Dr. Benjamin Etzold is a social geographer and migration scholar with more than 15 years of experience in studying people’s vulnerability and livelihoods as well as trajectories of migration and patterns of displacement. He works at the Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies (BICC), a peace and conflict studies think tank. He led the EU-funded H2020 project TRAFIG (Transnational Figurations of Displacement, 2019-2022), which investigated the translocal dimensions of protracted displacement,...

Expertise

Migration processes
Migration consequences (for migrants, sending and receiving countries)
Migration governance
Cross-cutting topics in migration research
Disciplines
Methods
Geographies

Roles

  • BICC (Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies)

    Research Institute, Bonn, Germany
    senior researcher

  • Internationales Konversionszentrum Bonn GmbH

    Other, Bonn, Germany

  • Universität Innsbruck

    Other, Innsbruck, Austria
    Guest Professor

  • Freie Universität Berlin

    Other, Berlin, Germany
    Vertretungsprofessur / interim professorship

  • Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

    Other, Bonn, Germany

Research

Enforced transnationalism

Authors Simone Christ, Benjamin Etzold
Year 2024
Book Title Family Reunification in Europe
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1 Book Chapter

Intersecting (im)mobilities in the context of drought, hunger and conflict – Reflections inspired by research in Kenya

Authors Benjamin Etzold, Benjamin Etzold, Marie Müller‐Koné, ...
Year 2023
Journal Name International Migration
Citations (WoS) 1
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2 Journal Article

A future agenda for research on climate change and human mobility

Authors Robert Oakes, Kees Van der Geest, Benjamin Schraven, ...
Year 2023
Journal Name International Migration
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3 Journal Article

Ambivalent Entanglements: Syrian Refugees’ Network Relations and (Im)mobilities in Protracted Displacement

Authors Sarah A. Tobin, Benjamin Etzold, Fawwaz Momani, ...
Year 2023
Book Title Onward Migration and Multi-Sited Transnationalism
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4 Book Chapter

Family figurations in displacement: entangled mobilities of refugees towards Germany and beyond

Authors Simone Christ, Benjamin Etzold
Year 2022
Journal Name Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
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5 Journal Article

Afghans’ narrowing mobility options in Pakistan and the right to transnational living: a figurational perspective

Authors Katja Mielke, Benjamin Etzold
Year 2022
Journal Name Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
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6 Journal Article

Unsettling protracted displacement: connectivity and mobility beyond ‘Limbo’

Authors Benjamin Etzold, Anne-Meike Fechter
Year 2022
Journal Name Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
7 Journal Article

Understanding the dynamics of protracted displacement

Authors Albert Kraler, Benjamin Etzold, Nuno Ferreira
Year 2021
Journal Name Forced Migration Review
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8 Journal Article

Governing protracted displacement: An analysis across global, regional and domestic contexts

Authors Nuno Ferreira, Carolien Jacobs, Pamela Kea, ...
Year 2020
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9 Working Paper

Transnational Figurations of Displacement

Description
Objectives: The overall objective of the project is to develop solutions for protracted displacement situations (PDS) that are better tailored to the needs and capacities of persons affected by displacement. Current policies struggle to find solutions to forced displacement. Refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are often stuck in ‘limbo’, i.e. living in situations of vulnerability, dependency and immobility, due to continuous cycles of displacement and a lack of durable options. The project will therefore aim at answering the questions whether and how PDS, dependency and vulnerability are related to the factors of connectivity and mobility. It will further look at how in turn, connectivity and mobility can be operationalized to enhance the self-reliance and resilience of displaced people. Summary: Protracted displacement situations are estimated to affect about 13 million individuals globally, approximately two-thirds of the 20 million refugees today. PDS affects both refugees who have left their countries of origin as well as internally displaced individuals subsisting in precarious living conditions and seeking stability and safety with no prospects of local integration, resettlement, or safe return. TRAFIG will conduct its research by analysing specific sites of exhibited protracted displacement situations throughout Asia, Africa and Europe in order to better understand the daily lives and challenges of those living in PDS, and to ultimately devise new and creative approaches for the alleviation of these problems. Moreover, TRAFIG seeks to explore the relationship between connectivity and mobility, and the realities of protracted displacement situations which increase vulnerability in order to understand how PDS can be challenged. ICMPD’s policy unit leads the stakeholder engagement and dialogue with policymakers and further seeks innovative options for the exploitation of results. In addition, the unit examines governance frameworks on displacement at the European and global level. Project Partners: BICC (Bonn International Center for Conversion), Addis Ababa University, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Danube University Krems, Dignity Kwanza – Community Solutions, FIERI (Forum of International and European Research on Immigration), ICMPD (International Centre for Migration Policy Development), SHARP (Society for Human Rights & Prisoners’ Aid), Universiteit Leiden, University of Sussex, Yarmouk University
Year 2019
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10 Project

