Centering migrant narratives to challenge data-centric immigration discourse
Original framing: “Counting immigrants or listening to people? The power of life stories” — The Conversation - Global
The project explicitly elevates the voices of those often excluded from public discourse. It challenges the dominant narratives that frame migrants as problems to be solved, instead presenting them as subjects with agency and insight. This shift is critical for building more just and equitable societies.
This project represents a vital shift in how we understand and engage with migration.
By centering migrant narratives, it challenges the dehumanizing effects of data-centric governance and opens pathways for more just and inclusive policies. Drawing on cross-cultural storytelling traditions and indigenous knowledge systems, it offers a model for participatory research that respects the agency and dignity of migrants. The project also functions as a trickster intervention, disrupting the bureaucratic logic that reduces human beings to numbers. Future policy and research must continue to integrate these narrative-based approaches to address the structural inequalities that drive migration and shape its reception.