Migration and identity in post-referendum Scotland

Abstract

This paper examines migration and identity in contemporary Scotland and engages ongoing debate about the relationship between nationalism and cosmopolitanism. The paper employs Arendt's maxim of the 'right to have rights' to suggest that while identity would not be the sole or specific focus of policy, more well-developed social policy attuned to the complexities of identity formation would facilitate multi-cultural and multi-ethnic social identification.

Scotland and Brexit: identity, belonging and citizenship in uncertain times

“…The efforts of the social science community in responding to these aspects of this ongoing geopolitical shock have been commendable (see for example Botterill et al, 2018;Duda-Mikulin, 2019;Lulle et al, 2018). This timely intervention builds on a nascent evidence base which is beginning to shed light on questions of identity and the dynamics of migrant experiences, expectations and preferences in Scotland in the context of the Brexit referendum result, the drawn-out political ramifications which have followed it and the eventual official departure of the UK from the European Union on 31 st January 2020 (Gawlewicz and Sotkasiira, 2020;Botterill 2018;Mulvey and Burnett, 2019).…”