Human mobility in response to rainfall variability: opportunities for migration as a successful adaptation strategy in eight case studies

Authors Tamer Afifi, Andrea Milan, Benjamin Etzold, ...
Year 2016
Journal Name Migration and Development
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12 Journal Article

Rainfall Variability, Hunger, and Social Inequality, and Their Relative Influences on Migration: Evidence from Bangladesh

Authors Benjamin Etzold, Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, Selim Reza Hassan, ...
Year 2016
Book Title Environmental Migration and Social Inequality
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13 Book Chapter

Agency and the Making ofTransient Urban Spaces: Examples ofMigrants in the Cityin the Pearl River Delta, China, and Dhaka, Bangladesh

Authors Tabea Bork‐Hüffer, Frauke Kraas, Bettina Gransow, ...
Year 2014
Journal Name Population, Space and Place
Citations (WoS) 9
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14 Journal Article

Migration, Informal Labour and (Trans) Local Productions of Urban Space – The Case of Dhaka's Street Food Vendors

Year 2014
Journal Name Population, Space and Place
Citations (WoS) 8
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15 Journal Article

Food Security in Dhaka: Between Global Risks and Local Vulnerabilities

Authors Markus Keck, Benjamin Etzold, Hans-Georg Bohle, ...
Year 2014
Book Title Megacities
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16 Book Chapter

Clouds gather in the sky, but no rain falls. Vulnerability to rainfall variability and food insecurity in Northern Bangladesh and its effects on migration

Authors Benjamin Etzold, Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, Selim Reza Hassan, ...
Year 2013
Journal Name Climate and Development
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17 Journal Article

Resilience refused. Wasted potentials for improving food security in Dhaka

Authors Markus Keck, Benjamin Etzold
Year 2013
Journal Name ERDKUNDE
18 Journal Article

Risk and resilience in Asian megacities

Authors Markus Keck, Benjamin Etzold
Year 2013
Journal Name ERDKUNDE
19 Journal Article

Doing institutions. A dialectic reading of institutions and social practices and its relevance for development geography

Authors Benjamin Etzold, Sebastian Jülich, Markus Keck, ...
Year 2012
Journal Name ERDKUNDE
20 Journal Article

Urban Food Security and Health Status of the Poor in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Authors Wolfgang-Peter Zingel, Markus Keck, Benjamin Etzold, ...
Year 2011
Book Title Health in Megacities and Urban Areas
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21 Book Chapter

„We are making it on ourselves“ – Infrastrukturen der (Im)Mobilität in Bosnien und Herzegowina

Authors Philipp Themann, Benjamin Etzold
Year 2023
Journal Name Geographica Helvetica
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22 Journal Article

Journeys of Violence: Trajectories of (Im-)Mobility and Migrants’ Encounters with Violence in European Border Spaces

Authors Rahel Lorenz, Benjamin Etzold
Year 2022
Journal Name Comparative Population Studies
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23 Journal Article

Editorial Relational denken, Ungleichheiten reflektieren – Bourdieus Theorie der Praxis in der deutschsprachigen Geographischen Entwicklungsforschung

Authors V. Deffner, C. Haferburg, P. Sakdapolrak, ...
Year 2014
Journal Name Geographica Helvetica
24 Journal Article

Moving Beyond the Focus on Environmental Migration Towards Recognizing the Normality of Translocal Lives: Insights from Bangladesh

Authors Bishawjit Mallick, Benjamin Etzold
Book Title Migration, Risk Management and Climate Change: Evidence and Policy Responses
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26 Book Chapter

Suggested Research

Assessing Refugees’ Onward Mobility with Mobile Phone Data—A Case Study of (Syrian) Refugees in Turkey

Authors Harald Sterly, Benjamin Etzold, Lars Wirkus, ...
Year 2019
Book Title Guide to Mobile Data Analytics in Refugee Scenarios
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1 Book Chapter
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