Heraklion (Crete), Greece May 16-17, 2024, as part of the IAKE Congress
on the topic
Conflict, flight, and migration
Keynotes
Prof. Dr. Louis Henri Seukwa (HAW Hamburg)
Prof. Dr. Andreas Zick (Universität Bielefeld)
Vassia Danaskou, MSc (Médecins Sans Frontières)
With Russia's attack on Ukraine in February 2022, war is once again raging in Europe. This event not only marked a turning point in terms of peace within Europe, but also forced a large number of Ukrainian citizens to flee their home country. At the same time, precarious conditions in refugee camps and on the sea routes to Europe have persisted for years at Europe's borders – especially on the island of Lesbos. Regarding the various current refugee and migration movements, the global political and economic circumstances are often ignored. The causes of migration and flight tend to be observed at an individual level or attributed to upheavals in the societies of origin. Such short-sighted explanations often go with stigmatization and narratives that are spread by the media in potential host countries, for example. Reflecting on the actual causes of conflicts and (refugee) migration as well as the scope of such circumstances offers the potential to examine the appropriateness of individual attitudes and positioning on the one hand, and to question widespread stigmas and narratives on the other hand.
The following questions serve as points of reference for reflecting on the conditions under which conflict and migration dynamics arise and the associated problems and obstacles faced by those affected in the countries of origin as well as in the host countries, which can be addressed using theoretical and empirical approaches at both a micro and macro level:
