Janine Dahinden

University of Neuchâtel | UniNE · Laboratoire d’études des processus sociaux

Categorising certain forms of human movement as ‘migration’ and others as ‘mobility’ has far-reaching consequences. We introduce the migration–mobility nexus as a framework for other researchers to interrogate the relationship between these two categories of human movement and explain how they shape different social representations. Our framework a...

In my contribution to this symposium, I engage with Adrian Favell’s “integration nation” in two ways: I maintain that, in addition to what Favell suggests, the integration nation recently became deterritorialized by reaching out beyond its national borders, designing some people as “immigrants” and subjecting them to “integration policies” before t...

Migranticization can be understood as those sets of performative practices that ascribe a migratory status to certain people and bodies-labelling them (im)migrants, second-generation migrants, people with migration background, minorities, etc.-and thus (re-)establish their a priori non-belonging, regardless of whether the people designated as 'migr...

ABSTRACT Introduction Culture-as-defining-attribute in the literature Analytical framework Methodology Making meaning, using culture in two contexts Discussion & conclusion: implications for further studies on culture and migration Acknowledgements Disclosure statement Additional information Footnotes References Full Article Figures & data Referenc...

European migration studies have been criticised for having certain epistemological and theoretical underpinnings that reproduce hegemonic structures, especially the ‘national order of things’ and colonial legacies. In this article, we propose the concept of ‘entangled mobilities’ to address some of these challenges. Entangled mobilities as a theore...

In 2020, nation states across Europe restricted access to, and use of, public space to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As almost all public spaces in Europe were consequently affected by restrictive measures, so too did outdoor retail markets drastically change. Some had to close down completely, whereas others operated under the sway of severe lim...

Research on outdoor retail markets has focused on the diverse ways in which markets constitute public spaces where diversity and social inclusion coexist with conflict and reproduction of inequalities. This approach has prompted existing studies to focus on place-politics in terms of group- and spatially-bounded processes. In this paper, we take a...

Ideas of gender equality and women’s rights have come to play a crucial role in national politics of belonging and Othering, in Europe and beyond. Based on two case studies in Switzerland, we introduce the concept of gendernativism. We consider gendernativism as a particular configuration of boundary making between supposedly unfree migrant (descen...

This article employs a mobility lens to investigate the ways in which membership is organised in a peripheral(ised) place. We show that adopting such a lens makes it possible to tackle important pitfalls in migration studies – an urban and sedentary bias and national- and ethnicity-based epistemologies. By including different types of transnational...

Janine Dahinden and Bridget Anderson discuss each other's responses to the challenges of knowledge production in migration studies. Dahinden introduces the concept of the "migrant-citizen nexus" and Anderson argues for more attention to be paid to the racialisation of "the migrant" through the ways that nationality elides race and discuss the natio...

On March 7, the Swiss electorate will vote on the so-called ‘burqa ban’. This popular initiative as well as the counterproposal stand for what we call gendernativism; the idea that the ‘native’ Swiss are genuinely gender-equal and that only Swiss women can voluntarily wear the veil. The consequence is not only the silencing and marginalizing of (mi...

In this introductory article, we as guest editors set out the key ambitions and arguments of the Special Issue and highlight our contribution to social network research within migration studies. We argue that social network analysis has the potential to address epistemological pitfalls in migration research especially in overcoming the metaphoric u...

Academic mobility is increasingly presented as indispensable for a successful academic career. This imperative is rooted in the assumption that mobility contributes to academic excellence because it allows academics to build trans-national academic networks. Based on biographical interviews and an analysis of the mobility networks of early-career a...

The 'migration journey' has proven to be a fruitful lens to question the simplistic notion that the outcome of migration solely depends on a momentous go/no-go decision in the countries of origin. At the same time, we argue that the normative/sedentarist principles of migration studies produce the risk to approach the journey as an exceptional phas...

Cross-border marriages between citizens with a migration background and spouses from non-EU countries have been politicised and restricted across Europe. This article simultaneously applies the analytical lenses of bordering and boundary work to this issue and de-centres the perspective by investigating the consequences of these restrictions not on...

In recent years, scholarly interest in boundaries and boundary work, on the one hand, and borders and bordering, on the other, has flourished across disciplines. Notwithstanding the close relationship between the two concepts, "borders" and "boundaries" have largely been subject to separate scholarly debates or sometimes treated as synonymous. Thes...

