Margaret Monyani is a doctoral candidate at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa pursuing a PhD in international relations. Her dissertation focuses on international migration regimes specifically the global dynamics associated with refugee governance from an African standpoint by exploring the livelihood situations of Somali women refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. She also holds a Master’s degree in international relations and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science (with first class honors) from Moi University, Kenya. She is currently a teaching assistant in the Department of International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She has also participated in various undergraduate courses ranging from national politics, international relations, gender, human rights, security and international migration taught in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Moi University. Monyani’s exemplary academic performance has earned her prestigious fellowships such as the Andrew Mellon Governing Intimacies Project (2019), Academy for African Urban Diversity Fellowship (2018), Erasmus Mundus International Credit Mobility Fellowship (2018), and Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa Research Fellowships (2017, 2018, 2019). She is a versatile, upcoming scholar and author, with skills in execution of academic and policy research projects as well as leadership experience ranging from civil society to academic spheres. Monyani is also a research affiliate with the Refugee Law Initiative, University of London.
Award Information
As migration becomes securitised globally, there will be substantial consequences for existing as well as prospective immigrants and asylum seekers. The portrayal of migrants as a security threat takes away their humanity, and depicts migration as a natural disaster rather than a normal and perennial activity. Moreover, securitisation makes migrants the subjects of state security discourse and institutional practices rather than considering them as persons at risk, yet this is bound to have considerable implications on migrants' wellbeing and safety. By exploring the effects of such securitisation on Somali women refugees in Nairobi, the study will illustrate these human consequences while outlining some alternatives for improving human security. Many scholars have explained how migrants are portrayed as a security threat to the state; instead this study will focus on the risks that such portrayal poses on the migrants' well-being and dignity. The main focus of this study will be to determine how securitisation threatens the freedom to access important livelihoods, social services and physical security of Somali women refugees, their response to the securitisation process, but most importantly, the strategies that they have devised so as to cope with the resultant effects of the process. The study will employ securitisation and feminist security theories in its analysis. In order to answer the key question of the study, the research will utilize a number of research methods which are located within the broad framework of qualitative approach to data collection and analysis. They include interviews, the historical narrative method, case studies or descriptive method, and thematic content analysis. In addition, the study will employ the exploratory case study design which allows for the exploration of the phenomenon under study within its natural context using a variety of data sources.
