Schutz des Wohlergehens von Migranten in Indien während der COVID-19-Pandemie
Ethnologie und Europäische Ethnologie
Public Health, Gesundheitsbezogene Versorgungsforschung, Sozial- und Arbeitsmedizin
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
PWM’s initial research aim was to qualitatively investigate the impact of COVID-19 on migrants’ wellbeing and mental health in the context of India. PWM aimed to (1) investigate how the overall COVID-19 response in India impacted the mental health and wellbeing of migrant laborers; (2) Examine how shocks to migrant livelihoods impacted their wellbeing; (3) Investigate the care and wellbeing support responses as well as suggest policy recommendations. PWM included a sampling of four migrant categories - I: Incoming Indian internal migrants to Kerala who passed the lockdown in Kerala, II: Incoming international migrants to Kerala who passed the lockdown in Kerala, III: Outgoing (now returned) Keralite migrants, trapped nationally across India during the lockdowns, IV: Outgoing (now returned) Keralite migrants who when COVID-19 struck ended up trapped Internationally overseas. Throughout the project, PMW expanded the migrant population categories beyond Kerala, India, and working class. PWM also included a sub-study on the experiences and wellbeing of Indian migrants in Europe. The project used storytelling methodology and the questionnaire for collective and individual storytelling interviews was drawn from Dr Ayeb-Karlsson’s earlier work. The data collection was carried out between June 2021 and April 2022 in 12 study sites. In total, the experiences of 200 individuals in 75 individual life experience interviews were collected as well as 24 collective storytelling sessions in which 119 informants participated. Online interviews were conducted with Indian PhD students in Germany and the UK. This sub-study qualitatively investigated how the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions impacted the experiences and wellbeing of Indian PhD students at universities in Germany or the UK. PWM’s overall findings illustrate how working migrants experienced compromised mental health during COVID-19 across 6 thematic areas: livelihood interruption, gender dynamics, structural violence, social and family networks, legally trapped and institutional support or marginalization. The analysis highlights important human strategies, coping mechanisms, and support failures. These lessons learned can better prepare and respond to the humanitarian needs of people on the move during future health emergencies. The results provide a base for further research and spin off studies.
