From Policy Irrelevance to a Return to Relevance: Active Strategies in Forced Migration Research

Abstract

This article traces a key logical framework in migration research: policy relevance. While many scholars and practitioners call for a closer relationship between research objectives and policy relevance, others have argued otherwise. Research which privileges the worldviews of forced migrants, rather than those of policymakers and practitioners, holds promise for moving beyond strict policy-laden and often legal categories, thereby creating new knowledge and priorities for policy itself. In this article, we unpack the denouement of this argument, that is, what has transpired in Forced Migration Studies since. Policy irrelevant research seeks to challenge taken-for-granted knowledge, and this article interrogates the politics and the imperatives, both ethical and practical, that arise from such a challenge. To that end, we look at the goals and conduct of a case study of organizations run by and for resettled refugees in the United States. This study illustrates how challenging policy-defined assumptions and categories, and raising critical perspectives drawn from forced migrants' voices, yields implications for policy. To get there, research moves beyond categories and asks new questions through a deconstructive approach; yet going from here, we argue, entails another role for forced migration research, an "active" approach that involves critical translation and application. At this juncture of forced migration research, policy irrelevant research seeks to make itself relevant and reasserts itself in policy discourses.

Keywords: Refugee Policy, Forced Migration Research, Participatory Action Research, Grassroots Refugee Groups, Action Research with Refugees, Refugee Law