Migration Research in the Historical and Social Sciences and (De-)Justification

Abstract

The essay examines the discursive patterns of recent migration research. It argues that for all its critical, socially aware and often emancipatory impetus, migration research tends to establish, (re-)affirm and – sometimes involuntarily – legitimize dominant discourses on migration, integration, and thus on modern statehood, gouvernance and migration policies. This affirmation is shown in terms of terminology, interpretative adjustment and especially in the – often lacking – treatment of aspects of past migrations that do not fit into the generally given overall picture of successful integration or fruitful intercultural contact. The essay tries to hint at some possibilities of historical migration research that aims more directly at the incompetence of modern statehood to deal with the migration that it has itself created. It then explores patterns of integrating seemingly unappealing aspects of past migrations – and migrant behaviour – into a picture of migrant ingeniosity that could be able not only to deconstruct and de-legitimize common discourses and gouvernance claims, but also provide a more thorough and realistic analysis of what happened when migrating men and women tried to make their living.