The world has been confronted by not only the coronavirus pandemic, but also a surge of national(ist) responses to it. By closing their borders and introducing a travel ban for the Schengen Area, European countries have retreated into national fortresses that nonetheless remain highly unequal internally, prioritizing their own citizens’ needs over...

Le genre est, aujourd’hui encore, un élément crucial dans la fabrication des inégalités sociales. Bien que l’égalité entre femmes et hommes soit en principe acquise sur le plan légal, les lois et les politiques en Suisse sont, de fait, sous-tendues par un régime de genre que nous appelons « classique » et qui se caractérise par une binarité cisgenr...

Recent debates in migration studies target the non-reflexive use of categories that derive from nation-state- and ethnicity-centred epistemologies. However, what a category is and how categorization works remain undertheorized. Our paper addresses this gap. Through a qualitative study on experiences of Othering among migrant descendants in Zurich (...

The role of marriage in accessing membership entitlements has been studied extensively in the context of marriage migration, but it remains under-researched in the literature on citizenship acquisition. This paper explores specific constructions of deservingness vis-à-vis the foreign spouses of citizens and their marriages in the context of facilit...

This paper examines how spouses waiting in Turkey to be reunited with their partner in Europe experience border regimes and deal with the transnationalised discourses on ‘marriage migrants’ they encounter. It is based on the analysis of a single narrative interview, that of a woman taking German classes at Goethe Institute in Istanbul in order to p...

Marriages that involve the migration of at least one of the spouses challenge two intersecting facets of the politics of belonging: the making of the ‘good and legitimate citizens’ and the ‘acceptable family’. In Europe, cross-border marriages have been the target of increasing state controls, an issue of public concern and the object of scholarly...

Transnational studies have been in vogue for the past two decades. Nevertheless, there remain important knowledge gaps concerning migrants’ transnational formations. First, most of the literature relies on qualitative case studies. The few existing quantitative studies have shown that transnationality is far from being a “lifestyle” and that factor...

BLOG: https://www.gendercampus.ch/en/blog/post/gendernationalism-as-a-new-expression-of-political-nationalism/ „In Switzerland, men and women have equal rights. Women decide on their lives in the same way as men do”. This statement appears in a leaflet outlining the basic rules of living together, which the Swiss canton of Lucerne distributes among...

Previous studies have pointed out the highly gendered character of academia in general and international mobility in particular: women academics are confronted with a 'glass ceiling', and they are less geographically mobile than men, mainly as a result of family obligations. This paper examines whether gender plays twice a role in how women and men...

Based on ethnographic material, this article explores how three groups of apprentices negotiate masculinities in the specific setting of a male-dominated vocational school in Switzerland dedicated to the building trades. We use an intersectional and relational perspective to highlight how the institutional setting of the school – mirroring wider so...

La notion de mobilité suscite de manière générale des associations positives (contrairement à la notion de migration). Pourtant, elle ne va pas sans générer son lot de contraintes pour les personnes concernées. A travers les portraits de trois chercheurs ayant effectué plusieurs mobilités transnationales, cet article se penche sur les dimensions co...

Based on ethnographic material, this article explores how three groups of apprentices negotiate masculinities in the specific setting of a male-dominated vocational school in Switzerland dedicated to the building trades. We use an intersectional and relational perspective to highlight how the institutional setting of the school—mirroring wider soci...

In this commentary, I discuss the importance of Portes, Guarnizo and Landolt’s article, focusing on three specific points. First, I argue that this 1999 article represented a turning point in transnational migration studies, in that it made it possible to address important weaknesses in this field of study. Second, I reflect on the article’s lack o...

Today, transnational mobility is often presented as indispensable for a successful academic career. This institutionalisation of transnational mobility for young academics has important effects in (re)producing or transforming gender inequalities. Building on the results of a qualitative study conducted at three universities – Zurich (Switzerland),...

The literature increasingly recognises the importance of gender in defining the boundaries between national societies and migrants. But little is still known about the history and changes of mechanisms that shape the role of gender as category of difference. Based on a critical case study of Switzerland, this article examines how gender is implicat...

his interdisciplinary volume gathers recent work related to the diverse migratory movements in South-East Europe. The contributions address current aspects of emigration, immigration, transit migration and return from different disciplinary vantage points. They impressively demonstrate that South-East Europe is a highly dynamic migration region mar...

In this introduction, we attempt to rethink the debate on migration in South-East Europe, which is often too narrowly focused on emigration – and, more recently, transit migration We show that the region is marked by very diverse migration processes that are closely connected with global and especially European developments. These processes thus ne...

