For a country of Nigeria’s size and strategic importance, its migration flows are curiously understudied. Nigeria is a hub for business and labour migration, but also human trafficking and irregular migration, and among the top five countries of origin for asylum seekers in the EU. Researchers from the project Transnationalism from Above and Below: Migration Management and How Migrants Manage (MIGMA), will present three perspectives on Nigerian migration – as managed by a European host state, as viewed in a sending area in Nigeria, and as represented in Nigerian cultural production.

“Managing expectations: The art of easing migrants out of high hopes”
May-Len Skilbrei (University of Oslo)

Nigerian rejected asylum seekers in Norway tend to resist the legal imperative to return to Nigeria. Skilbrei studies the work of staff tasked with motivating and preparing for return, in various public and private institutions, looking particularly at how they develop skills in lowering expectations.

“Class, risk and ‘going with a purpose’: Nigerian postgraduates reflect on irregular migration”
Erlend Paasche (University of Oslo)

Class shapes the risks that migration carries and the acceptability of those risks. This study explores how post-graduates in Benin City, a major sending area for Nigerian trafficking and smuggling, view the risks and rewards of irregular migration to Europe.

“Representations of return in Nigerian cultural production”
Jørgen Carling (Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO))

Migrants navigate not only legal structures, but also socio-cultural norms and expectations. How is migration represented in Nigerian cultural production? The primary focus here is on return migration, as described in Nigerian fictional literature and ‘Nollywood’ films.