Defining Migration

About the lecture

In this module, we think about how migration is defined and conceptualised, focusing on: (i) differences between scholarship on the subject and public discourse, and some characteristics of migration studies as an academic discipline; (ii) the migrant as an ambiguous concept which lacks a legal definition, and how this leads to popular misperceptions regarding what migrants are; (iii) the UN’s definition of the long-term international migrant as someone who moves to a country other than their usual residence for at least a year; (iv) the difficulties in using this definition to measure migration, owing to limitations in the available data.

About the lecturer

Dr Tahir Zaman is Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Sussex. His research focuses on migration and displacement, with particular emphases on refugee agency, faith-based humanitarianism, and peacebuilding. He is author of Islamic Traditions of Refuge in the Crises of Iraq and Syria (2016).