Introduction: Challenging Migration Studies through Addressing Critical Gaps in Studying Migration by Boat

Elaine Burroughs and Kira Williams

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, with the fleeing of people from a range of conflict zones and the increased restricted access to areas such as the European Union (EU) and countries like the United States, Canada and Australia, international human migration by boat has become more frequent, sensationalised and precarious. Migration by boat has gained significant attention from a range of actors, including enforcement authorities, political elites, media and non-/intergovernmental organisations. Indeed, this book was written during a turbulent time, in which the topic of migration by boat was presented by many in positions of elite status as a 'crisis'. The sea has increasingly become a space of hope/desperation for migrants, as well as a place of geopolitical conflict over territory and sovereignty (Mountz 2013).

For these reasons, this edited book aims to explore how migration by boat is researched, the geopolitical focus on it and the way in which it is discursively represented. This collection re-orientates the focus of the current literature on migration by boat – that is, from humanitarian and legal realities (e.g., Carling and Hernandez-Carretero 2011; Gammeltoft-Hansen 2008) to the empirical relationship between data and methodologies, legal regimes and geopolitics and discourses. What also concerns us in this volume is the intertwined relationship between these three distinct elements. The book originated as the result of a paper session where we identified major gaps in studying migration by boat in 2016. The key objective of this collection is to offer a platform for new and established scholars to explore migration by boat through these three under-researched entities.

This chapter briefly outlines what the book is, why we made it, how it addresses current important issues in migration studies, what its wider benefits are and what to expect inside. As previously referred to, it generally studies three crucial, yet understudied, issues in contemporary migration by boat: data and methodology, legal regimes and geopolitics and discourses. We approach these issues using empirically focused, novel methods through specific case studies. The chapters in this volume are interdisciplinary in nature and are drawn from key disciplines in the field of migration studies, including geography, sociology, political studies and linguistics. Furthermore, the contexts examined here emerge from a range of geographical contexts (Europe, Canada and Australia). Although a range of geographical locations are examined, this book does not provide an exhaustive account of the topic of migration by boat. Rather, it explores it through three specific lenses. Furthermore, not only does each chapter examine a specific case in relation to the core topic of migration by boat, each chapter also relates to the other chapters within this book; therefore, although each chapter stands in its own and can be read in this way, the book can also be read as a single interrelated entity that examines migration by boat through the themes of data, geopolitics and discourse.

Three major benefits of the book are its general contribution to studying migration by boat, providing evidence on this issue for contemporary political debates, and, last, in giving critical insight into social theory and human rights law. The book has three sections: section 1 explores data and methodology in two chapters, section 2 uncovers legal regimes and geopolitics in three chapters and section 3 studies discourses on migration by boat in three chapters. We then summarise and build on our general findings in a final chapter.

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE BOOK

We first met and discussed migration by boat and border enforcement in late 2015. We found that the issue's contemporary relevance and relative deficiency in empirical papers warranted the creation of a paper session to explore these topics, which we led at the American Association of Geographers 2016 annual meeting in Chicago, the United States. At this time, and as further described later in this book, we identified three core topics in studying migration by boat which needed immediate empirical research: data and methodology, legal regimes and geopolitics and discourses. Based on this insightful dialogue between us, the presenters, many of whom are contributors in this volume, and the audience, we agreed to co-edit a volume to address these topics insofar as we could for wider scholarship.

We solicited contributions to this volume based on those three themes. We quickly received proposals not only from those who presented at our panel but also from a number of influential scholars in the field who also saw an urgency for these research projects. We reviewed our accepted proposals, making modifications to more tightly fit them to this book's themes. It turned out that Rowman & Littlefield International, our ultimate publisher, actively sought submissions like ours for its 'Challenging Migration Studies' series. This series challenges migration studies as past scholars have established it; it calls for new theory, methodologies and data to move us beyond policy-oriented frameworks in order to engage the complex changes in the global migration regime. Given our book's goals of filling and expanding critical gaps in current migration studies literature with respect to migration by boat, we agreed that 'Challenging Migration Studies' was a perfect fit and submitted our later accepted proposal to Rowman & Littlefield International.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND JUSTIFICATION OF THE BOOK

This is an edited book that focuses on crucial, yet understudied, issues in contemporary migration by boat...