Categorical astigmatism: on ethnicity, religion, nationality, and class in the study of migrants in Europe.
The study of migrant minorities in Europe has long been characterized by a turn to identity politics. This turn has had two shortcomings: First, it often conflates religion, ethnicity, and nationality, resulting in what I call "categorical astigmatism". Consequently, migrants find themselves lumped...
| Published in: | Ethnic & Racial Studies Vol. 47; no. 9; pp. 1834 - 1858 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jul2024
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=177320062&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 177320062 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 01419870 ERS jtl: Ethnic & Racial Studies issn: 01419870 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2024 vid: 47 iid: 9 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 177320062 10.1080/01419870.2024.2328326 ppf: 1834 ppct: 24 formats: tig: atl: Categorical astigmatism: on ethnicity, religion, nationality, and class in the study of migrants in Europe. aug: au: Türkmen, Gülay affil: Independent researcher su: Syria Türkiye Immigrants Class differences Identity politics Religions Astigmatism sug: subj: Immigrants Class differences Identity politics Religions Syria Türkiye Astigmatism keyword: Categories class ethnicity intersectionality nationality religion Categories class ethnicity intersectionality nationality religion ab: The study of migrant minorities in Europe has long been characterized by a turn to identity politics. This turn has had two shortcomings: First, it often conflates religion, ethnicity, and nationality, resulting in what I call "categorical astigmatism". Consequently, migrants find themselves lumped into categories they would not primarily identify with. Second, despite its importance in the lived experiences of migrants, class is treated as a "non-identity" and intra-migrant class differences do not get the attention they deserve. Building on these two criticisms, in this article, I first employ Bourdieu's theory of "classification struggles" to conceptualize "categorical astigmatism" and make a plea for categorical clarification. I then suggest the theory of intersectionality as a way out, highlighting the importance of class and its intersection with other markers of difference. Empirically, the paper builds on interviews with migrants from Turkey and Syria in Germany. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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