By Alex Huang
For our GMD meets series, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Jamel Buhari, a PhD candidate (LU), researching Queer migration. As a GMD Master's alumnus, Jamel's work is connected to his own identity and experiences. In this interview, he shares his academic journey, the importance of his research topic, and the challenges of exploring migration narratives through oral history. Furthermore, Jamel shares details about the GMD Seedfund project he is currently working on.
The Journey to Academia
Thank you for being here, Jamel. Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself and your academic journey?
Thank you for having me. So I’m a PhD candidate at Leiden University’s Institute for History. I grew up in Rotterdam, currently live in Amsterdam and I’m Dutch and Ghanaian. I think my cultural background has always played a role in shaping my research interests. My academic journey started with a Bachelor’s in International Studies, where I did a regional specialization in Sub-Saharan Africa. Afterwards, I did internships and worked with a social innovation company operating in both the Netherlands and Ghana. I later pursued a Master’s at GMD, which inspired me to consider a PhD. I wasn’t initially set on this path, but through my Master’s thesis and the encouragement of my professors, I realized I enjoyed doing research and academic writing.
Identity and Research
Your research focuses on migration, particularly Queer migrants from Africa. How does your identity influence your work?
My identity is closely tied to my research. I tend to explore topics I can relate to in some way. For my Master’s thesis I conducted oral history research with Ghanaian community organizers in Amsterdam who were active in the 1990s, centering self-narratives that challenged hegemonic, often problematising, media and political narratives. My current PhD research continues along a similar vein—examining African queer migration within a Dutch context, while emphasizing self-representations and communities’ counternarratives. This, again, ties into my own identity- being queer and part of the African diaspora, I can relate to some of the complexities that come with these intersecting identities in a Dutch context. I think it would have been difficult for me to work on something that feels entirely detached from my own experiences or reality.
The Importance of Queer Representation in Migration Studies
Why do you believe it is crucial to include Queer migrant identities in the conversation on migration and diversity?
Queer migration has historically been largely overlooked in mainstream migration studies. When it comes to queer migration research, there has been an overemphasis on suffering and violence—framing queer migration as a one-way movement from the Global South to the West, where people are seen as fleeing ‘oppression’ in their home countries and finding ‘freedom’ and ‘liberation’ in the West. But in reality, queer migrants’ journeys and lived experiences are far more complex, as many of the stories of the people I interviewed revealed.
Through my research, I highlight personal migration narratives to bring out these complexities and challenge the oversimplified and Eurocentric, often-heard ‘single stories’—stories that reduce people to victims in need of saviour and strip them of agency.
Methodology and Challenges
Your research utilizes oral history as a methodology. Can you explain why you chose this approach?
Oral history allows individuals to narrate their own experiences in their own words. Migration stories are personal and emotional, and using this method helps preserve these narratives authentically. I’ve conducted interviews with Queer migrants, many of whom arrived in the Netherlands within the past decade.
As I mentioned, I think using this method in this context is a way to go beyond the hegemonic media and political discourses- discourses that problematise migrants as threats or reduce them to victims.
However, this approach presents ethical challenges. Some of my interviewees have fled their countries of origin due to persecution. Some are still undergoing asylum procedures, which means I have to be extremely careful with confidentiality and safety. Every step of the research requires sensitivity and transparency regarding how the information is used.
The Role of the LDE GMD Centre
How has the LDE GMD Centre supported your work, and how can it continue to do so?
The Centre is an invaluable hub connecting scholars working on migration from different disciplines. It fosters collaborations between research, policy, and practice. I appreciate the events and discussions it organizes, which provide a platform to share insights and gain new perspectives.
Moving forward, I’d love to see more conversations about the role of researchers in bridging academia and real-world practice. It’s important to reflect on how we engage with communities beyond just extracting information for research.
Looking Ahead - GMD Seed Fund
What do you hope to contribute in the future?
I’d like to explore creative ways of presenting academic work—beyond traditional conferences and journal articles. There’s potential for more interactive and accessible formats, like exhibitions, digital storytelling, or collaborative projects with communities. Academia can sometimes feel rigid and outdated, and I believe we can innovate to make research more impactful.
Speaking of more creative ways of presenting academic work, you are the recipient of the GMD seed fund. Could you share more about the project?
So I’m very happy that I received the GMD Seed Fund for a creative project linked to my PhD research. This project explores African queer migration through visual arts, bringing together migrants, grassroots organizations, artists, and academics. By connecting different disciplines and communities, we aim to co-create visual narratives that reflect people’s migration trajectories and lived experiences. The project includes multiple co-creation workshops, an arts exhibition, and related public programming, all centered on the creative process. More importantly, it creates spaces for self-representation and expression, challenging dominant ways of knowledge production and exchange.
I’m collaborating with researchers Paschal Gumadwong Bagonza and Kay Mars, and we’re now in the process of setting up the team of artists and research participants as we get started.
The PhD Project is part of the EU-funded project ITHACA-Interconnecting Histories and Archives for Migrant Agency.