Teachers at the workshop ‘Homecoming or displacement’

Prof. Dr. Ulrike Schultz, Dr. Kwaku Arhin-Sam, members, and Dr. Mohamed Bakhit from the School of Social Sciences at Friedensau Adventist University, who have been working on migration and displacement for many years, participated in a workshop on return migration at the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa(MIASA) at the University of Ghana (UCL) from 17 to 19 February. Prof. Schultz and Dr. Arhin-Sam planned and conducted the workshop, entitled Homecoming or displacement: Reflecting on return in African communities, in collaboration with Prof. Mary Setrana from the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS) at the University of Ghana. The workshop was funded and organized by MIASA. Fifteen distinguished migration researchers from African and European institutions came together for the workshop to reflect on the category of return and examined return migration from different perspectives. Return is of central importance for understanding migration policy and the underlying politics of belonging. Despite its relevance, surprisingly little is discussed about the category of return and its classification in the category scheme of the migration regime. The term returnee is not a legal category like, for example, the category refugee, nor is it a prominent humanitarian label like ‘internally displaced person’ (IDP). Return programmes are usually implemented in a technocratic manner, ignoring and reducing the complexity of people's lives. A publication on the topic of the workshop is planned. As part of the workshop, a public panel discussion was organized. The event brought together academics, immigration officers, returnees, international organizations and civil society actors to bridge research and practice on the category of return (all Photos: FAU | FIFE).