Choosing to stay::The Resilience-Accessibility Framework as a new perspective on immobility amidst adversity

Abstract

persons fleeing adversity. As a result, the staying behaviours of communities, particularly those who choose immobility in areas affected by violent conflict and other adversities, are often overlooked. In addition, existing theoretical frameworks fail to capture the distinctive migratory processes and experiences of communities committed to remaining on their ancestral lands. This article introduces the resilience– accessibility framework, a novel analytical framework developed by integrating theoretical insights from the aspirations–capabilities framework with qualitative data from focus group discussions involving 106 respondents in conflict-affected communities in the Middle Belt region in Nigeria. While the framework primarily addresses immobility in conflict-affected areas, it also applies to collectives, such as Indigenous communities, facing challenges like climatic stress, natural disasters, environmental degradation, and governance instability. By broadening the scope of (im)mobility categories, this article offers a framework that foregrounds often-excluded experiences of immobility. It provides analytical tools to examine how resilience, resource accessibility, and structural conditions shape collective decisions to stay put, particularly in communities in the Global South. In doing so, it addresses a persistent research opportunity in migration studies, where immobility remains under-theorized, especially in conditions of adversity.