Abstract
Often, migrant agency carries negative connotations in the literature, such as having adverse socio-economic and political impacts on the host country – and the sending country - in some cases. In other instances, migrants are stripped of their agency and viewed as victims and powerless actors being rescued and empowered by the government, inter-governmental bodies and civil society. The latter, in particular, are often the ones speaking and acting on behalf of migrants and refugees. There is less scholarly attention on migrants’ agency as positive, migrant agency from the point of view of, and the interventions of migrants themselves. Utilizing the agent-structure relationship approaches to agency and based on a case study of Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad and Tobago, the paper seeks to understand how migrants have exercised agency and the factors that inhibit or facilitate their agency. Using secondary sources and interview data, the guiding questions are: what are, and what informs the goals of Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad and Tobago? How do they seek to accomplish their goals? What are the factors that help or hinder those goals? How successful are they at accomplishing these goals? By integrating migrant perspectives, the paper will empower the migrant in migration studies, strengthen migrant policy and civil society advocacy in this sphere.
Presenters
Annita MontouteSenior Lecturer and Acting Director, The Institute of International Relations, The University of the West Indies, Tunapuna-Piarco, Trinidad and Tobago
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Vectors of Society and Culture
KEYWORDS
Migration, Civil Society, Agency, Venezuelan Migrant, Trinidad and Tobago