Today, transnational mobility is often presented as indispensable for a successful academic career. This institutionalisation of transnational mobility for young academics has important effects in (re)producing or transforming gender inequalities. Building on the results of a qualitative study conducted at three universities – Zurich (Switzerland),...

Zusammenfassung Statt wie üblich die Integrationsmodi der zweiten Generation zu untersuchen, nimmt der Artikel eine andere Perspektive ein und fragt, wie sich die zweite Generation gegenüber ethno-nationalen Grenzlinien positioniert und ob sie sich als zugehörig betrachtet. Anhand von Interviews mit 16 bis 19-Jährigen unterschiedlicher Herkunft aus...

Statt wie üblich die Integrationsmodi der zweiten Generation zu untersuchen, nimmt der Artikeleine andere Perspektive ein und fragt, wie sich die zweite Generation gegenüber ethno-nationalenGrenzlinien positioniert und ob sie sich als zugehörig betrachtet. Anhand von Interviews mit 16bis 19-Jährigen unterschiedlicher Herkunft aus den Kantonen Luzer...

Migration and integration research has been institutionalized over the last few decades. However, an increasing number of voices has been calling for more reflexivity, criticizing the nation-state- and ethnicity-centred epistemology that often informs this discipline. Consistently with this line of reasoning, I argue that migration and integration...

http://nccr-onthemove.ch/publications/changing-gender-representations-in-politics-of-belonging-a-critical-analysis-of-developments-in-switzerland/

The multiethnic and multilinguistic character of Switzerland has represented a puzzle for major scholars on European nationalism since the nineteenth century. Research shows that this multiethnicity is a pivotal element of pride and central to the common Swiss imaginary of a “nation of will,” which embraces local, cantonal, and linguistic identitie...

Die Schweiz gilt international als Modell eines gelungenen Multikulturalismus, dann nämlich wenn es das Zusammenleben der vier Sprachgruppen (Romands, DeutschschweizerInnen, TessinerInnen, RäteromanInnen) betrifft. Ein sprachlicher wie auch religiöser Pluralismus ist und war stets ein Grundbaustein des Selbstverständnisses der „Willensnation“ Schwe...

The binary opposition between ‘equal European women’ and ‘oppressed Muslim women’ has become a powerful representation in Switzerland and throughout Europe. Yet little is empirically known about the mechanisms through which actors in their everyday lives (re)produce this prominent construction. In this mixed-method study with young adults in a Fren...

Rund zwei Jahrzehnte sind vergangen seit die Ethnologinnen Glick Schiller, Basch und Szanton Blanc (1992a) die Idee des Transnationalimus in die akademische Diskussion einbrachten: Vermutlich ahnten sie damals nicht, dass sie einen Begriff zum Leben erweckten, der sich zu einem der populärsten innerhalb der zeitgenössischen Migrationsforschung entw...

Based on the articles brought together for this special issue, this article proposes a transversal analysis and theoretical elaboration of the question of the uses of religious elements for meaning making and boundary work. In order to do so, we will first propose a sociocultural psychological perspective to examine meaning making dynamics. Second,...

In the past two decades Albania and the former Yugoslavia have become associated with some of Europe's most dramatic emigration movements. During the four decades of the communist regime, the Republic of Albania was a blind spot in the imagination of Europe and the world. It was brought back into the collective consciousness in 1991 when media all...

Based on five focus groups (total N = 56) with German Muslims, we analyze discourses on the experience of discrimination and feelings of national and religious attachment. The focus groups took place in mid to late 2010 in four German cities. Whereas only few participants describe personal discrimination by non-Muslim Germans, almost all participan...

In many European countries, cultural and religious diversity is increasingly discussed as being a fundamental problem. This paper addresses this issue by applying the theoretical perspective of boundary work: On behalf of a mixed-method-study with young adults, we explore how public discursive constructions about 'differences' are used and interpre...

Using ethnographic material, this article analyzes the processes at work in the construction of valued masculinity among young men in a Swiss vocational school. By adopting a theoretical boundary-making approach, we argue that double boundary work takes place in order to assert a specific form of hegemonic masculinity as the only legitimate way to...

In this article, I am interested in the different types of boundaries emerging in a city characterized by a highly diverse population. The analysis of the personal social networks of 250 inhabitants of a small Swiss City—different types of migrants as well as non-migrants—supplemented by data from qualitative interviews brings to light the importan...

