We checked 8 migration studies journals on Friday, October 17, 2025 using the Crossref API. For the period October 10 to October 16, we retrieved 26 new paper(s) in 6 journal(s).

Comparative Migration Studies

Integrating lifestyle and welfare aspirations in (im)mobility decisions: perspectives from a relatively disadvantaged group in Tangier, Morocco
Dominique Jolivet
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This article explores how perceptions of welfare regimes shape aspired lifestyles, understandings of the good life, and (im)mobility aspirations among individuals with disadvantaged social positions in Tangier, Morocco. By comparing notions of welfare in the lifestyle migration and the welfare migration literatures, the study challenges taken-for-granted assumptions that relative privilege or social mobility in the contexts of destination is a sine qua non condition to put lifestyle ahead of economic considerations in (im)mobility decisions. The findings, based on the analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews, a survey of 500 Moroccan men and women, and fieldwork observations, highlights the agency of individuals in disadvantaged positions, who prefer living where their lifestyles align more closely with their moral values. The article contributes to the lifestyle in migration approach by highlighting the subjectivities of entangled lifestyle and welfare considerations in (im)mobility decision-making. It invites to pay more attention to how meanings and social categorisation processes that differentiate between more or less advantaged individuals shapes the framing of research on lifestyle and (im)mobility. It also proposes that future studies and policy making understand welfare as more than a structure and consider lifestyle beyond its experiential dimension.
Rethinking integration: applying the capabilities approach to immigrant incorporation
Eva Fortes
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Ethnic and Racial Studies

Australian racial capitalism, Indigenous exploitation and the racial regime of recognition and reconciliation
Debbie Bargallie, Alana Lentin, Kieron Turner
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Civic activism abroad: a diachronic analysis of Tunisian migrant organizations in Italy
Francesca Messineo
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Reel freedom: Black film culture in early twentieth-century New York City
Theodoric Manley
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Mechanisms, smoke and fun-house mirrors: when naming racism is not enough
Louise Seamster
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International Migration

Regimes of Proof: On Contested Identities in Border and Migration Control
Kelly Bescherer, Stephan Scheel
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The capacity to establish migrants' legal identities is key to states' attempts to control access to their territories. This paper introduces the concept of regimes of proof to shed light on this often‐neglected aspect of border and migration control and related migrant struggles. Negotiations around legal identities play a central role in deportation, but also in migrants' access to rights and government services. At the current conjuncture, this tension has become particularly relevant: new digital means of identification such as biometric residency cards or the analysis of mobile phone data are rapidly being introduced across the globe to establish and fix migrants' identities and to determine their country of origin. Drawing on ethnographic research in West Africa and Germany, we consider the implications of shifting regimes of proof in the context of asylum, deportation and regularisation procedures to highlight the centrality of identification to all aspects of migration management.

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

The boundaries of grievability: when do migrant lives matter to political representatives in Slovakia?
MĂĄria MokrĂĄ, Ivana RapoĆĄ BoĆŸič
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Precarity or empowerment: rethinking racism through pre-migration liminality
Qing Tingting Liu
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Another battle of the have-nots? the impact of immigration on the poverty risk of Western European natives
Martina Bazzoli, Joan E. Madia, Federico PodestĂ 
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Identifying and addressing stigma of return migrants: insights from Nepal's reintegration governance actors
Rojika Maharjan, Katie Kuschminder, Anja van Heelsum
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Being and experiencing: the role that self-assessed identities play in experienced political representation of minoritized migrant-background citizens through an intersectional lens
Anuschka Peelen, Nella Geurts, Saskia Glas
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‘Away’ at ‘Home’? The role of anchors in identity formation of transnationally mobile children of Taiwanese entrepreneurs and expatriates
Shiuan Christine Pan
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Does a healthy immigrant effect exist for internal migrants? Findings from a representative sample of 5.4 million older Americans
Katherine Ahlin, Alyssa McAlpine, Esme Fuller-Thomson
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The ethical life of spontaneity: refugees’ and local responders’ understandings of ‘Humanitarianism’ in Lebanon, Jordan, and TĂŒrkiye
Estella Carpi, Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Sara AlHelali Saab, Amal Shaiah Istanbouli
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Journal of Race Ethnicity and Politics

