The Panacea for Immigrant People in the Arctic

This book explores whether the Arctic serves as a true panacea for immigrants, offering opportunity and renewal, or if it reveals deep vulnerabilities, including isolation, harsh conditions, and exploitation. By examining the intersection of migration, socio-economic development, and climate change, the book uncovers the forces shaping immigrant lives and their role in the Arctic’s evolving future.

The arctic is one of the most rapidly changing regions on the planet. This book offers a deeper understanding of how immigration, changing environment, and socio-economic development intersect in the Arctic. It offers new insights into the challenges and opportunities facing immigrant communities and explores broader implications for regional policy, integration, and resilience. Drawing on multidisciplinary perspectives, from migration studies, environmental sociology, and development theory, the book combines empirical case studies, policy analysis, and narratives from immigrants themselves to present a grounded and comprehensive picture of Arctic migration dynamics. It provides insights on the real-world experiences and structural factors affecting immigrants in the Arctic, unpacking complex relationships between people, place, and policy.

This book will be of interest to researchers and policymakers working in fields such as migration studies, political science, environmental studies, sociology, economics, and human geography. It will also be valuable for nonprofit organizations and advocacy groups focused on immigration rights, social justice, law, and human rights.

Nafisa Yeasmin is devoted to research on Arctic immigration and entrepreneurial resilience at the Kerttu Saalasti Institute of the University of Oulu, Finland. Her research interests include understanding global migration governance at the regional level and the challenges of migration governance in establishing greater coherence across the Arctic region. Special attention has been given to comprehensive governance strategies for accelerating the economic integration of immigrants since good governance reinforces economic integration that underpins the relative resilience of the emerging economies in the global north. Nafisa works under the “Micro-entrepreneurship Centre of Excellence” research Group. She has been involved with different national and international networks on migration, i.e., the Sirius network. She has been leading the UArctic thematic network on Arctic Migration. She is also a distinguished member of the Finnish National Ethnic Advisory Board, operated by the Ministry of Law, Finland, and has been the president of the Arctic Immigrant Association. Additionally, she is also a member of several different steering committees alongside members of some follow-up committees. All those committees are directly involved with the integration of immigrants in the Arctic. Academically, Yeasmin has published books (Palgrave, Routledge) and several peer-reviewed articles in prestigious international journals like SAGE, Taylor &Francis, Springer, Edward Elgar, etc.

Dr. Juhar Yasin Abamosa is an associate professor in the Department of Pedagogy at the University of Inland Norway. His research interests include exploring the role of various institutions and policies in hindering or facilitating the social inclusion of refugees in higher education in Western destination countries, social inequalities created and sustained or reproduced by unjust social systems and unequal power relationships, equity in educational opportunities to disadvantaged groups such as refugees, hidden – albeit intentional – prejudices that result in the exclusion of refugees from boundaries of opportunities in Western destination countries, the deskilling of non-Western refugees, epistemic injustice, and institutional racism.

Syed Musa Kajim Nuri is pursuing a Ph.D. in Social Work at the University of Lapland, Finland. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminology and Police Science and a second Master’s in Victimology and Restorative Justice. He worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Criminology and Police Science at Chittagong University, Bangladesh. His research interests include youth violence, radicalization, far-right narratives, immigrant issues, minority rights, and sustainable development. He is involved in the EU-Knowledge Hub Program on Radicalization and evaluates master’s theses for Finland’s UniPID Network.