Preliminary Programme

Wed 12 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 13 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Fri 14 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 15 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00

All days
Go back

Saturday 15 April 2023 14.00 - 16.00
L-15 ETH14 Politics and Regulation
C24
Network: Ethnicity and Migration Chair: Liesbeth Rosen Jacobson
Organizers: - Discussant: Liesbeth Rosen Jacobson
Rik Hoekstra, Marijke van Faassen : Selected, Refused or Opted Out? Emigration Selection Policies and Migrant Agency
Dutch emigration between 1945-1992 was strongly state-regulated; therefore Dutch migration researchers have long been aware of the emigrant selection procedure complications after 1945 (Van Faassen 2001, Schrover and Van Faassen 2010). At a policy level the interests of the country of origin and that of destination did not coincide in ... (Show more)
Dutch emigration between 1945-1992 was strongly state-regulated; therefore Dutch migration researchers have long been aware of the emigrant selection procedure complications after 1945 (Van Faassen 2001, Schrover and Van Faassen 2010). At a policy level the interests of the country of origin and that of destination did not coincide in terms of categories of people and employability. Post-World War II migrant selection in the Netherlands was administratively complicated with the involvement of both government and non-government parties at both the policy and the executive level. Actual emigrant selection was carried out by the officials of local offices with the religious signature of the pillarized society. The selection procedure and its results - who applied for migration, who were selected and who actually left - have been understudied, mainly because of a focus on the emigration that really took place and the people involved in it.

Our paper focuses on these selection procedures of Dutch emigrants after the second World War. Our research questions are: which migrants were selected for migration and who never left. We are especially interested in what policies and which conscious and unconscious categorizations played a role in this process and up to what extent there were personal considerations and decisions at work. As the influences on the selection officials were manyfold, we try to distinguish these in our analysis. Migration management policies in The Netherlands were permeated by labour market policies striving for full employment and convincing ‘missable’ labourers to emigrate. After-World War II internationalisation reinforced this by focusing on a number of preferred emigration countries, mainly Canada and Australia.

From our project Migrant, in which we employ digital methods to create a new resource for the study of Dutch-Australian migration based on (pre)registration systems in the Netherlands and Australia, we know that large scale categorizations for migrants were made and applied during the entire selection stages by both states. Australia welcomed new citizens and labour forces, but had a preference for skilled labourers. At the same time ethnic restrictions were still in force in Australia. The selection organisations and officials had to translate these demands into criteria that would select migrants from the group of applicants and apply this in the selection process. The judgement of what could be considered to be a high potential for successful migration was influenced by official and labour related categorizations of both governments, but unconscious categorizations also played a role, like gender, age, ethnicity and personal convictions. In addition, actual emigration was also determined by the personal decision of the migrants themselves. The process in which policy, executive convictions and migrant decisions were intertwined, is documented in a number of registration systems of the selecting organisations. We explore and compare two surviving (pre)registration systems in order to suggest new ways for migration scholars to critically engage with categorizations (cf Schrover and Moloney 2013). (Show less)

Terry McBride : Scotland’s Foreigners: ‘Official’ Scottishness and ‘Foreign’ Identities, 1914-39
Scotland by the late nineteenth-century was already one of Europe’s most industrialised and urbanised societies. With a whole range of executive powers over domestic affairs, state institutions located for the most part in Edinburgh, though subject to the political scrutiny of a London -based ‘Secretary for Scotland’ ... (Show more)
Scotland by the late nineteenth-century was already one of Europe’s most industrialised and urbanised societies. With a whole range of executive powers over domestic affairs, state institutions located for the most part in Edinburgh, though subject to the political scrutiny of a London -based ‘Secretary for Scotland’ from 1885, attended in effect to the governance of this part of the UK. For those deemed to be ‘foreign’ or ‘alien’, there was in place then a developing official ‘Scottish’ approach to ‘foreignness’. This paper will attempt to present then an assessment of the impact of an institutional engagement with key categories of foreigner in Scotland during the period up to 1939, bearing in mind two key structural factors.

The first of these factors relates to the fact of the particular origins of Scotland’s foreigners. Newly affordable and convenient shipping facilitated travel for the inhabitants of the lands on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. Migrants from the Russian empire thus became a strikingly significant aspect of the ‘foreigner’ or ‘alien’ presence in Scotland. We must,however, never forget the presence of those from German- or Italian-speaking lands. Coming with complex social identities, all these international migrants experienced the growing importance of national identities as factors in public policy cross Europe.

