Crossing Borders, Connecting Families. Return Decision-Making In South Sudanese Transnational Family Networks.

This project aims to untangle return decision-making strategies of South Sudanese transnational families, in the aftermath of the South Sudanese civil war (2013-2018). Through a multi-sited ethnography with members of South Sudanese families, we will create insights into the precise dynamics within transnational family networks and more specifically, into their decision-making processes during the period in between the conflict and post-conflict stage. We will do so through a combination of multiple qualitative research methods, including auto-ethnography, in-depth interviews, observations and life history interviews. Combining the insights generated at our three research sites, namely in the northern Ugandan refugee settlements, Kampala and Juba, we will pave the way for a better understanding of the nature and working of refugees' transnational family networks; and how their configurations evolve and adapt to changing conditions. In doing so, the study will add critical contributions to the literature on return migration, migration decision-making and transnational families.

Keywords:VULNERABLE GROUPS

Disciplines:Area studies, Ethnicity and migration studies, Social and cultural anthropology, Migration