School of Sociology and Social Policy

Migration and the Gender/Race Nexus: Methodologies, Epistemologies and Normative Commitments

05 September 2008 | 10.30am for 11.00am | Symposium

Beech Grove House

Recent debates on migration and the (re)production of global inequalities have contributed significantly to the deconstruction of some social myths that plagued academic scholarship in the past. Commonplace perceptions of migrants as young and male have been challenged.

It has been acknowledged that the interplay of various social factors in the decision of individuals to migrate affect the two genders in different ways. Gender roles and relations overdetermine who migrates and why, and the impacts the phenomenon has both on policy-making in the ‘host’ country and the newcomers.

The academic feminisms of the 1980s and the 1990s were complemented by activist work; the two together contributed to a better understanding of how migration can cement traditional roles and inequalities - or even expose women to new dangers. At the same time, a new wave of feminist critique moved away from the myth of ‘victimisation’, suggesting that women are not passive recipients but active agents in migration processes.

‘Colour’ and ethnicity (as well as a wilful conflation of the two) also matter, of course. ‘Race’ remains essential in the production of local, national and global hierarchies of cultural and political value, sanctioning and naturalising ideas of ‘second’ and ‘third’ class citizenships.

Such changes in the political and academic arenas led to a better understanding of migration and settlement processes in different political, economic and cultural contexts, and according to factors such as gender, class, and, most importantly, race/ethnicity.

Gendered and racialised migrations invite questions concerning citizenship rights and duties, the future and nature of ‘cosmopolitan identities’ and the battle for recognition of social and cultural ‘difference’ in receiving countries.

Finally, they introduce questions of power, knowledge and relationality in the field of social research: how can these issues be addressed?

This symposium will explore methodological questions and epistemological challenges in migration research on the gender/race nexus.

Suggested themes for discussion include:

1. Research methods (interview sampling, structured/unstructured interviews, focus groups, auto/biographical narratives, archival research)
2. Methodological innovations in the field
3. Questions of knowledge in research on gender/race and migration
4. Emerging themes and theoretical approaches
5. Normative commitments in research and the role of academic work in the making of alternative socio-political futures.

Provisional programme

• Stratification and global migrations: gender, class and race
  By Eleonore Kofman, Middlesex
• Producing the norm: modernity, technology and migrant women
  By Parvati Raghuram, Open University
• Cultural capital of second generation migrant women in the UK: reconstructing gendered experiences through biographical narratives
  By Eleni Hatzidimitriadou, MASC, Kent
• Power, knowledge and resistance: researching the relationship between generation, gender and ethnicity in the context of British Bangladeshi settlers and recent Polish migrants
  By John Eade, Roehampton
• Making the connections: arts, politics and policy
  By Maggie O’Neil, Loughborough

Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies at the University of Leeds has a history of critical interdisciplinary engagement with the origins, production and conditions of racism. This symposium forms part of CERS’ Racialised Hostilities programme of activities for 2008 in celebration of its tenth year of existence.

Registration

Early registration is advised as participant spaces are strictly limited. The registration fee includes includes morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea.

• Academics and unwaged : £30
• Others: £60

For registration or further details, contact Ms Marie Ross by telephone on 0113 343 4407, or by email at m.b.ross@leeds.ac.uk.