Paasche to speak at the world’s largest anti-corruption conference

The presentation will be held at the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Panama City.

 

Post.doc. Erlend Paasche research interests include the migration-corruption nexus, return migration, migration aspirations, the culture of migration, migrant transnationalism, war and migration and migration and development. Photo: UiO.

 

The International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) brings together heads of state, civil society, the private sector and more to tackle challenges posed by corruption. The IACC normally hosts from 800 to 2000 participants from over 135 countries worldwide.

Paasche joined the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law in October to do postdoctoral research in the project MIGMA - Transnationalism from above and below. This December he will speak at the IACC under the theme ‘Corruption and Migration: Connecting the Flows of Money and Refugees’. Paasche is well versed in this emergent field. In his doctoral dissertation Return Migration and Corruption: Experiences of Iraqi Kurds, he explored the role of corruption for migrants’ return decision-making and post-return reintegration. Last year he also led a network of researchers exploring the linkages between corruption and migration, financed by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). In addition to this he has taken part in governmentally commissioned evaluations of return programs for rejected asylum seekers in Norway to Iraq, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kosovo and Nigeria, and observed that high levels of corruption in countries of origin affect the design and implementation of such programs.

A dedicated and curious scholar

Paasche is looking forward to work with Skilbrei on the MIGMA-project. Photo: private.

Paasche’s contribution to MIGMA is to explore Nigerian cultural representations of migration to Europe, as reflected in popular culture and as narrated by non-migrants, and the experiences and perspectives of returnees from Europe in Nigeria.

“I’m excited to be part of Skilbrei’s MIGMA project, which nicely brings together host state perspectives on migration with the perspectives of migrants and sending communities. I look forward to see, for instance, how European migration management is portrayed in Nigerian ‘Nollywood’ movies. Another question that interests me is if endemic corruption in Nigeria affects migration aspirations and the way Europe is imagined by non-migrants” Paasche states.

Professor May-Len Skilbrei, head of the MIGMA-project, welcomes Paasche's contribution: “I have worked with Erlend in the past and know him as a dedicated and curious scholar and am certain that his participation in MIGMA will ensure its quality and relevance”, she says.

 

 

By Ingvild Knævelsrud Rabe
Published Nov. 11, 2016 9:57 AM - Last modified Nov. 14, 2016 12:39 PM