Reconciling Theories and Patterns in Black-White Voter Turnout Through a Mini Meta-Analysis
Alexandria J. Davis
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Recent voter turnout data has revealed a consistent and growing turnout gap between Black and White Americans since the 2012 Presidential election. Scholars have attributed this gap to an increase in restrictive voting laws. However, few have considered the decreased effectiveness of long-standing models of political behavior on Black voter turnout as the American political landscape has shifted. This note seeks to uncover patterns in recent Presidential elections that display a lack of effectiveness of prominent voter turnout models for Black Americans due to disparate socializing experiences in a post-Obama context like voter suppression and a global pandemic. It employs models previously used by Leighley and Vedlitz (1999) to evaluate and compare turnout models for Black and White individuals with mini-meta analysis. This paper utilizes the 2016 and 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-election Survey (CMPS) and the 2016 and 2020 American National Election Study to establish models and measure their impact on Black and White voter turnout. I find support that prominent turnout models behave differently in a post-Obama context like income, length of residence, group consciousness, and group threat while some models behave differently for Black and white voters like political interest and political efficacy. These findings assert that new turnout models need to be established to better understand the Black electorate in a post-Obama context.

Population Space and Place

Recentring Intimacy in Hopping (Im)mobilities of Academic Precarity
Ieva Puzo, Aija Lulle
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This article introduces the notion of ‘hopping (im)mobilities’, referring to relatively short‐term relocations—socially and geographically—within neoliberal academia. The data is drawn from two research projects focused on mobile researchers making Latvia and Japan their more permanent place. Our fieldwork reveals that researchers’ affective ties play a central role in place‐making. Whilst career progression and achievements matter for welfare and subjective wellbeing, we argue that recentring intimacy—connections to people and places—serves as a valuable analytical device that sheds light on the constitutive role of relationships in producing spaces, including academic knowledge spaces, and invites to pose much broader questions about the entrenched epistemologies of Western knowledge hubs, perceived undesirable peripheries and place from the standpoints of researchers themselves.
Does International Mobility Pay Off? Comparing Labour Market Success of Recent German Remigrants and the German Stayer Population
Antonia Görtz
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The article presents analysis of German remigrants' individual labour market success. Whereas some authors stress that remigration is associated with failure of emigration, other researchers underscore that remigrants' careers could benefit from their international experiences. Two questions are examined: First, does international experience pay off in terms of labour market success? Second, does remigrants' labour market success depend on other social factors? To answer these questions, German remigrants and the German stayer population are compared regarding wages, occupational status and unemployment risk. Thus, not only employment conditions are analysed, but also labour market participation. Based on data from the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) and German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP), regressions are estimated. Results indicate that compared to stayers, German remigrants generally benefit in terms of wages and partly in terms of occupational status. Social inequalities can be reduced through international mobility for individuals with non‐German origins and for non‐graduated remigrants, but are reinforced regarding gender.
Decoding Migration Capability: (Im)Mobility Decision‐Making in the Ukrainian Population
RenĂĄta HosnedlovĂĄ, Iryna Maidanik
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This study investigates the spatial and temporal dimensions of im/mobility within the population of western Ukraine. It challenges the typical focus on receiving countries by examining both the capabilities and motivations for staying in Ukraine or considering emigration. Based on data from 1242 individual questionnaires collected in a pre‐invasion survey in western Ukraine, this study provides a comparative analysis of return migrants and non‐migrants, examining the relationship between past migration experience and the likelihood of future (im)mobility. We construct a novel migration capability scale that situates migration capability along a continuum and offers a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of place‐based decision‐making (grounded in the fulfilment of basic economic needs, transnational social ties, risk attitude, and foreign language proficiency). Only 11% of respondents reported having no migration potential, while those with the highest migration capabilities ‐ including both returnees and non‐migrants ‐ were often undecided about their future mobility. Regression analyses show that past migration experience enhances migration capability, yet decision‐making is ultimately influenced by personal motivations, socio‐demographic factors, and the evolving relationship between population and place. These findings have important implications for migration policy and spatial planning.
