After the reflexive turn in migration studies: Towards the doing migration approach

Abstract

What processes transform (im)mobile individuals into ‘migrants’ and geographic movements across political‐territorial borders into ‘migration’? Addressing this question, the article develops the doing migration approach that combines socio constructivist, praxeological and the sociology of knowledge and performativity perspectives. ‘Doing migration’ starts with the processes of social attribution that separate between ‘migrants’ and ‘nonmigrants’ and that are embedded into institutional, organisational and interactional routines which generate unique social order(s) of migration. Illustrating these conceptual ideas, the article provides insights into the elements of the contemporary European order of ‘migration’. The institutional routines contribute to the emergence of the European migration regime that includes narratives of economisation, securitisation and humanitarisation. The organisational routines of European migration order realise bordering, surveillance and othering contributing to the disciplining effects on those defined as ‘migrants’. Furthermore, the routines of daily face‐to‐face interactions generate various microforms of ‘migration’ by stigmatisation, while also giving the potential to resist the social attribution as ‘migrant’.

The conceptual limits of the ‘migration journey’. De-exceptionalising mobility in the context of West African trajectories

“…With these dynamics in mind, and in line with others (Camenisch and Müller 2017;Zhang 2018;Favell 2008;Heil et al 2017), we work towards a framework that de-exceptionalises mobility in migration studies. We do not deny that migrants exist and that migration is in an important field in social science, but we challenge migration scholars to reflect upon the 'normalization' of migrants as an exceptional group in research frameworks (Dahinden 2016;Amelina 2017). A mobility lens helps us to gain distance from the normativity of the nation-state without ignoring issues of power, representation and politics (Dahinden 2016).…”

“…With this shift, we de-migranticise people's mobility by not starting from a typical migration framework of departure-movement-arrival-integration. This approach, so we argue, helps us to be sensitive to the situations, moments and 'doings' (Amelina 2017) that turn mobility into migration.…”

“…In this endeavour, we take two analytical steps that strongly build on the so-called reflexive turn in migration studies (Amelina 2017;Dahinden 2016). First, we identify the conceptual limits of the migration journey and, from there, we move away from normative/sedentarist understandings of migration that derive from nation-state agendas (Dahinden 2016).…”

Classificatory Struggles Revisited: Theorizing Current Conflicts over Migration, Belonging and Membership

“…Thus, this reflexive view enables us to approach multiple current conflicts over migration as classificatory struggles over dominant institutional definitions of belonging and membership (e.g., Andersson, 2014;Kunz, 2016). Consequently, the question of who is and who is not regarded as a "migrant" refers to contested nation-state, supranational and global institutional forms of classification that signify geographic movements across nationally framed territories into a variety of categories of "migration," including "irregular," "highly skilled," "seasonal" and many others (Amelina, 2020).…”

“…The next section introduces the conceptual basis of the Special Issue, including (i) a proposal to denaturalize the theoretical notion of migration (Amelina, 2020;Dahinden, 2016;Nieswand & Drotbohm, 2014), (ii) intersectional theories of boundary-making (Korteweg, 2017;Lamont & Moln ar, 2002;Yuval-Davis, 2006) and (iii) global/transnational approaches to belonging and membership (Glick Schiller & Ça glar, 2011;Mignolo & Walsh, 2018). It will be followed by an overview of the articles collected in the Special Issue.…”