Introduction: rethinking integration. New perspectives on adaptation and settlement in the era of super-diversity

Unsettled: Brexit and European Union nationals' sense of belonging

“…What does a study of belonging bring to the understanding of the impact of Brexit on European nationals living in the UK? Unlike studies of integration, which attempt to capture the outcomes of EU nationals' processes of “embedding,” “emplacement,” “settlement,” and “adaptation” (for the varied usage of these terms, see, for example, the contributions to the Grzymala‐Kazlowska & Phillimore, ) and often focus on external measures, an exploration of belonging attempts to unpack the internal dynamics of individuals' relations to the social: the link between personal and collective identity (as per Jones & Krzyzanowski's, ). Because this link comes from a “feeling,” a sense of association with a group (Jones & Krzyzanowski, , p. 45), it is largely independent of external recognition even as “thresholds to belonging clearly do exist at both formal and informal level” (Jones & Krzyzanowski, , p. 46, see also Geddes & Favell, ).…”

“…This is where the “differentiated embedding” (Ryan, ) of some of the more “liquid” migrant communities appears more visible. People in this group are more likely to be in a mixed‐nationality relationship or be in a profession that requires high mobility; Favell's () “eurostars” with their higher levels of education and skills would fall into this category but also the “transit populations” Grzymala‐Kazlowska and Phillimore () discuss. Some of this group self‐identify as cosmopolitans, others as Europeans (or cosmopolitans within a European context).…”

“…The freedom of mobility and the rights of settlement that EU migrants enjoy within the European market also point to why the status of intra‐European migrants had not attracted, until quite recently, significant scholarly interest in terms of exploration of belonging, integration, and identity in the field of migration studies: The term “migrant” did not seem to apply to EU migrants in an equal measure (from a legal perspective, they are European citizens rather than migrants in the sense that third country nationals in the EU are). The more visible studies of the link between intra‐EU migration and identities come from the field of European studies (e.g., Favell, ; Risse, ; Rother & Nebe, ) and focus on “mobility” rather than “migration.” Only very recently, special attention has been paid to the modalities of integration of EU nationals in the UK (Grzymala‐Kazlowska & Phillimore, ; McGhee, Moreh, & Vlachantoni, ; Ryan, ). Nevertheless, the dynamics of belonging, central in shaping EU nationals' experiences, attitudes, and behaviour in the trajectories of their migrations, deserves exploration in its own right.…”

Legal status diversity: regulating to control and everyday contingencies

“…9. As Grzymala-Kazlowska and Phillimore (2017) indicate in the introduction, many sparsely populated rural areas experience acute diversification. Many of the arguments developed in this paper have relevance for thinking about rural diversity dynamics -yet it is arguably in urban settings where we would expect migrants moving through an extreme breadth of different tracks to live in relative proximity.…”

Refugee resettlement, social media and the social organization of difference

“…The literature on refugee integration in resettlement contexts has begun to advocate moving beyond a normative paradigm to recognizing the diversification of difference, or the ways in which superdiversity influences settlement trajectories and outcomes (Alencar 2017;Grzymala-Kazlowska and Phillimore 2018). Through the 'diversification of diversity' (Vertovec 2007), superdiversity provides a context in which to understand these dynamics and contemporary developments as refugees integrate into a receiving resettlement society.…”