SEESOX Seminar Series

Remittances are arguably the most researched dimension of the Migration-Development relationship. With over US$460 billion remitted to low and middle-income countries in 2017, they have captured the imagination of policy makers, especially those involved in international development, for their huge potential for development. However, little attention has been paid, in both academic research and policy circles, to how these remittances and the remitting process itself, might be gendered. Drawing on research in Albania, this talk will show how gender relations in sending countries shape the sending, receiving and decision-making around the utilisation of remittances. This is important if we are to understand how power structures and relations are negotiated between men and women in the process of migration, thus helping formulate policies that nurture gender equality and women’s empowerment. The talk will draw on research carried out in Albania during 2007-2009 for a multi-country project on Gendering Remittances and Development commissioned by UN-INSTRAW (United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women) – now UN-WOMEN, and funded by UNDP (United Nations Development Programme).

Julie Vullnetari is a Lecturer in Human Geography within Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Southampton. Julie joined Geography and Environment at the University of Southampton in September 2014. She previously studied and worked at the University of Sussex. Her doctoral thesis examined the links between internal and international migration from a development perspective, paying particular attention to the impacts these links have on areas of origin. This work won the first ‘Maria Ioannis Baganha Dissertation Award’ of the IMISCOE Research Network, awarded for the best dissertation in the field of migration, integration and social cohesion in Europe, and was published as a book by Amsterdam University Press (2012). Julie’s international education and work experience include several years of living in the Netherlands and France where she studied business management and was actively engaged in various third-sector organisations working in the field of migration.

Emre Eren Korkmaz is a Departmental Lecturer in Migration and Development at the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID). He is also a Research Associate at the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs of the Department of Politics and International Relations; and a Visiting Research Fellow at Regent’s University, London, in their Centre for Transnational Business and Management. From October 2016 to September 2018, he was a British Academy, Newton International Fellow/ post-doctoral researcher at ODID. As a political scientist and international relations expert, Eren has been working on two main research areas throughout various academic and non-academic posts and projects since 2010: The political representation and public sphere of refugees and immigrants, dealing with Turkey-origin immigrants in Western Europe and Syrian refugees in Turkey; and the politics of industrial relations, mainly focusing on the business and human rights issues including sustainability/ human rights due diligence approaches, global supply chain management and labour rights. He received his PhD from Istanbul University, Faculty of Political Science, and his MA from Sabanci University.