International Migration Research: Constructions, Omissions and the Promises of Interdisciplinarity

ISBN-13: 9780754642190 / Angielski / Twarda / 2005 / 304 str.

Morawska, Ewa

Opis

The centrality of international migration as a process articulating major transformations of contemporary societies offers an opportunity to make it the shared component of the theoretical and research agendas of the social science disciplines. In this volume a multidisciplinary team of authors presents a stocktaking account of current research on international migration in order to lay the ground for such an interdisciplinary collaboration. The first part of the book scrutinizes the theoretical concepts and interpretative frameworks that inform migration research and their impact on empirical studies in selected disciplines. The next two sections examine the epistemological premises underlying migration research in different fields of the social sciences and the challenges of 'informed translations' between these approaches. The final section considers the interdependency between the academic study of migration and the social and political contexts in which it is embedded. The book invites researchers to address the challenges raised by the empowerment of migration research, offering ways of communicating across different specializations and guiding readers towards a meaningful interdisciplinarity.

Recenzje

’In this timely and significant book, Michael Bommes and Ewa Morawska bring together leading American and European scholars to explore central questions in the study of international migration. What theoretical concepts and methodological tools guide immigration research in various disciplines? How do migration scholars talk across the disciplines? What impact does migration research have on different disciplines? The insightful and provocative essays will help to push the immigration field forward at the same time as they highlight the critical role of international migration in the broader study of contemporary societies.’ Nancy Foner, City University of New York, USA ’This volume actually takes a new, big step in the long lived aim of making migration research genuinely interdisciplinary rather than merely declaring it to be so. Michael Bommes and Ewa Morawska’s agenda is clear: to bring this research into the mainstream theoretical agendas of various disciplines where immigration could and should function as a foundational category or, at the least, as a bridging concept. An excellent, theoretically informed collection.’ Saskia Sassen, author of Denationalization: Assemblages of Territory, Authority and Rights ’Too often migration researchers take the notions on which they base their work for granted. They may also copy the discourse of public authorities on these matters without any reflection or sense of criticism. This book will make all migration researchers more conscious of these practices. It shows very convincingly how harmful these can be not only for good quality research, but also for furthering the development of theory in this field...This book is a must for anyone genuinely interested in advancing scientific knowledge on international migration and integration processes, core phenomena of the 21st century.’ Professor Han Entzinger, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands ’...an invaluable guide to scholars interested

Spis treści

Contents: Introduction, Michael Bommes and Ewa Morawska. Theoretical Concepts And Interpretations In Migration Research: Migration and population in German historical thought: some critical reflections, Josef Ehmer; Integration nations: the Nation-State and research on immigrants in Western Europe, Adrian Favell; The anthropology of transnational communities and the reframing of immigration research in California: the Mixtec case, Michael Kearney; Gender and migration research, Leslie Page Moch. Migration Research In Different Disciplines: Political science and comparative immigration politics, Gary P. Freeman; World society and migrations: challenges to theoretical concepts of political sociology, Jost Halfmann. Issues And Dilemmas Of Interdisciplinarity: Law and politics and migration research: on the potential and limits of interdisciplinarity, Roland Bank and Dirk Lehmkuhl; Interdisciplinarity in migration research: on the relation between sociology and linguistics, Michael Bommes and Utz Maas; The sociology and history of immigration: reflections of a practitioner, Ewa Morawska. Interdependence Of Migration Research And Its Sociopolitical Contexts: National frames in migration research: the tacit political agenda, Sandra Lavenex; Migration research and European integration: the construction and institutionalization of problems of Europe, Andrew Geddes; Conclusion, Michael Bommes and Ewa Morawska; Index.

O autorze

Michael Bommes is Professor at the University of Osnabrück in Germany. Ewa Morawska is Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex, UK.