Studies of Migration in Acacdemia

High Education as a mobility path: Theory versus Practice

‘’The oppressed must be their own example in the struggle for their redemption’’ Freire (1970 : 54).

It is well known fact among the scholars, that international migration is a complex and neverending process that cannot be addressed and understood without critical reflection aimed at meaningful political, social, economic and ecological change. Nowadays, the assumption that all migrants are somehow a general category and must share the same experience was and still is present in migration literature. In reality the position of a migrant in the society and her/his experiences, depends on the number of circumstances, such as: skin color, ethnicity, gender identity, citizenship and educational level. King (2012) states that individual agency is often left out when it comes to theorization migration and that this field of research is still emerging.

Personal stories, expectations, emotions and goals of individuals cannot be put inside any existing theoretical framework. All theories turn out to be insufficient to account the complex cultural dynamics of movement, because it overlooks the processes of identities formation ant their transformation. As engaging in migration studies, I was able

to illuminate the

interconnectedness of race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, religion, age and other locations, and the effects they can have on experience of migrant and his/her identity formation. Moreover as a former student of migration studies, I see academia as potential site for activism and advocacies, especially when it comes to international migration policies. However, this would represent another topic, or not at all, since the complexity of migration studies we cannot address only one aspect, without understanding politics, economy legislation, different, international migration policies on one side, and personal stories, cultural background, social status, skin color of the migrants on the other side. Unfortunately, the actors of research, the real people, are often left behind.

I, as a former master student of prestige master program, was privileged to study abroad and to receive the scholarship that was enough to cover all my basic expenses. In the meantime, I have finished my studies with great honours, but on the other hand, my student resident permit was expired. That meant that I had to return home, I, an European citizen, but not EU citizen, did not have any chances on international job market. Every time, when I applied for a job, I have been

rejected, because, simple I did not have ‘’proper’’ citizenship. Then I realized that there are differences inside Europe; you either come from EU member country, or you just simply go back home. The mobility, in my case, was just theoretical concept. I cannot say that I was not aware of that, since education helped me to betetr understand the world around me. Without proper working permit, my mobility path was over, before it has begun. The focus of this article comes from asking myself a question: how studying in that climate of uncertainty reflects the future personal and professional goals. That is why, I would like specifically to reflect on that experience, which is not unique only to me, but both for my colleagues who came outside EU countries. This experience led me to the concept of transformative learning, which is focused on the education throughout life aimed at the transformation, not only the individual, but also the society and it often happens outside of formal educational framework. In that case, the idea of transformative education would need to interact with citizenship education, development education and peace education, and find dimension to citizenship issues, social justice issues and peace issues and raise them as part of the struggles. In that kind of circumstances, right to free movement would be universal and not just the part of so-called EU values. In this respect, role of higher education and educators is of vital importance, because they have the responsibility to turn the educational and learning process into a critical political act, through sharing the awareness of world’s inequality and further challenging it, which implies making changes on institutional, social and cultural structures. This type of education would enabling cooperation of progressive social justice movements, initiatives and groups which can act in solidarity, sharing knowledge and skills and challenging together oppressive social and political systems, through international networking and through strengthening the academia, inside EU and worldwide, as the locality of potential social change.

Bibliography King, R. (2012). Geography and migration studies: Retrospect and prospect. Population, Spaceand Place, 18(2), 134–153.