Transnationalism Migration And The Challenge To Europe

Transnationalism, Migration and the Challenge to Europe: The Enlargement of Meaning puts forward an alternative outline for thinking about migration in a European context. Moving beyond the agenda of identity politics, the book addresses possibilities more related to the experiential and existential dimensions of migratory – and importantly, post-migratory – lives. Examining the fundamental and radical argument that migrants should be regarded not as a problematical category, but rather as opening up new cultural and imaginative channels for those living in Europe, the book draws on extensive empirical work by the authors undertaken over the past ten years. Grounded in the actual lives and experiences of migrant Turks, the book evaluates how their articulations regarding identity and belonging have been changing over the last decade. The agenda regarding migration and belonging has shifted over this crucial period of time. This shift is counterpoised against the unchanging national positions, and against the supra-national stance of 'official' European approaches and policies regarding migration and identity. Transnationalism, Migration and the Challenge to Europe would be of interest to those involved in sociology, anthropology, transnational studies, migration studies, cultural studies, media studies, European studies.

Increasing interconnections between nation-states across borders have rendered the transnational a key tool for understanding our world. It has made particularly strong contributions to immigration studies and holds great promise for deepening insights into international migration. This is the first book to provide an accessible yet rigorous overview of transnational migration, as experienced by family and kinship groups, networks of entrepreneurs, diasporas and immigrant associations. As well as defining the core concept, it explores the implications of transnational migration for immigrant integration and its relationship to assimilation. By examining its political, economic, social, and cultural dimensions, the authors capture the distinctive features of the new immigrant communities that have reshaped the ethno-cultural mix of receiving nations, including the US and Western Europe. Importantly, the book also examines the effects of transnationality on sending communities, viewing migrants as agents of political and economic development. This systematic and critical overview of transnational migration perfectly balances theoretical discussion with relevant examples and cases, making it an ideal book for upper-level students covering immigration and transnational relations on sociology, political science, and globalization courses.

It has been half a century since the Geneva Refugee Convention came into place, but there is still no comparable international regime which provides for the increasing phenomenon of mobile economic migrants. At a time of global mobility, when migration policies are constantly changing and the security and rights of migrants are called into question, there is clearly a need for strengthened international cooperation. This volume brings together an international team of authors to examine the prospects for improvements in such cooperation and for the establishment of a framework of basic global or regional norms of conduct. Issues addressed in the book include how to augment the development effects of migration for source countries, how to meet the security and rights interests of both states and migrants and how to improve the prospects for integration of migrants in destination countries. With its fresh, policy-focused and global approach, this volume will be of great value to both academics and policy-makers.

Every day newspapers in the Western world carry articles about illegal immigrants, asylum seekers and other migrants. The focus of these articles varies greatly from migrants as a threat to one or another important social or societal interest, to migrants as an important asset to those same interests. The tone is most often emotional - whichever way the focus goes. The overall impact is to confuse: is migration good or bad? In this book Guild and van Selm seek to investigate these value assessments regarding migrants in Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia. While looking at issues such as security, human rights, legal systems, identity, racism, welfare, health and labour, the authors also respond to critics of immigration.

This book focuses on the experiences of temporary movements between Asia and Europe from the perspective of migrants and mobile people. It raises important questions such as: Why do people migrate on a temporary basis and what does this actually mean? How are these trajectories shaped? What are the implications of temporary moves for migrants and non-migrants? And how are transnational ties and practices characterized in the context of temporary migration? By shedding light on the practices and experiences of individual migrants, the book provides useful insights into understanding the challenges arising in an increasingly interconnected and mobile world. The chapters indicate that temporary migratory movements are on the rise: on the one hand on a voluntary basis such as reflected in labour migration, lifestyle migration and international student mobility, and on the other hand in an involuntary way as expressed in different forms of forced migration. Either way, temporary migration has diverse political. legal, economic, social and cultural implications, including the emergence of novel transnational networks and practices. The book is based on the findings of the international research project Transnational Migration in Transition: Transformative Characteristics of Temporary Mobility of People (EURA-NET), funded by the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme for period 2014-2017.

Transnational connections are a defining feature of contemporary Europe. They include cross-border economic and cultural exchange, migration, and political activism. This volume probes their political and social significance and makes a case for incorporating transnationalism more systematically into the research agenda of European Studies.

The revolutions and protests arising from the Arab Spring, combined with the establishment of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, challenged dominant ideas about what people in the Middle East expect from their governments. At the same time, a new wave of migration has been created, once again showing how the local, regional and global are connected in the identity of citizens and concepts of citizenship. This turmoil and its human cost —tragically captured in the image of drowned toddler Aylan Kurdi—have called into question prevailing modes of thinking about the Middle East, as well as the policy of EU governments towards refugees and immigration. These seismic events have compounded underlying changes in the internal composition of contemporary liberal democracies, which, together with the challenges imposed by globalization on the state, are demanding a rethink of theories of citizenship, particularly in a transnational sense. By bringing together new perspectives on these critical issues, this timely and thought-provoking book deconstructs the processes that are shaping and reshaping debates on migration and integration in Europe, and illuminates emerging patterns in key areas such as citizenship and cultural identity, education, and second generation networks. Introduction: Celebrating Difference: In Search of Paradigms Addressing Barriers to Transnational Migration — Annemarie Profanter and Francis Owtram Chapter One: The Impact of the Arab Spring on Issues of MENA: Europe Migration in the Context of Globalization — Kristian Coates Ulrichsen Chapter Two: Modernity and Islamic Immigration: Examining the Historical Roots of Identity and Difference — Nigel M. Greaves Chapter Three: The Burgeoning of Transnationalism: Narrowing the Transitional Gap from Emigrant to Citizen — Annemarie Profanter Chapter Four: Citizenship and Education: Economic Competitiveness, Social Cohesion and Human Rights — Christine Difato Chapter Five: Acquiring and Losing Turkish Citizenship under the New Turkish Citizenship Act — Necla Ozturk Chapter Six: Xenophobia, Alienation, Heterotopias and Cultural Limits: Fictional Boundaries of the Athens Pakistani and Afghani Communities — Sotirios S. Livas Chapter Seven: Arab Diasporas in the UK: Yemeni Citizenship still in Transition? — Khawlah Ahmed Chapter Eight: Muslim Society Trondheim: The Dialectics of Islamic Doctrine, Integration Policy and Institutional Practices — Ulrika Mårtensson Chapter Nine: Yalla, Lombards! Second Generations in Lombardy: Looking for a Model — Francesco Mazzucotelli

This book addresses the impact of migration on the formation and transformation of identity and its continuous negotiations. Its ground is the understanding of identity as a complex social phenomenon resulting from constant negotiations between personal conditions, social relationships, and institutional frameworks. Migrations, understood as dynamic processes that do not end when landing in the host country, offer the best conditions to analyze the construction and transformation of social identities in the postcolonial and globalized societies. Searching for novel epistemologies and methodologies, the research questions here addressed are how identity is negotiated in migration processes, and how these negotiations work in contemporary multiethnic Europe. This edited volume brings to the field a novel convergence of theoretical and empirical approaches by gathering together scholars from different countries of Europe and the Mediterranean area, from different disciplines and backgrounds, challenging the traditional discipline division.