Beyond Family Connections: The Sibling Effect in Internal Migration in the 21st Century China
Yuyao Li, Youqin Huang
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There has been a renewed interest in the role of social networks in internal migration. Previous research has indicated potential associations between family ties and migration. However, most studies have focused on the parental impact, and few have studied the role of siblings, especially over an extended period. Utilising longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) spanning from 2010 to 2020, this study examines the impact of siblings’ migration on one's migration behaviour in the following decade. Our study finds that; (i) having migrant siblings significantly increases the likelihood of one's migration behaviour in the following decade; (ii) migration patterns between siblings and respondents tend to be similar, with siblings' intercity migration significantly encouraging respondents' intercity migration, and siblings' interprovincial migration significantly promoting respondents’ interprovincial migration, especially to the same destination province; and (iii) the sibling effect is particularly strong when migrant siblings are close in age (< 2 years of age difference) and respondents have more migrant siblings, but negative when migrant siblings are highly educated. These findings contribute to a better understanding of internal migration from the perspective of extended family ties. The existence of the sibling effect implies that more inclusive internal migration policies that consider the extended family members, such as siblings, may be needed.
Evaluating the Impact of Resource‐Exhausted Cities' Supporting Policies: Insights From Population Settlement
Zhenglong Cong, Xiufang Cao, Chunlai Yuan
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Resource‐exhausted cities grapple with an amalgam of challenges such as economic decline, substantial unemployment, and pressing environmental crises, posing a global conundrum. Population settlement is a cardinal driver of economic growth; hence, strategies to retain inhabitants are quintessential for the transformative growth of these cities. Leveraging a panel data set spanning 2003–2019 of Chinese county‐level jurisdictions, this study employs the staggered difference‐in‐differences (DID) model to discern the implications and underlying mechanisms of the resource‐exhausted cities' supporting policies (RECSP) on employment rates and population inflows. The findings indicate that the RECSP improves regional employment rates and population inflows, with enhanced environmental quality, refinement of public services, manufacturing shifts, and industrial upgrades being the primary mechanisms. Notably, the effects of RECSP on population settlement are more pronounced in regions with centralized heating and in the Northeast. Furthermore, mining cities witnessed a more substantial surge in employment rate, while forestry‐based cities registered a marked population inflow. The results underscore the imperativeness of amplifying support to resource‐exhausted cities, advocating for urban industrial metamorphosis, enticing population inflows, enhancing employment rates, and thereby catalyzing diversified and sustainable economic evolution.
Regulations in the Era of High‐Quality Development and Human Capital's Divergence: Evidence From China
Jiao Peng, Yukun Wei
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Industrial development in Chinese cities has attracted a substantial influx of both high‐ and low‐skilled labourers. However, as the economy transitions toward tertiary industry dominance, population regulations in many mega‐cities exhibit a preference for high‐skilled labourers while constraining the inflow of low‐skilled ones. Using panel data from 288 Chinese cities, this study examines the changes of human capital's divergence and how population regulations and industrial development influence the changes. We present new spatial evidence that sheds light on the reverse changes in the divergence of human capital from 2008 to 2019, which initially decreased and then increased. When population regulations align with the demands of industrial development, they help reduce the divergence in human capital. Conversely, misalignment exacerbates undesired divergence, which fails to meet the regulatory objectives for high‐ and low‐skilled labourers and fails to satisfy the labour demands of industrial development. The findings suggest that future policies should prioritize industrial restructuring over targeted regulations to guide the distribution of labourers.
Multidimensional Distance With Hometown Versus University: Which Matters More in Chinese University Graduate Migration?
Yexiao Zhang, Can Cui, Xin Lao, Jianfa Shen
