It’s easy to get lost in the statistics and policies of it all, but especially in the Development Studies track, you learn that at the end of the day it really boils down to the individual person.
Gabriela Anderson
Student Governance of Migration and Diversity
A literal approach to understanding the complexities of migration. This programme not only had us in theory-meets-practice sessions but had us physically migrating to different cities around the Netherlands to grasp a multidisciplinary understanding from various universities that are specialised in a certain perspective. This is much needed because migration is not only one thing. It is not only one story. One of the research participants for my thesis said it quite beautifully. When speaking to Sarah Lubala, she said that “home is much less a place now than it is a practise and I think if home is supposed to represent belonging, then I belong much more to moments and people than I do to any place”. I think that this notion is quite important. It’s easy to get lost in the statistics and policies of it all, but especially in the Development Studies track, you learn that at the end of the day it really boils down to the individual person, the people you are debating and writing about and their actual lived livelihoods and experiences. At the end of the day, it’s about the safety and security of having a place to call home. Grasping this will allow us as researchers and practitioners to make and practice sustainable, lasting, and people-centred approaches to migration.