Article | Open Access
Language, Power, and Multilingualism in Migration Research: Reflections From the Documentary Method
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Abstract: In two research projects conducted in Austria and Germany in the field of forced migration, we found similar challenges and potentials, namely, the methodological challenges of addressing multilingualism in a methodically controlled way and the potential of systematically analysing power dynamics within multilingual interviews using the documentary method. In this article, we illustrate the intertwining of language and power in multilingual qualitative research. Discussing two empirical examples in depth, we show that different data (with and without interpreters) are embedded in different power hierarchies, which need to be recognized. We also discuss the lessons we learned, as well as the limitations that we encountered, and conclude with a call to navigate through the ambiguities of migration societies that are reflected in multilingual research realities.
Keywords: documentary method; forced migration; interviews; migration societies; multilingualism; power dynamics; qualitative research; second language interview research; social inequalities; translation
Published:
Issue:
Vol 14 (2026): Multilingual Challenges: Empirical Social Research in Migration Societies, Transnational Spaces, and International Contexts (In Progress)
© Tamara Tries, Victoria Mehringer. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction of the work without further permission provided the original author(s) and source are credited.