Human Mobility, Global Challenges, and Resilience in an Age of Social Stress (PHOENIX)
PROJECT INFORMATION
Principal investigator (PI): Graciela Susana Rodriguez, Instituto Género, Economía e Cidadania Global, Rio de Janeiro, EQUIT (Fund Recipient Institution), Brazil.
Contact – Email: graciela@equit.org.br
Duration & amount: (April 2023 – 2026). USD 200,000
Participating countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This project aims to understand how migration movements are affected by global change processes like environmental and climate changes, demographic changes, consumption, energy and land-use developments, and economic and socio-cultural transformations. The project’s title, “PHOENIX”, reminds us that individuals and societies can also follow an adaptive cycle of growth, maturity, vulnerability, and renewal—like the legend of the Phoenix, soaring back stronger after global changes is possible.
PHOENIX will focus on the study of governance beyond traditional approaches focused on climate or migration to explore how we can apply the theory of social tipping points as a way to integrate climate (im)mobilities across policy silos. We include regional comparisons with reflections on the global scale of governance to provide specific and out-of-the-box policy recommendations. Next, the project dives deep into two human-centric case studies of social tipping points. The food security and belonging case study focuses on the economic, political and social dimensions of food before, during and after migration to explain how migration policy and economic-environmental changes drive the migration decisions and experiences of forced migrants. The cultural survival and resilience case study responds to criticism of earlier resilience research pointing to its overemphasis on the individualized nature of adaptation and the lack of sensitivity to community and cultural factors in contextualizing resilience practices. This case study adopts a culturally sensitive approach and examines how fears of cultural extinction are exacerbated by global changes, mobility, and governance and how cultural coping—resilience—can be improved. The final stage of the project brings together the quantitative and qualitative work from the project’s data modeling, governance analyses, and two case studies to push innovation by developing an interdisciplinary model.
PHOENIX explores how social tipping points appear when quantifiable factors (such as environmental and economic changes) intersect with the qualitative effects of governance failures and the socio-cultural dimensions of vulnerability. By integrating natural and social science research using qualitative and quantitative data, we go beyond the state-of-the-art to identify migration hotspots and suggest interventions for future Global Change and (im)mobility events.
The consortium includes world-renowned climate scientists and migration scholars who have previously managed large-scale multidisciplinary projects and are well-qualified to oversee all project tasks. We combine disciplinary expertise in earth and climate science, sustainability studies, political science, sociology, psychology, economics, anthropology, law, human rights, gender, and intersectional approaches to maximize the project's innovation potential.
PHOENIX’s research and impact framework is designed to develop a holistic approach to global change. It includes all phases of governance cycles and focuses on post-mobility belonging and resilience. Since global changes have an uneven impact based on pre-existing vulnerabilities, and failure to understand this reinforces existing inequalities, PHOENIX will thus study how vulnerabilities impact and are impacted by policies attempting to prevent and prepare for global changes. Of particular concern is how global changes (re)shape gender norms and inequalities for migrants and members of local communities. Our human-centric case studies explore how local cultural knowledge can prevent and reduce existing risks, prepare for new lives after mobility, and ensure the sustainability of distressed societies.
By bringing together multiple lines of evidence and focusing on human agency in specific contexts, our research can potentially transform the academic study of global changes and (im)mobilities and influence policymakers and public perceptions. The scientific impact of the project is shaped by project reports that will develop into papers presented at academic workshops. These workshops will lead to special issues of leading peer-reviewed journals and/or edited volumes that ensure knowledge contributions at the highest levels. The project findings will be tested and communicated in country-specific stakeholder expert panels (SEP) and policy briefs that aim to reshape governance responses to Global Changes. By including stakeholders throughout the project, not only at the end, we ensure that the research is tailored to specific contexts and policy-makers’ needs.
RESULTS
The main result achieved during year 1 in Brazil was a conceptual map to define the theoretical basis for fieldwork projected for years 2 and 3. Chile and Argentina are developing their theoretical framework and are at the fieldwork stage, so significant findings have not yet been reported.
Preliminary work has been presented at two international events: the Atlanta Science and Technology Policy Conference (May 24th, 2024) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Cape Town (March 20th, 2024).
Book: Capitalocene, Migration, Gender, and Food Insecurity: a conceptual map for examining the situation of migrant women in Brazil. Authors: Olivera, Margarita (IE/UFRJ), Pereira, Letícia (IESP/UERJ), Vilallón, Corina E. Demarchi (ECO/UFRJ), Esposel, Paula (PPGE/IE/UFRJ); Haddad, Yasmin (PPGE/IE/UFRJ), de Oliveira, Vívian Braga (Institute EQÜIT)
● Participation in the COMIGRAR Conference, Brazil
● Organization of the extension group in UFRJ, Brazil
● Presentation on “Mental Health of Migrants Populations in Chile: Conceptual discussion on resilience, coping, re-territorialization and agency,” at the XIX Simpósio de pesquisa sobre migraçôes. www.oestrangeiro.org
● Article: “Examining Resilience, Subjectivity, and Trauma: The Case of Migrants’ Mental Health in Chile”. Issues in Social Sciences, v. 12 (1), p.1-21. http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ iss.v12i1.21847
● Expert Panel organized in Chile
OUTREACH
● Preparation of inputs to contribute to the recent immigration policy in Brazil through participation in the COMIGRAR conferences in 2024
● Production of dissemination cards for social media to encourage societal debates regarding the relationship between global change and the migration of women.
● Preparation of inputs to contribute to the recent immigration policy in Chile
● Discussion of institutional participation in the recent deportation of migrants
● Discussion of the portrayal of migrants in the press and among groups of citizens.
● Interviews with different policymakers (health, mental health, human rights, gender) at national and local levels to inform them of newly gathered data and its potential interpretations.
● Migrants interviewed were interested in participating in other project activities. They especially mentioned social discrimination, difficulties in dealing with the health system, and lack of therapeutic support for mental health (societal challenges).
● In the future, comparisons will be made a the regional and global levels.
INVESTIGATORS
Principal Investigator:
Brazil:
Graciela Susana Rodriguez, EQUIT Institute
E-mail: graciela@equit.org.br
Co-Principal Investigators (co-PI)
Argentina
María José Lubertino Beltran, Asociación Ciudadana por los derechos humanos
mariajoselubertinob@gmail.com
Chile
Pablo Zuleta Pastor, Fundación Cuerpo y Energía. Teoría y métodos neoreichianos
pablozuletapastor@gmail.com
Uruguay
Isabel Bortagaray, Universidad de la República
Ibortagaray@csic.edu.uy
STUDENTS
Leticia Pereira, IESP/UERJ, NuEFem/IE/UFRJ
Brazil
Yasmin Haddad, PPGE/IE/UFRJ, NuEFem/IE/UFRJ
Brazil
Paula Esposel, LARES/UFRJ
Brazil
Corina Demarchi Villalón, ECO/UFRJ
Argentina