Immigration, Citizenship, and the Formation of Minorities

Catalog description

International migration patterns have shaped and reshaped individual and collective identities throughout history and across the world. In the present time of globalization, these dynamics have posed particular political and social challenges in both the United States and Europe and have thus commanded the attention of scholars working in diverse disciplines on both sides of the Atlantic. Immigration and citizenship have been among the most central topics in social sciences in the last 25 years. National history in the United States, immigration in the European context is the result of the reconstruction of the economy after WWII and of the decolonization of the 1960s. Today with the settlement of economic and postcolonial migrants the question is raised in terms of integration and national unity, sovereignty and identity. The seminar will emphasize changes and continuity, convergences and divergences among policies, rhetoric and approaches with regard to immigration, incorporation and citizenship in Western democracies. New developments with regard to migration policies and their effect on identity politics, institutional arrangements, multiculturalism, secularism and religion, as well as on the modes of organization, mobilizations and claims of immigrants or minorities will be analyzed. Based on empirical researches, theoretical reflections and normative considerations, the seminar will question will the terms of citizenship, membership and allegiance, and the changing relationship between citizenship, rights, identities, culture and politics. Primary language: French