Transnational Migration Studies

2019 ◽  
pp. 19-32
Author(s):  
Banu Özkazanç-Pan
Keyword(s):  
Transnational Migration ◽  
Social Condition ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Migration Studies ◽  
Methodological Nationalism ◽  
Social Fields ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Societal Changes ◽  
Management Scholarship

This chapter outlines the three main concepts that are derived from transnational migration studies. Transnational migration signifies mobility that not only spans geographies but also space and social fields, allowing scholars to account for and understand how (new) forms of identity, belonging, and nationhood materialize. In turn, the ongoing societal changes taking shape by way of transnational migration reflect a new reality and social condition, that of mobility and encounters between/among people across relations of difference that are themselves constantly shifting. To expand on new directions for management scholarship that are possible based on transnational migration studies, this chapter identifies three key concepts: multiscalar global perspective, moving beyond methodological nationalism and globalhistorical conjunctures. Each of these concepts are expanded upon in terms of their main points and contributions to thinking about the new social condition of mobility as it relates to theorizing people, difference and work—an endeavour that is the focus of the following three chapters.

Transnational Migration and the New Subjects of Work

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Banu Özkazanç-Pan
Keyword(s):  
Transnational Migration ◽  
Social World ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Research Paradigms ◽  
Methodological Nationalism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Diversity Research

This book brings about insights and key concepts from the field of transnational migration studies to bear upon the field of organization studies. It expands upon multiscalar global perspective, moving beyond methodological nationalism, and historical global conjuncturesas relevant transnational concepts for studying people and difference in novel ways including agentic, reflexive mobile subjectivities as the new subjects of diversity research that emerge in a ‘post-identitarian’ world. Specifically, the book offers transmigrant, hybrid, and cosmopolitan subjectivities as new the subjects of diversity research. Beyond new subjectivities, mobility ontology requires rethinking the epistemology of multiculturalism, examining inequalities, and redirecting the methodologies adopted to attend to difference. In expanding on these, the book offers new frameworks for the study of people on-the-move and organizations through a mobility ontology that foregrounds movement as the natural order of the social world. It also calls into question the ways existing research paradigms and approaches have potentially replicated the creation of boundaries and borders through implicit assumptions about difference, race/ethnicity and belonging. By shifting the ontological premise upon which the field of organization studies rests, this book provides novel ways of theorizing difference, people and work beyond static epistemologies guiding much of the field.

“Superdiversity”: a new paradigm for inclusion in a transnational world

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Banu Ozkazanc-Pan
Keyword(s):  
Transnational Migration ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Migration Studies ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Nation States ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Diversity Research

Purpose Transnational migration has become a defining feature of many societies across the globe. This paper focuses on contributions to diversity theorizing and research available from “superdiversity”, an analytic framework derived from transnational migration studies. “Superdiversity” speaks to the novel social transformations taking place globally and provides new opportunities, albeit with critique, for conceptualizing and studying people, difference and inclusion. The purpose of this paper is to provide innovative ways to rethink hallmark concepts of diversity scholarship by offering new insights about the role of nation-states, the concept of difference and inclusion in the midst of mobility. Design/methodology/approach The paper relies upon transnational migration studies as an emergent field of inquiry about societal level changes brought upon by the ongoing movement of people. The social, cultural and political transformations growing out of transnational migration are used to theorize new directions for diversity research in the context of management and organization studies. By relying on “superdiversity” and its mobility-based ontology, epistemology and methodology, the paper proposes new ways to think about and carry out research on difference and inclusion. Findings Deploying the analytic framework of “superdiversity,” the paper offers “belonging” as the new conversation on inclusion and proposes mobile methods as a means to study mobile subjects/objects. In addition, it discusses how the ongoing transformative societal changes by way of transnational migration impact the ways in which the author theorizes and carry out diversity research. Questions and concerns around ethics, (in)equality and representation are considered vital to future research in/around diversity. Originality/value Extensive changes in societies emerging out of ongoing encounters between/among different kinds of people have taken shape by way of transnational migration. As a result, emergent and novel notions of difference have been forged in a transnational manner across social fields. By examining these transformations, the paper provides new directions and challenges for diversity scholarship in the context of rising societal tensions and rhetoric around difference and “belonging” in nation-states. It also provides alternative considerations for understanding and theorizing inclusion in diversity research.

Book Reviews

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-296
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Allen ◽  
Evinc Dogan ◽  
Anna Hjalm ◽  
Ibrahim Sirkeci ◽  
Bradley Saunders
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Migration Studies ◽  
Ashgate Publishing

Helen Vella Bonavita (ed.), Negotiating Identities: Constructed Selves and Oth-ers, Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2011, 217 pp., (ISBN: 978-90-420-3400-6) (pa-per).Theodoros Iosifides, Qualitative Methods in Migration Studies, A Critical Real-ist Perspective, Oxford: Ashgate Publishing, 2011, 278 pp., (ISBN13: 978-1-4094-0222-0), (paper).Puschmann, Paul, Casablanca. A Demographic Miracle on Moroccan Soil?, Leuven: Acco Academic, 2011, 170 pp., (ISBN13: 9789033480683), (paper).Myna German and Padmini Banerjee (eds.), Migration, Technology, and Transculturation: a Global Perspective, St Charles, MO, USA: Lindenwood University Press, 2011, 288 pp., (ISBN13: 978-0984630745), (paper).  Reza Hasmath, The Ethnic Penalty: Immigration, Education and the Labour Market, Burlington, VT and Surrey, UK: Ashgate (2012) 130pp. (ISBN 978-1-4094-0211-4).   

scholarly journals Reframing ‘integration’: acknowledging and addressing five core critiques

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Spencer ◽  
Katharine Charsley
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Recent Criticism ◽  
Heuristic Model ◽  
Migration Studies ◽  
Methodological Nationalism ◽  
Narrow Focus ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractEmpirical and theoretical insights from the rich body of research on ‘integration’ in migration studies have led to increasing recognition of its complexity. Among European scholars, however, there remains no consensus on how integration should be defined nor what the processes entail. Integration has, moreover, been the subject of powerful academic critiques, some decrying any further use of the concept. In this paper we argue that it is both necessary and possible to address each of the five core critiques on which recent criticism has focused: normativity; negative objectification of migrants as ‘other’; outdated imaginary of society; methodological nationalism; and a narrow focus on migrants in the factors shaping integration processes. We provide a definition of integration, and a revised heuristic model of integration processes and the ‘effectors’ that have been shown to shape them, as a contribution to a constructive debate on the ways in which these challenges for empirical research can be overcome.

Disaffiliation amongst academically elite students in Singapore: the role of a non-standard variety of English

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (271) ◽  
pp. 139-166
Author(s):  
Luke Lu
Keyword(s):  
Peer Groups ◽  
Transnational Migration ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Standard Variety ◽  
Multinational Group ◽  
Social Fields ◽  
English I

Abstract This article seeks to examine whether and how a non-standard variety of English (i.e. Singlish) might contribute to (dis)affiliation amongst a multinational group of academically elite students in Singapore. Using interview data when informants expressed ideologies about Singlish and Standard English, I argue that informants tended to orient to two different social fields in interviews: a field of education where Standard English is consistently valued by them, and an informal field of socialisation where the value of Singlish is contested. Differences in valuation of Singlish suggest disaffiliation between two groups of academically elite students: (a) immigrants from China who arrived more recently and do not value Singlish; (b) localised peer groups (including immigrants and Singaporeans) who claim to value and practise Singlish in their informal interactions. There are implications for our understanding of the role of vernaculars in processes of transnational migration, and Singlish as a local marker of solidarity.

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