Conceptualizing inclusion/exclusion of migrants in a transnational perspective: ways of belonging and non-belonging in a transnational social field

KLVAŇOVÁ, Radka. Conceptualizing inclusion/exclusion of migrants in a transnational perspective: ways of belonging and non-belonging in a transnational social field. In Migrations. Rethinking Contemporary Migration Events. Masarykova univerzita, Telč. 2008.

Basic information

• Original name: Conceptualizing inclusion/exclusion of migrants in a transnational perspective: ways of belonging and non-belonging in a transnational social field
• Name in Czech: Promýšlení inkluze/exkluze migrantů v transnacionální perspektivě: způsoby přináležitosti a nepatření v transnacionálním sociálním poli
• Authors: KLVAŇOVÁ, Radka.
• Edition: Migrations. Rethinking Contemporary Migration Events. Masarykova univerzita, Telč, 2008.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 50000 5. Social Sciences
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Keywords in English: migration; migration theory; transnationalism; inclusion; exclusion
• Tags: exclusion, inclusion, migration, migration theory, transnationalism
• Tags: International impact

Abstract

The concepts of inclusion/exclusion and integration are significant parts of both academic and public discourses on migration and immigrants. These terms and their utilization is rooted in the image of migration as a permanent unidirectional movement between the nation state societies and the image of society as a body constituted by functionally differentiated and territorially bounded systems. Moreover, it reinforces the representation of persons on the move as somehow deviant and potentially threatening subjects even though the cross-border movement is an ordinary experience of increasing number of people. The transnational perspective which points to the variety of migrants' social worlds transcending the borders of nation states and plurality of migrants' belongings challenges the conceptualization of the process of inclusion/exclusion of migrating individuals and groups that has been traditionally viewed from the macro-perspective of the receiving society. Inspired by the analytical perspective of transnational migration, I intend to discuss the re-conceptualization of the process of inclusion/exclusion of migrants in transnational social fields. My contribution will address a view of inclusion/exclusion that emphasizes the perspective of social actors and their subjective perception of inclusion on the one hand, but does not overlook their embeddedness in networks of social relations and webs of meanings constituted on cultural and political levels on the other hand. In my understanding inclusion/exclusion is a process that allows grasping the ways through which migrants are being included and excluded on multiple scales in various spheres that are relevant for their lives. The transnational social field perspective raises the question of ways of belonging and non-belonging of the migrants to multiple communities and social groupings both “here” and “there” and the ways their belongings are contested and transformed. My use of the term inclusion/exclusion points to the unfinished dialectical character of the process of changing one's location in various societal contexts through migration that is constantly being re-negotiated in social interactions.

Links

• MSM0021622408, plan (intention): Name: Reprodukce a integrace společnosti (Acronym: IVRIS)

Investor: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the CR, Reproduction and integration of society