When Migration Policies meet Migration Theories

The case of return migration

In his keynote adress Jean-Pierre Cassarino talked about how the “dialogue” between scholars and policy-makers on the issue of return has been structured and codified over the last fifteen years. He notes, that return migration has been widely studied, across disciplines, leading to various schools of thought. Which priorities have driven such a dialogue? Why have some schools of thought been politically more relevant than others, whereas others have been virtually overlooked by policy-makers, if not consigned to oblivion?

Jean-Pierre Cassarino is renowned for his theoretical research on Return Migration, but has also done extensive work on the Readmission Policy in the Euro-Meditarrenean area. Recently he published the “Database on Return Migrants to the Maghreb (DReMM)”, which is accessible online.

Evening lecture - October 13th, 2011

The Resilience of People in Motion

Universität Trier
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Processes of immigration, transmigration, and remigration in the wider Europe today


Europe is a continent shaped by migration. Every year millions of people are migrating into the European Union. Others are emigrating from EU member countries. Many are leaving their homes and are trying to integrate into the host country, while others circulate between their home country and their “new home”, leave the country of entry, returning back to their “country of origin”, or they even migrate on to third countries.

Migration is a complex process with constraints and opportunities. Its flows have created different patterns, regimes and even cultures of migration. It involves voluntary and involuntary aspects, economic and non-economic issues, constructions and reconstructions between physical and symbolic spaces. This stipulates also new ways of theorizing and researching in the field.


Strategies of Survival, Strategies of Resistence


Migrants and migratory groups adopt as well as resist to challenges and expectations by the mobility itself or the receiving society. They perform resilient and innovative strategies of survival.

They are resilient by maintaining their culture(s), system(s) of belief, traditions, way of life etc. Yet, they are innovative being open for change, being transformers, innovators, entrepreneurs themselves. Therefore, adoption, change and/or innovation vs. resistance, continuity and/or resilience have to be seen as part of the migratory agency. The migrants’ culture of resilience, meaning the maintenance of core elements of their livelihood, has to be conceptualized in an ever changing world challenging the integrity and cohesion of any, but especially migratory groups.


The Conference


The aim of the conference is to discuss new theoretical approaches, methodologies and empirical research results on immigration, transmigration and re-migration topics. It focusses on changing European migration regimes and discourses since the fall of the iron curtain until today.


Contact


Prof. Michael Schönhuth

University of Trier Universitätsring 15 D-54286 Trier

+49-(0)6 51-201-27 10 (Office) http://transmigration.eu/

Zu The Resilience of People in Motion

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