Mittwoch, 18. Oktober 2017, 16:30 Uhr
Institut für Geographie und Regionalforschung
Universität Wien, Universitätsstr. 7/5, 1010 Wien, Konferenzraum
In the past few years, “migration as adaptation” has become a popular refrain for policymakers and practitioners. This premise argues that migration enables people to diversify traditional agriculturalbased livelihoods, allows the spreading of risk for the household, and the sending of remittances back to family members, which could, in turn, increase resilience back home (Barnett and Webber, 2010; Scheffran et al, 2012; Smit and McLeman, 2006; Tacoli, 2011). Now defined, a full gamut of organizations and institutions are interested in pursuing on-the-ground policies related to it, although to varying degrees (Hall, 2015). This lecture will discuss and analyze existing structural, political, and power dynamics that have a hand in shaping “migration as adaptation” policies at various administrative levels, from the international to the local. Although many scholars recognize the role neoliberalism and capitalism may play in its framing (Felli and Castree, 2012; Methmann and Oels, 2015), other lessthan- obvious angles must also be acknowledged in order to understand both entry points for change as well as to remove unfair, and perhaps even more dangerously, reproduced neo-colonial critiques of such change. The speaker will focus on everyday “practices” at key international organizations as a case in point, which frequently and inadvertently constrain more radical policy imaginings (Ober and Sakdapolrak, 2017), as well as hardwired development and political trajectories, especially as they relate to post-colonial histories, at the national and local level in Thailand.
Kayly Ober is currently a research associate/PhD candidate at the University of Bonn with the TransRe Project. Her research in this capacity focuses on the governance of the climate-adaptation-migration nexus. She is also a consultant with the World Bank’s Climate Analytics and Advisory Services team on their forthcoming report on climate change and migration. Prior to this, she worked at the Overseas Development Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center, and World Resources Institute, among others. She holds an MSc in environment and development (Distinction) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a BA in international studies with a focus on Latin America (cum laude) from American University.
