Native/Immigrant/Refugee: Crossings and Divides

immigrant

In the current moment of resurgent populist nationalism, understanding how rhetorical and legal claims are made about the “native,” “immigrant,” and “refugee” is an urgent project of critical social importance. Understanding the complex nature of these categories in relationship to each other—as by turns antonymous, overlapping, oppositional, and precarious—even as the laws and policies that define them shift, is the central concern of this research team. Each category is entangled with the others and operating in a state of flux, disrupting or securing the lives of millions.

While many scholars focus their research on immigration, on refugees, or on indigenous issues, this work is conducted in silos with minimal conversation and collaborative research across these fields. This research team disrupts this silo effect by staging cross-disciplinary and cross-category conversations. The team is planning conference to be held in March 2020, to be followed by the production of a scholarly volume.