There is not enough place for non-Western scholars in European universities

Contrary to what the title suggests, this is a very accessible book. Have you thought of an accessible title to reach a larger audience?

Al-Rahbari: Something like “Tell the scholars of immigrant origin?” That would give the impression that we wrote a novel. While it is an academic book containing biographical stories and autobiography. This book wants to make basic patterns visible in individual stories.

Burliuk: We want to show that autobiographical stories can also be academic and that they are fun to read as well. This does not make them less academic, but in fact it makes more impact.

For whom did you write the book?

Rahbari: “To all scholars, including migrating academics, but especially to those who have no experience of migrating from the Global South to the Global North. We want to get out of the bubble of migrant scientists sharing their stories with each other. After all, we still see very little recognition of the red tape immigrants have to go through before they can find work.

Prliuk: “And we also want to reach policy makers, politicians, administrators and university administrators to make them aware of this.”

Why did you publish the book open access?

Burliuk: ‘So that everyone can read it.’ This was a very important requirement for us, we wanted to make sharing it as easy as possible so that no one would have an excuse not to read it.

Al-Rahbari: And make the book accessible to all. So that students and colleagues do not have to pay a large amount to access the book.

The book was written mainly by sociologists, political scientists and anthropologists. Do these stories also play out in other areas?

Rahbari: Yes, of course. We also want to make stories from other fields visible, but we started in our own network. To gain someone’s trust by telling a weak story, it helps to know the person.

Burliuk: “However, the reception of the book extends far beyond our field. Also outside of Europe, the book has already been downloaded in 105 countries around the world. These stories also take place in North America, New Zealand, Japan and so on.