"From Aspiration to Exploitation : Stalled Labour Migration and Informal Brokerage in Rural Bangladesh"
Author
Priya, Naznin Sultana
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2026
Submitted on
2026-05-28
Abstract
This thesis investigates how stalled labour migration unfolds among rural households in Bangladesh and how informal brokerage, household financial investment, and social relationships shape experiences of migration failure and prolonged waiting. Drawing on qualitative interviews with five individuals and their family members whose migration attempts were delayed or completely unsuccessful, the study explores why aspirations to migrate persist despite repeated postponements, deception, and financial loss. Using Migration Infrastructure Theory, the aspirations–capabilities framework, Social Capital Theory, the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM), and Precarity Theory, the analysis shows that participants became highly dependent on informal brokers because safe and regulated migration pathways were difficult to access. Brokers sustained the migration process through repeated promises, shifting destination countries, misleading documents, and extended delays that kept households waiting for years without resolution. At the same time, migration operated as a collective household investment, financed through loans, land sales, and borrowing, which, when migration failed to materialize, produced long-term indebtedness, emotional distress, social shame, and economic insecurity. Kinship and community-based trust initially enabled access to brokers but later discouraged confrontation and legal accountability. The thesis concludes that stalled migration should not be understood as an individual failure but as a structurally produced condition arising from unequal access to safe migration channels, dependence on informal brokerage systems, prolonged uncertainty, and limited institutional protection, thereby contributing to migration scholarship by centring pre-departure immobility and experiences of failed mobility.
Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan fastlåst arbejdsmigration udspiller sig blandt landlige husholdninger i Bangladesh, og hvordan uformelle mellemmænd, økonomiske investeringer og sociale relationer former erfaringer med migrationssvigt og langvarig ventetid. Med udgangspunkt i kvalitative interviews med fem personer og deres husholdninger, hvis migrationsforsøg er blevet forsinket eller helt mislykkedes, analyseres, hvorfor migrationsaspirationer fortsætter trods gentagne forsinkelser, bedrag og økonomiske tab. Ved hjælp af Migration Infrastructure Theory, aspirations–capabilities-rammen, socialkapitalteori, New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM) og prekariatsteori viser studiet, at deltagerne bliver dybt afhængige af uformelle agenter, fordi sikre og regulerede migrationsveje er vanskeligt tilgængelige. Mellemmændene holder migrationsprocessen i gang gennem gentagne løfter, skiftende destinationslande, vildledende dokumenter og langvarige udsættelser, som fastholder husholdningerne i en årelang venteposition uden afklaring. Migration fungerer samtidig som en kollektiv husholdningsinvestering finansieret gennem lån, jordsalg og gæld, hvilket ved mislykket migration resulterer i langvarig gældsætning, følelsesmæssig belastning, social skam og økonomisk usikkerhed. Slægtskab og lokalt fællesskab muliggør i første omgang adgang til mellemmænd gennem tillid, men hæmmer senere konfrontation og juridisk ansvarlighed. Afhandlingen konkluderer, at fastlåst migration ikke bør forstås som et individuelt nederlag, men som en strukturel tilstand skabt af ulige adgang til sikre migrationsveje, afhængighed af uformelle brokers, vedvarende usikkerhed og begrænset institutionel beskyttelse, og bidrager dermed til migrationsforskningen ved at rette fokus mod immobilitet og migrationsfiasko før afrejse.
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