In/Visibility of Flight

1. Why did you choose this topic?

The title 'In/visibility of Flight' shows the ambiguous perception of flight and refugees in society. At certain points in time and in certain situations, refugees become highly visible while many facts about the lives of refugees remain invisible in public. The distribution of in/visibility in society is closely related to the distribution of power and privilege, social exclusion and lack of agency. It has been our aim to tackle misperceptions by showing different facets of flight and refugees.

2. What new perspectives does your book offer?

The book takes a unique approach as it includes a variety of approaches. In addition to traditional quantitative and qualitative methods of the social sciences, the authors also apply historical comparative approaches, art-based research methods as well as autoethnographic perspectives. Therefore, this volume not only strives to address the issue of in/visibility by means of content but also to include different forms of knowledge production and researchers of different backgrounds.

3. What makes your topic relevant for current research debates?

While research on forced migration tends to become more and more specialized, we decided to tackle the rather broad topic of in/visibility to adequately approach the complexities of the question. Furthermore, we included voices of those concerned by research, thus, refugees, and the insights of practitioners in the field, and we chose a multidisciplinary approach including arts-based research methods. In this way, the volume raises new research questions, and delivers original answers to them.

4. Choose one person you would like to discuss your book with!

Heidrun Friese (TU Chemnitz), Prof. für Interkulturelle Kommunikation.

https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/ifgk/ikk/professur/prof.html

5. Your book summary in one sentence:

In a multiperspective way, the book asks for the political background of the unequal distribution of in/visibility of the topic of flight in society.