Globalisierung heißt Vernetzung! Wir leben in einer »Netzwerkgesellschaft«, in der Akteure durch Beziehungen in soziale und wirtschaftliche Zusammenhänge eingebettet sind. Ein Ansatz der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften, der sich bei der Erforschung dieser Phänomene als weiterführend erwiesen hat, ist die soziale Netzwerkanalyse. Sie erklärt die M...

The idea of boundary work has become a key concept in studies on ethnicity and provides new theoretical insights into the social organisation of cultural difference. People articulate ethnic boundaries in everyday interactions using conceptual distinctions to construct notions of ‘us’ and ‘them’. This study is based on an empirical case study (ethn...

Adopting a transnational perspective has become essential in understanding the contemporary practices taking place across borders, especially with respect to migrants. In this article, I argue that we can distinguish two theoretical orientations within transnational migration studies: one theorizing the complexity of transnational processes and foc...

I ask in this article how the inhabitants Á migrants and non-migrants Á of a specific geographical space, a small Swiss city in French-speaking Switzerland, live out different forms of transnationalism. Transnational-ism is for this purpose defined and operationalized on two dimensions: I make a distinction between network transnationalism and what...

Le concept de «transnationalisme» s’est récemment imposé dans les études en migrations. Ce concept, né de la compréhension que les migrants maintiennent des relations avec leur pays d’origine bien après la migration, et que la migration ne signifie ainsi pas nécessairement une rupture avec la région d’origine, permet de saisir l’insertion simultané...

As European countries become more diverse, so do the client populations in public institutions. Switzerland has, like all modern societies, been affected by major cultural and social changes, characterised by a pluralisation of lifestyles, ways of life, languages and value systems. For Swiss society as a whole and for its public institutions, this...

Scholars generally agree that ethnicity often serves as a vehicle for mechanisms of social inclusion or exclusion and is interwoven with the structures of nation-states. This article aims to contribute to the ongoing debate about ethnicity and highlights the inherent dilemma of essentialism using two empirical case studies*Albanian-speaking migrant...

Ce numéro de Nouvelles Questions Féministes aborde la probléma-tique des migrations dans une perspective de genre à partir de recherches menées en Suisse. Dans ce pays, les travaux traitant des migrations sont rares et récents et souvent peu connus dans le monde francophone. Comme dans la plupart des pays du continent européen, les migrations n'ont...

Ce numéro de Nouvelles Questions Féministes aborde la probléma-tique des migrations dans une perspective de genre à partir de recherches menées en Suisse. Dans ce pays, les travaux traitant des migrations sont rares et récents et souvent peu connus dans le monde francophone. Comme dans la plupart des pays du continent européen, les migrations n'ont...

Abstract Recent studies have questioned the concept of transnationalism, showing that transnational ties do not always have the weight attributed to them in the first studies conducted on the topic. Using a case study of social networks of Albanian migrants from former Yugoslavia, in this article I discuss the significance of transnational ties in...

Im Jahre 2001 wurde seitens des Bundesamts für Gesundheit ein Pilotprojekt „Migration und Sucht“ in die Wege geleitet, welches vom Contact Netz Bern umgesetzt wird. Ziel des Projektes war es, in einer dreijährigen Pilotphase eine migrationsgerechte Suchtarbeit einzuführen. Das Bundesamt für Gesundheit hat parallel dazu eine Machbarkeitsstudie zur P...

Ce rapport est le résultat d’une étude sur l’intégration des travailleuses et des travailleurs migrant/es de la première génération sur les lieux de travail en Suisse. Mettant le doigt sur les problèmes majeurs qui se posent dans ce domaine, il vise également à éclairer les mesures et les solutions que les différents acteurs peuvent mettre en ¦uvre...

Im vorliegenden Bericht wird der institutionalisierte Einsatz von Sprachmitteln und interkultureller Vermittelung unter einer theoretischen Perspektive betrachtet und deren Potentiale und Herausforderungen für die Integration der Migrationsbevölkerung analysiert. Letztlich liegt somit ein fundiertes Argumentarium zu Sinn und Zweck dieser Dienstleis...

Das SRK beauftragte das Schweizerische Forum für Migrations- und Bevölkerungsstudien (SFM) mit dem Mandat für ein short assessment der Fachstelle Migration und Gesundheit (neu: Fachbereich Bildung und Gesundheitsförderung). Die Evaluation setzte vor allem auf der Prozessebene an. Nach einer relativ knappen Deskription der Projekte und Dienstleistun...