by placing qualitative migration research ethics (QMRE) at the crossroads of qualitative migration research and research ethics debates and reviewing the main issues of this emerging literature. Then, we map ethical issues involved in different research stages including before, during, and after the fieldwork. We conclude insisting on the particularities of the critical ethical consciousness in migration studies. We also claim the need to incorporate these ethical issues in higher education programs and the need of teaching the best ethical principles in classroom environments to young migration researchers.

Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2021

This paper studies the dynamics of political mobilization of two transnational organizations – As... more This paper studies the dynamics of political mobilization of two transnational organizations – Assemblea Nacional Catalana and Marea Granate – formed by Spanish/Catalan migrants in different European cities. By conducting cross-organization and cross-city research, we analyze why and how migrants’ transnational networks perceive themselves to be stronger in some cities and weaker in others. This paper demonstrates that there is no one-size-fits-all mechanism that explains perceived organizational strength in all contexts. The same urban context might provide different opportunities and constraints depending on organizational characteristics of migrant movements. Our study shows the ways that organizations’ political agenda and their preferred action forms affect the perception of positionality as they navigate in different urban contexts with diverging national/local political settings, political cultures, civil society networks, and migration trajectories. The empirical data in this research stem from a content analysis of the events organized by the organizations and semi-structured in-depth interviews with organizations’ representatives.

Preprint available here: https://migrademo.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/preprint-for-OA_04102021.pdf

Qualitative Research Journal, 2020

This article aims to set a roadmap for an ethical programme, which we call “qualitative migration... more This article aims to set a roadmap for an ethical programme, which we call “qualitative migration research ethics” (QMRE). It is a scoping review that maps current ethical challenges that migration scholars often face and provide guidance, while acknowledging the fact that many researchers deal with ethical issues on a case-by-case basis. By connecting three lines of debates – ethics in social sciences, in qualitative research and in migration studies – this article addresses the following core questions: What are the particular ethical dilemmas in qualitative migration research (QMR)? How do migration researchers deal with these ethical dilemmas? What is the role of universal ethical codes of conduct and case-by-case ethical considerations in dealing with particular situations? This review demonstrates that special aspects of migration research context, e.g. participants' mobility, potential vulnerability and migration as a politicized issue as well as the flexible and exploratory nature of qualitative research require particular ethical awareness that cannot be sufficiently addressed by standardized guidelines. It proposes that efforts to raise ethical awareness must go beyond researchers' ethical confessions or blind adherence to pre-fixed guidance. Researchers must have critical “ethical radar” before, during and after their fieldwork; not only while working on extreme and vulnerable cases but also while doing all kind of research regardless of the level of vulnerability. Last but not least, this article claims the need for including critical ethical consciousness substantially in higher education programmes at the very beginning of the research career.

GRITIM-UPF Working Paper Series, 2020

When conducting qualitative research, migration scholars are often confronted with particular eth... more When conducting qualitative research, migration scholars are often confronted with particular ethical issues. Since migration researchers often work on vulnerable, hard-to-reach, and sensitive populations, the protection of participants and their information may become a challenging task. The exploratory and flexible nature of qualitative research proves that standardized codes of ethical conduct cannot adequately address emerging issues during the qualitative research process. This article aims to map current ethical challenges that migration scholars often face as well as to provide some guidance while acknowledging the fact that many researchers deal with ethical challenges on a case-by-case basis. It starts by placing qualitative migration research ethics (QMRE) at the crossroads of qualitative migration research and research ethics debates and reviewing the main issues of this emerging literature. Then, we map ethical issues involved in different research stages including before, during, and after the fieldwork. We conclude insisting on the particularities of the critical ethical consciousness in migration studies. We also claim the need to incorporate these ethical issues in higher education programs and the need of teaching the best ethical principles in classroom environments to young migration researchers.

As the dynamics of migration in Europe has been continuously changing, diverse empirical, theoret... more As the dynamics of migration in Europe has been continuously changing, diverse empirical, theoretical, and methodological challenges have defined the landscape of migration research. This paper aims to reflect on the current state and overtime development of Qualitative Migration Research in Europe (QMR-E). For this purpose, we have conducted paper-by-paper analysis on original articles published between 2000 and 2016 in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS) and Ethnic and Racial Studies (ERS), two leading peer-reviewed journals in the field of migration research. Through this overtime analysis, we mapped the continuities and changes taking place in QMR-E with respect to their qualitative research methods, designs, research sites and groups, multi-level of analysis, and topics. In this respect, we aim to identify the dominant trends and existent gaps in QMR-E literature and invite scholars to further develop the existing research agenda and to engage in new research directions.

This study analyzes variations in immigrants’ political activism by focusing on Turkish immigrant... more This study analyzes variations in immigrants’ political activism by focusing on Turkish immigrants and their organizations in Germany and France. The existing literature prioritizes either immigrants’ group-based resources or host countries’ institutional structures as determinants of immigrants’ political mobilization and participation in their host country politics. While these studies provide rich accounts on internal and external political opportunities for immigrants’ political activism, they fall short of explaining when and how immigrant groups mobilize on available political opportunities and become active participants in host country politics. This study contributes to the current literature by exploring the role of host country inter-ethnic context and the way that immigrant groups perceive their status there. The findings of this research show that immigrant groups who see themselves as holding a disadvantaged position in their host country’s inter-ethnic context are more willing to become politically active and improve their perceived disadvantaged position compared to other groups. On the other hand, immigrant groups who perceive themselves to occupy a higher position in host-country’s inter-ethnic context feel less of an incentive to become politically active and instead prefer to maintain their distinction from other immigrant groups who have been actively combating against social inequalities and discrimination.

Books by Evren Yalaz

This open access book covers the main issues, challenges and techniques concerning the applicatio... more This open access book covers the main issues, challenges and techniques concerning the application of qualitative methodologies to the study of migration. It discusses theoretical, epistemological and empirical questions that must be considered before, during, and after undertaking qualitative research in migration studies. It also covers recent innovative developments and addresses the key issues and major challenges that qualitative migration research may face at different stages i.e. crafting the research questions, defining approaches, developing concepts and theoretical frameworks, mapping categories, selecting cases, dealing with concerns of self-reflection, collecting and processing empirical evidence through various techniques, including visual data, dealing with ethical issues, and developing policy-research dialogues. Each chapter discusses relative strengths and limitations of qualitative research. The chapters also identify the main drivers for qualitative research development in migration studies. It is a unique volume as it brings together a multidisciplinary perspective as well as illustrations of different issues derived from the research experience of the recognized authors. One additional value of this book is its geographic focus on Europe. It seeks to explore theoretical and methodological issues that are raised by distinctive features of the European context. This volume will be a useful reference source for scholars and professionals in migration studies and in social sciences as well. The publication is also addressed to graduate and post-graduate students and, more generally, to those who embark on the task of doing qualitative research for the first time in the field of migration.

IMISCOE research series, 2022

IMISCOE Research Series, 2018

Qualitative Research Journal, 2020

Ethnic and Racial Studies

IMISCOE Research Series, 2018

Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2021

Preprint available here: https://migrademo.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/preprint-for-OA_04102021.pdf

Qualitative Research Journal, 2020

GRITIM-UPF Working Paper Series, 2020

When conducting qualitative research, migration scholars are often confronted with particular eth... more When conducting qualitative research, migration scholars are often confronted with particular ethical issues. Since migration researchers often work on vulnerable, hard-to-reach, and sensitive populations, the protection of participants and their information may become a challenging task. The exploratory and flexible nature of qualitative research proves that standardized codes of ethical conduct cannot adequately address emerging issues during the qualitative research process. This article aims to map current ethical challenges that migration scholars often face as well as to provide some guidance while acknowledging the fact that many researchers deal with ethical challenges on a case-by-case basis. It starts by placing qualitative migration research ethics (QMRE) at the crossroads of qualitative migration research and research ethics debates and reviewing the main issues of this emerging literature. Then, we map ethical issues involved in different research stages including before, during, and after the fieldwork. We conclude insisting on the particularities of the critical ethical consciousness in migration studies. We also claim the need to incorporate these ethical issues in higher education programs and the need of teaching the best ethical principles in classroom environments to young migration researchers.