Between Flows and Places: Conceptualizing the Migration-Mobility Nexus

This paper sets out to conceptualize the nexus between migration and mobility as the connection between two contrasting perspectives on human movement. I use the notion of a “nexus” as an analytical lens to identify connections, overlaps or contradictions between the terms “migration” and “mobility”.

I find that although migration and mobility are often seen as distinct phenomena, the ways of differentiating between the two ultimately lead to arbitrary attributions of the labels “migrant” and “mobile person”. I argue that instead, we should see “migration” and “mobility” as categories reflecting a perspective on human movement that either normalizes sedentariness and fixed borders or movement and fluidity.

In a second step, I distinguish between the perceptions of the principal actors involved in the movement: the state and the individual. Both the state and the individual can characterize a movement in terms of “flow” or in terms of “place”.

The migration mobility nexus is then the node between the perspective taken by the state and that taken by the individual. Based on this, I put forward four ideal-types of aligned or non-aligned perspectives on movements across borders. The notion of aligned and non-aligned perspectives helps us to identify the core assumptions and blind spots of the place and flow perspective respectively. What is more, it can disclose instances where the intention of a given migration policy is not congruent with the migrant who is supposed to be covered by it.

The notion of a migration-mobility nexus is thus a conceptual contribution to both migration and mobility studies and can serve as a basis for more applied migration policy analysis.