The second one concerns the phenomena of narratives which developed in the Scottish public world, certainly in the newspapers of the time. ‘Russian Poles’, later known as ‘Lithuanians’, were characterised as hard-working, hard-living and at times criminal or seriously radical in their politics. Italians were viewed as colourful, generally hard-working, but also prone to a certain moral laxity. Jews, meanwhile, although the primary target of negative UK-wide discourses on health and morality pre-WW1, were increasingly characterised in post-WW1 in Scotland’s public world as loyal, successful and organised. Those few Germans who remained, on the other hand, had to endure an abiding interwar association with dissimulation, subversion and cruelty.

Notwithstanding these factors, official Scottishness shaped ‘foreign’ identities. War and its aftermath undoubtedly played a major role – we see the growth of the central state as regulator, enforcer and intrusive presence. Contending as they were with homeland claims on their identities, migrants also had to contend with official attempts to define their identities. Jewishness and Italianness could now be experienced face-to-face by those high and low in the Scottish machinery, whether in the local registration offices or in the Scottish Office’s headquarters. Both could be seen by officials as more clearly defined collective presences and arguably moved beyond broad-brush classification as ‘aliens’. Those from Eastern Europe who could not be categorised as Jewish however remained variable and unfixed enough to remain largely ‘unknowable’ to officialdom. Italianness and Jewishness by 1939 were arguably becoming elements of a public narrative of foreignness in Scotland, Lithuanian-ness less so. There was a greater possibility that individual migrants could express attachment to that narrative. However, it is arguably only amongst those of a Jewish background that we see it in individual accounts of being foreign but also Scottish. (Show less)

Mark McQuinn : Learning the Lessons of History? A Comparative Analysis of the Use of the New ‘Global Compact for Migration’ to Develop Positive Programmes for Ukrainian and African Migrants to Europe
The paper will examine the extent to which the new Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and the Global Compact for Migration, which have been adopted by the United Nations, are helping shape treatment of, and attitudes towards, Ukrainian and African migrants to Europe. The securitisation of European borders agenda and militarization ... (Show more)
The paper will examine the extent to which the new Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and the Global Compact for Migration, which have been adopted by the United Nations, are helping shape treatment of, and attitudes towards, Ukrainian and African migrants to Europe. The securitisation of European borders agenda and militarization of migrant programmes have led to a negative perception of migrants to Europe in many quarters over the last decade. At is extreme, this has led to the criminalisation of European humanitarian workers, who are trying to show solidarity with, and provide support for, migrants. Pessimistic analyses argue that the ideals of ‘classical’ European humanitarianism - humanity, neutrality, impartiality and unity - are disappearing. However, a number of initiatives have been developed since 2018 to challenge these negative discourses about migrants to Europe. How these initiatives draw on the new Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and the Global Compact for Migration in showing positive aspects of migration to Europe is analysed in this presentation. It will focus on how initiatives, such as the Facilitation of Orderly, Safe, Regular and Responsible Migration and Mobility to Europe are using elements of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and the Global Compact for Migration to develop positive programmes for – and perceptions of – Ukrainian and African migrants to Europe. This initiative aims to assist capacity building in migration policy and practices, including engagement with diaspora groups and programmes enhancing the development impact of remittances from migrants to Europe to their countries of origin. The presentation will examine some of the key aspects of this initiative and examine its strengths and weaknesses. The analysis also focuses on similarities and differences in the treatment of Ukrainian and African migrants to Europe. It draws on a historical perspective to explores reasons for differences in treatment of Ukrainian and African migrants to Europe. (Show less)

Philippe Rygiel : Birth of Global Statistics on Migrations 1850-1914
The first meeting of the International Congress of Statistics, held at in Brussels in 1853 sees migrations as one of the social problems that need to be measured. It’s the beginning of a long history that can be connected to the recent birth of a global data migration portal. Each ... (Show more)
The first meeting of the International Congress of Statistics, held at in Brussels in 1853 sees migrations as one of the social problems that need to be measured. It’s the beginning of a long history that can be connected to the recent birth of a global data migration portal. Each step of the way the same questions arise: how to define migration, how to measure it, how to collect and aggregate information. In retracing this story, Rygiel reconstructs the shifting perceptions of migration within a growing international sphere and enriches our understanding of the successive attempts to define a global order of migration. The presentation focuses on the early stages of this historical sequence, from the mid-XIXth century to the mid-XXth century with special attention paid to the transformations affecting the definition of international migrants and migrations.

Mass international migration has been defined -- in the western world since the mid-nineteenth century -- as one of the manifestations of modernity with important implications for states and the international community. The long-standing discussions on the possible modes of governance of international migration are accompanied by a production of knowledge. Transnational scientific organisations have aimed to produce statistical data describing this global phenomenon. (Show less)



Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer