Migrant cities: place, power, and voice in the era of super diversity

By Walter Nicholls & Justus Uitermark

 

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

 

http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/qfGIT2e5xXhhbGHz7QMC/full

Immigration scholars have long considered cities to be important environments that mediate how immigrants are incorporated into receiving countries. While most scholars recognise that cities have some importance, they continue to prioritise national-level institutions, organisations, networks, and cultural dynamics. This paper introduces the special issue on 'Migrant Cities'. The special issue asserts that cities are not simply backdrops where national-level processes and mechanisms unfold. The contributing scholars reveal how cities are distinctive environments with unique constraints and opportunities. Following a basic introduction, the paper examines how to apply these general assumptions about cities to understanding the political formation of immigrants. The paper does this by urbanising Nancy Fraser’s concept of 'counterpublic'. We suggest that cities possess certain qualities that enable the formation of immigrant counterpublics, which in turn become critical spaces of politicisation.

 

…

Dr Nando Sigona

 

Senior Lecturer & Birmingham Fellow

Deputy Director, Institute for Research into Superdiversity

School of Social Policy | University of Birmingham

Edgbaston B15 2TT | Birmingham UK

 

Associate Editor, Migration Studies (Oxford University Press)

 

Tel: +44(0)1214158030 |Email: [log in to unmask] |Blog: http://nandosigona.wordpress.com |Twitter: http://twitter.com/nandosigona |Web: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/social-policy/sigona-nando.aspx

 

Recent publications:

Sigona, N (2016) ‘Everyday statelessness in Italy: Status, rights and camps’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 39 (2): 263-279

Sigona, N, Gamlen, A, Liberatore, G, Neveu Kringelback, H (2015) Diasporas Reimagined: Spaces, Practices and Belonging, Oxford: University of Oxford

Sigona, N (2015) ‘Campzenship: Reimagining the camp as a social and political space’, Citizenship Studies, 19 (1): 1-15

Bloch, A, Sigona, N, Zetter, R (2014) Sans Papiers: The economic and social lives of young undocumented migrants. London, Pluto Press

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. Loescher, G, Long, K and Sigona, N (2014) (eds) The Oxford Handbook on Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, Oxford: OUP