publications

@article{Meissner2020,
title = {Deromanticising integration: On the importance of convivial disintegration},
author = {Fran Meissner and Tilmann Heil},
url = { https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnz056},
doi = {10.1093/migration/mnz056},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-02-13},
journal = {Migration Studies},
volume = {online first},
abstract = {In light of current experiences with migration-driven diversification, is it still conducive to think about the effects of international migration by advocating for immigrant integration? This article argues that there are key problems with European uses of immigrant integration logics that cannot be resolved through redefinitions or reappropriations of the term. Even highly refined notions of immigrant integration misconstrue the role and relevance of differences in diversity dynamics. Immigrant integration further risks concealing and perpetuating power dynamics and (colonial) hierarchies. These continue to shape the social relevance of differences. Analytically thinking about superdiversity directs us to paying more attention to disintegration, a notion that cannot be reduced and measured by way of individual or group performance. To be able to usefully engage with disintegration, we argue that it needs to be divorced from ideas about social fragmentation and social collapse. To do this, we draw on recent developments in the literature on conviviality to emphasise the relational practices, power asymmetries, and materialities that enter into negotiations of difference. Convivial disintegration aptly addresses continuously reconfiguring and uncertain social environments. Our article thus provides a deromanticised and enabling provocation for easing integration anxieties.},
keywords = {convivial disintegration, diversity dynamics, immigrant integration},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{meissner2018legal,
title = {Legal status diversity: regulating to control and everyday contingencies},
author = {Fran Meissner},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1341718?needAccess=true},
doi = {10.1080/1369183X.2017.1341718},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-08-16},
journal = {Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies},
volume = {44},
number = {2},
pages = {287-306},
publisher = {Taylor & Francis},
abstract = {Tracing the link between population flux and the regulation of migration, this paper develops the argument that immigration status differentiations impact not only on categorical multiplicities but also on contingent dynamics in urban migration-related diversity. A better understanding of those contingencies is central to discussing processes of adaptation in contexts of superdiversity. I first point to the frequency of change in rules and regulations pertaining to a multiplicity of immigration statuses. I then emphasise the co-relevance of conditionalities of entry and parameters of presence, set out by those rules, as central components of legal status diversity. In a third part I consider the resulting differentiations in terms of information overload. Thinking about status differentiations as information contradicts devising ever more status tracks to order migration and optimise its economic and social implications. I then point to empirical patterns in legal status diversities emphasising spatiotemporal contingencies in admitting migrants through different immigration channels. Concurrently I highlight why the resulting patterns of change are relevant for local urban diversity dynamics. I conclude the paper by drawing parallels between on the one hand steering migration to optimise its implications and on the other hand steering adaptations in superdiverse contexts to optimise integration.},
keywords = {diversity dynamics, integration, optimisation, regulation of migration, superdiversity},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}