Title of PhD project: "Exploring the Socio-Cultural Impact of Migration: An Ethnographic Study of Migrant Workers from Bangladesh to the Arab Countries".
International migration increases socio-cultural diversity and generates or accelerates socio-cultural change in the societies involved. Most debates on the relationship between labour migration and socio-cultural change have predominantly privileged North-South transmigrants, at the expense of the social and ideological dimensions in South-South transmigrants. Moreover, short-term labour migrants are hardly included in the discourses.
Against this backdrop, this project uses an ethnographic methodological approach to explore the growing impact of international migration on the socio-cultural lives of migrants and their sending communities in rural Bangladesh. The subjective experiences of individual short-term Bangladeshi labour migrants to the Gulf countries, the migrants' families and the communities back home are the focus of this study.
This research offers new perspectives on how migration creates a space for changing and maintaining the status quo of individual migrants and transforming Bangladeshi society. It also develops new insights into the interconnections between migration and political Islam. The narratives of migrants open up new ways for readers to think about the volatility of belonging, about issues that make mobility exciting for both male and female migrants, and about the concepts of self, agency and power that underlie the everyday lives of migrants and their family members who have stayed behind.
Approach and milestones:
To gain a better understanding of the relationship between labour migration and socio-cultural change, ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in two different villages in Bangladesh for the period of more than six months between 2015 and 2017. The PhD project is now in its final phase.
Contact:maruf.lutfur@rub.de
Curriculum Vitae:
- PhD student in International Development Studies, Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB).
- Master of Science in International Development and Management, Lund University, Sweden
- B.A. and M.A. Business Administration, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Awards:
- Project International (PR.INT) Grant, RUB Research School Plus (November 2018).
- Project International (PR.INT) Grant, RUB Research School Plus (December 2016 - February 2017)
- Project International (PR.INT) Grant, RUB Research School Plus (June 2015 - September 2015)
- 4th Position in the Merit List of MBA Program, Dhaka University, Bangladesh
Start of PhD project:
since 11/2013
Scholarships:
DAAD scholarship through the GSSP programme from November 2013 to April 2017
PhD scholarship from Fulda University of Applied Sciences from August 2020 to July 2021
Erstbetreuerin
Zweitbetreuerin
Presentations:
- Organizing committee member and presented PhD Research project at the 7th PhD Conference on International Development, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, 8-9 November 2018
- Presentation of preliminary findings of 'Doctoral Research Project' at the 4th Conference on Bengal Related Studies, held at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany, 28-30 October 2016
- Attended a summer school programme "Protest and Social Movements in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives" organized by the Institute for Social Movements, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, 19-23 September 2016
- "Are Migrants Catalyst for Social Change? Travel of Social Remittances and Transformation in Rural Bangladesh" poster presented at the 5th PhD Conference on International Development organized by the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, 5-6 September 2016
- "Stories of Returned Migrants: Renegotiating the sense of Belonging: Migration from Bangladesh to the Gulf" paper submitted and discussed at the 24th European Conference on South Asian Studies (ECSAS), held at the University of Warsaw, Poland, 27-30 July 2016
- Poster presented on the PhD project at the 4th Annual PhD Conference on International Development organized by the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE), RUB, together with the University of East Anglia, UK, and the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, NL, held at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, 24-25 September 2015
- Attended a discussion on 'Rohingya Refugees: What does it mean for Bangladesh?', organised by Bold Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 27 June 2015
- Presentation of a Poster illustrating the 'Doctoral Research Project' on the 'Global Day', organized by the RUB International Office, Bochum, Germany, 12 June 2015
- "Socio-Cultural Remittances and their Impact: A Study of Migrant Sending Communities in Rural Bangladesh" paper presented at the 'Ninth European PhD Workshop in South Asia studies' organized by SASNET on behalf of European Association of South Asian Studies (EASAS), Höllviken, Malmo, Sweden, 18-19 May 2015
- Participated in the conference 'Reflecting the past - forging the future: Democracy and Human Rights in Bangladesh's Changing Social Landscape', organized by Bangladesh Forum Germany, Berlin, 6-7 November 2014
- Organized and attended numerous lectures/conferences on International issues and Foreign policy' as a member of the Association of Foreign Affairs, Lund University, Sweden from August 2010 to September 2012
Publications:
- Lutfur, M. (2012): Migration, Remittances and Household Development: Contribution of International Migration and Remittances to Migrant Sending Households in Rural Bangladesh, prepared for LUMID, Lund