Migration dynamics in the life stories of women under administrative surveillance: Silivri example

The subject of this study is to reveal the life stories of irregular migrant women who were under administrative supervision at the Silivri detention center. This thesis that utilized life stories qualitative research has three main purposes: 1) Through listening the life stories of irregular migrant women in a detention center in Turkey, it aims to reveal their basic demographic characteristics, their experiences on the causes of migration, pre-migration, during-migration and post-migration processes and the dynamics for their going under detention. 2) It aims to give voice to this invisible group and tries to reflect hidden challenges in their lives. 3) It aims to understand the concept of administrative surveillance through women's life stories and to understand the deterrent role of detention centers in irregular migration. This study has three main contributions to the literature: 1) Studying irregular women migration processes by taking into account their own experiences and point of views would make migration dynamics more understandable. Thus, this study has a potential contribution to the theoretical literature that focuses on the causes, processes and consequences of migration. One of the most important contributions of this study is that it demonstrates diverse, chaining and intertwining causes of migration embedded in life stories. Therefore, it is insufficient to explain reasons for migration from a single theoretical perspective. It is obvious that a synthesis of migration theories should be constructed. 2) Application of life story qualitative research used in migration literature in order to understand pre-migration and post-migration experiences of women from their point of view. 3) Another contribution of this study is to provide information about and compare administrative surveillance and detention centers in some countries. Key words: Migration, Irregular Migration and Women, Life Story, Administrative Surveillance, Detention Center