Since its establishment in 2003, The Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies (CMDS) at SOAS University of London has advanced critical research and teaching on migration, diaspora, and development. Migration is deeply entwined with urgent global challenges, such as housing and urbanisation, political violence and conflict, displacement and dispossession, poverty and inequality, belonging and marginalisation, and climate change.
From exploring the lived experiences of migrants and diasporic communities, to analysing the structural forces driving migration and displacement, the Centre fosters critical research and engaged collaborations that seek to illuminate these intersections and their implications for politics, policy, society, and culture. CMDS builds on SOAS’ s long tradition of regional and transnational scholarship and activism, covering not only the traditional SOAS heartlands of Asia and Africa, but also Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean as well as the UK.
Drawing on the expertise of scholars from disciplines such as anthropology, history, development studies, politics, law, religion, music, and art history, CMDS produces rigorous scholarship that explores the complex processes shaping migration, their impact on migrant lives, and the practices of contestation and resistance that emerge in response. CMDS is a unique, vibrant, and safe environment for teaching and research activities. It seeks to shape global and local narratives on migration and to critically intervene in public, academic, and policy debates in the UK and beyond.