Forced Migration and Separated Families : Everyday Insecurities and Transnational Strategies

This open access book examines the impacts and experiences of family separation on forced migrants and their transnational families.  On the one hand, it investigates how people with a forced migration background in Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America experience separation from their families, and on the other, how family and kin in the countries of origin or transit are impacted by the often precarious circumstances of their family members in receiving countries. In particular, this book provides new knowledge on the nexus between transnational family separation, forced migration, and everyday (in)security. Additionally, it yields comparative information for assessing the impacts of relevant legislation and administrative practice in a number of national contexts. Based on rich empirical data, including unique cases about South-South migration, the findings in this book are highly relevant to academics in migration and refugee studies as well as policy-makers, legislators and practitioners.

Marja Tiilikainen received her PhD in study of religions from the University of Helsinki, Finland, in 2003, and the title of associate professor (docent) in the same subject in 2011.  She is a senior research fellow at the Migration Institute of Finland. Her research has focused on such issues as Muslim minorities; everyday lived religion; the cultural dimensions of health, illness, and healing; everyday security; and transnational family life. She recently led the research project ‘Family Separation, Migration Status, and Everyday Security: Experiences and Strategies of Vulnerable Migrants’, funded by the Academy of Finland (2018 ̶ 2022).

Abdirashid A. Ismail holds a DSc in economics (2010) from Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland. He has recently been a senior researcher and research fellow at the Migration Institute of Finland and was part of the Academy of Finland–funded research project ‘Family Separation, Migration Status, and Everyday Security’. He is also an economics policy fellow with the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies in Mogadishu, Somalia. His research interests span two broad fields: immigration and diaspora studies and political economy of conflict and state formation.

Jaana Palander has a master’s degree in administrative sciences (2008) and is currently completing her doctoral studies in public law at the University of Tampere, Finland. Her doctoral thesis deals with human rights and family reunification. Currently, she teaches migration law and human rights law at the University of Eastern Finland Law School. Recently, she has been a researcher at the Migration Institute of Finland in the project ‘Family Separation, Migration Status, and Everyday Security’, funded by the Academy of Finland.