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Migration is inherently associated with risks, uncertainties and various costs, many of which arise from barriers imposed by distance. Based on a university graduate survey conducted in 2022, this study examines the influence of multidimensional distance on the destination choices of graduate migrants, which comprises of geographical distance, administrative distance, cultural distance, informational distance and industrial distance, taking into account the dual reference points of both the hometown and the city of the university. The research findings suggest that, for university graduates who migrate to destinations distinct from both their home city and university city, the distance with the home city plays a more important role than the distance with the city of university, in determining their destination choices. Thereinto, the geographical distance, administrative distance and informational distance with hometown have a stronger influence on the destination choices of graduates, while the cultural distance with the city of university matters more in affecting their migration decisions. The industrial distance with the destination city, nevertheless, has a dual character: the complementarity of industry structure to the city of university increases the in‐migration of graduates, while the similarity of industry structure to the hometown encourages the in‐migration of graduates. In addition, the impacts of multidimensional distances on destination choices of graduates vary with their degree levels, hukou status and self‐assessed risk attitude. This study will provide enlightenment to the formulation of talent policies in different types of cities to attract university graduate migrants.
Leaving for Good or Coming Back? Identifying Long‐Term Internal Migration Trajectories of Rural Young Adults in the Netherlands
Tineke Reitsma, Femke D. Cnossen, Tialda Haartsen, Bettina B. Bock
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To counteract the effects of young adult out‐migration, rural areas are increasingly interested in whether leavers return, and when and why they do so. However, little is known about their migration trajectories after departure. Their out‐migration is often studied as a one‐time event, even though it marks the start of a dynamic life phase with numerous events that potentially lead to residential relocations. To capture long‐term migration trajectories, we provide a more nuanced picture of rural young adult migration by following their residential trajectories from age 17 to 35, using longitudinal register data from Statistics Netherlands. We reveal five common migration patterns after leaving: (1) return migrants, (2) repeat leavers, (3) late leavers, (4) onward migrants, (5) one‐time migrants, alongside a group of non‐migrants: (6) stayers. Partnering with someone from the same area of origin increases the likelihood of return, whereas having a partner from elsewhere is linked to continued migration. Men are more likely to be late leavers or stayers; (applied) university graduates are more likely to have more mobile trajectories; and parenthood raises the likelihood of return migration, repeat leaving, or late leaving, while lowering the likelihood of one‐time migration. Our focus on long‐term trajectories reveals that over half of rural young adult leavers have returned to the rural by age 35. This shows that by and large not all out‐migrants leave the rural for good and suggests that return migrants are a valuable group to target when addressing rural youth out‐migration.
Reexamining the Impact of Locations on Leaving the Parental Home and Choosing New Locations: Evidence From a New Joint Choice Model
Yusi Luo, Ling Li, Ying Jin
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Previous models for leaving the parental home mainly focus on the influence of local factors while overlooking how opportunities and costs associated with living outside the local area influence the decision to leave. To address this gap, this paper develops a new joint model with a two‐tier nested logit structure for young people's decisions to remain at home or leave, as well as to choose subsequent residential destinations. This model accounts for young people's trade‐offs between various location factors in both their parents’ residences and different alternative destinations based on their Socioeconomic circumstances and family backgrounds. Using data from the Understanding Society, we employ an approximate estimation techinique to estimate this model with sampling of alternatives. The results confirm the effectiveness of the model in quantifying the decision‐making process and align closely with migration theory. Specifically, job opportunities in nonlocal areas encourage both graduates and non‐graduates to leave home and migrate there, while housing costs pose a barrier for non‐graduates but not for graduates. This model can be employed by future studies to enhance investigations into the interaction between locations and home‐leaving behaviours, as well as to examine the migration decisions of young people living with their parents.
Spatial Fertility Variation in China: The Role of Population Composition, Context and Spillover
Kuoshi Hu, Hill Kulu, JĂșlia Mikolai
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This study analyses spatial variation in fertility and its determinants, including their direct and spillover impact, in China. We apply spatial regression models to the 2000 population census. The results show, first, that there is significant spatial variation in fertility at the county level in China and that counties with similar fertility levels tend to cluster together. Second, the total fertility rate (TFR) is higher in counties with a smaller proportion of highly educated females, a larger proportion of agricultural workers, a larger share of the married population, and a larger proportion of ethnic minorities. Higher GDP per capita is associated with lower TFR. This study highlights that both population composition and context can explain spatial variation in fertility in China, indicating that individuals' characteristics as well as the context in which they live influence their fertility behaviour. It additionally emphasises the spillover impact of population composition and context from neighbouring counties on the fertility level in a given county.