Making Sense of Migrants’ Reasoning When Engaging in High-Risk Migration Journeys

People migrating has become a growing concern of politicians from countries of the global north since many of the global south take high risks when trying to see their dreams fulfilled. They often pay a high or even deadly price when engaging with people smugglers and hide in vehicles, containers or enter unseaworthy boats. But even when they managed a high-risk journey, many find themselves in unfortunate situations, for months and years in limbo in “processing camps”, or are send back. Others might manage to get into unprotected work relationships, where they are vulnerable to heavy exploitation. What seems “irrational” from the perspective of the global north might still make sense from the migrants’ perspective. Therefore, attempts to inform the potential migrants about the reality of the migration experience has hardly contributed to reduce migration streams.

The presentation reviews research on migration to illustrate how the “modes of reasoning” (Schulz & Zinn, 2023; Zinn, 2008, 2016; Zinn & Schulz, 2024) people turn to when making risky decisions can help to understand migration practices. Zinn’s framework was originally developed based on research on a wide range of activities. Nevertheless, a growing body of research can help to understand how evidence-based rationality, wishful thinking and embodied experiences combine in reasonable high-risk migration.

References

Zinn, J. O. (2008). Heading into the unknown: Everyday strategies for managing risk and uncertainty. Health, Risk & Society, 10(5), 439-450.

Zinn, J. O. (2016). ‘In-between’ and other reasonable ways to deal with risk and uncertainty. Health, Risk & Society, 18(7-8).

Zinn, J. O., & Schulz, M. (2024). Rationalization, enchantment, and subjectivation – lessons for risk communication from a New Phenomenology of everyday reasoning. Journal of Risk Research, 27(2), 295-312.