The Glaring Gap: Undervalued and Unrecognized Knowledges and Expertise in International Migration Research

Abstract

As we reach the 60th anniversary of the International Migration Review, a key question for those engaged in migration research remains: has migration studies become more inclusive of knowledges and expertise outside the Global North? In short, the answer is no, and both the passage of time and the persistent awareness of this inequality require urgent and immediate action. In this article, we draw on our experiences as first- and second-generation migrant women, and as practitioner-researchers working in the humanitarian sector, to reflect on the significance of undervalued and unrecognized knowledges and expertise on migration research. We share insights from our recent work with the Red Cross Red Crescent Global Migration Lab, an initiative established to conduct migration research that informs humanitarian operations and advocacy, and we reflect on key opportunities and challenges that have impacted our efforts to generate knowledge that is more inclusive of migrants, and of practitioners and researchers from the Global South. In doing so, we highlight the possibility—even if still limited—of doing research that engages more ethically and meaningfully with those whose knowledge and expertise has long been excluded from dominant debates. We do this with a sense of hope and urgency that, by the 70th anniversary of this journal, the landscape of migration research will have changed—as a result of a concerted investment of time, resources and new ways of working—to broaden the questions asked, the objects of study and the methodologies adopted.