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A discursive review of the textual use of ‘trapped’ in environmental migration studies: The conceptual birth and troubled teenage years of trapped populations
Open accessAbstract
First mooted in 2011, the concept of Trapped Populations referring to people unable to move from environmentally high-risk areas broadened the study of human responses to environmental change. While a seemingly straightforward concept, the underlying discourses around the reasons for being 'trapped', and the language describing the concept have profound influences on the way in which policy and practice approaches the needs of populations at risk from environmental stresses and shocks. In this article, we apply a Critical Discourse Analysis to the academic literature on the subject to reveal some of the assumptions implicit within discussing 'trapped' populations. The analysis reveals a dominant school of thought that assisted migration, relocation, and resettlement in the face of climate change are potentially effective adaptation strategies along a gradient of migrant agency and governance.
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“While there has been a considerable conceptual discussion of trapped populations in the environmental migration literature, the empirical evidence on their existence is scarce.”
From Trapped by climate change? (In)voluntary immobility in Bangladesh (2025) · cites this paper as Ayeb-Karlsson et al. 2018
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Metadata
- Authors
- Ayeb-Karlsson, S., Smith, C. D., & Kniveton, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Sussex (GB)
- Venue
- Ambio
- Published
- 2018-02-12
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 557-573
- ISSN
- 0044-7447 (ISSN-L)
- 1654-7209
- PMC
- PMC6072639
- OpenAlex
- W2788815232
- Cited by
- 136
- References
- 102
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 4.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- AMBIO (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Sussex Research Online (University of Sussex) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- UNU Collections (United Nations University) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Royal Geographical Society
- University of Sussex
- Durham University
- United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
- Keywords
- trapped populations, environmental migration, climate change adaptation, migrant agency, environmental governance, high-risk areas
- MeSH terms
- Environmental Exposure, Environmental Health, Humans, Population Dynamics, Transients and Migrants, Climate Change
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