Scientific Presentations

LabTalks­@DCD

Department of Digital and Computational Demography
Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), Rostock, Germany, May 28, 2025

11:00 AM: Talk with Hannah Pool - Longitudinal, ethnographic research on undocumented migration

Room 400 

Abstract

How can researchers gather data along undocumented migration routes, particularly from “hidden, hard-to-reach or marginalised" populations? This presentation outlines ethnographic qualitative research methods developed through research conducted at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. Drawing on three years of fieldwork and over a decade of ethnographic notes and recorded interviews, I present findings from my forthcoming book, The Game: The Economy of Undocumented Migration from Afghanistan to Europe. The book investigates the role of money and social relationships in shaping irregular migration trajectories. Central to this research is the question of how we ethically access data that depends on deep trust with participants navigating high-risk environments. I look forward to engaging in discussion and welcome your questions in Rostock.

About

Hannah Pool is a senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. Her research focuses on the intersection of mobilities, money, and borders. For the research project "Doing the Game. The Moral Economy of Coming to Europe," she conducted a multi-sited ethnography on undocumented migration trajectories from Afghanistan to Germany. Hannah has been a visiting scholar at the Refugee Studies Center and the COMPAS Institute at Oxford University, Columbia University, and the Berlin Center for Social Sciences (WZB). She studied in St. Andrews, Tehran, and Dresden. Her research has been awarded the Dissertation Prize of the German Sociological Association (DGS), the Dietrich Thränhart Prize of the German Political Science Association (DVPW), the Maria Ioannis Baganha Prize for Migration Studies of IMISCOE, the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society, and the Albert Ballin Prize for Globalization Studies.

Register to Take Part

You would like to attend the Online Seminar Talk? You are very welcome. Please register by writing an e-mail to office-zagheni@demogr.mpg.de.
 

Online Seminar Talk, May, 28th from 11:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. (Rostock time)