From the 24th to the 28th of April 2023, Ms Nomkhosi Mbatha, a PhD student from the Institute for Social Development (ISD) at UWC had the opportunity to attend the IMISCOE PhD School on “Critical Reflections on Migration Studies, Racism and Discrimination” at Vrije University, Brussels (VUB).

The IMISCOE PhD School was hosted by by the Brussels Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Migration and Minorities (BIRMM-VUB) and organised by BIRMM, CEDEM (Université de Liège), CESSMIR (Ghent University) & The Network on Migration and Global Mobility (University of Antwerp).  The PhD school aimed to critically interrogate, from an interdisciplinary perspective, how migration studies has engaged with issues of race and discrimination. 

Nomkhosi’s reflections on the school:

The IMISCOE PhD School was attended by 25 students from different parts of the world, and I am glad that I as a UWC student and my other colleague from UNISA were awarded the opportunity to critically contribute to the discussions on migration, discrimination and racism by sharing knowledge from the Global South. The students who participated in the PhD school came from different disciplines including Arts, Social Sciences, Law and Health. Lectures were presented by academic staff from different universities, activists, and artists who shared their expertise. The sessions discussed the importance of unpacking the stories migrants tell to researchers and to properly contextualise migration studies. The IMISCOE PhD school discussed the importance of collaborating from an interdisciplinary perspective, which is also an aim of the MMICA at UWC.

It was interesting to observe how the decolonial discourse in Europe was applied in Europe, which was different from South Africa as we were the colonised. As I learned more about theories, experiences and discourses it confirmed that there needs to be greater knowledge transfer from the Global South to the Global North.  

To share some sessions of interest:  Anisa Boujdaini shared her spoken word project, which described her personal experiences of being a migrant. Her use of art as part of research helped me as I design my own research which aims to allow participants to tell their own stories to express their day to day experiences. The presentation Professor Umut Erel also offered insights on how in migration research participant can tell their stories. We also visited the Migration Museum, with a message that every migrant has a unique story to tell.

The programme for the PhD school can be accessed here.