Welcome to the latest COMPAS Update

Please find below the latest COMPAS Update on all our recent research activities, events and publications, as well as plans for the future.

This email contains hyperlinks which are highlighted in blue and will open in new windows. If you have difficulty following the links, please visit our online version at:
http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/publications/updates/
 

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Reshaping the United Kingdom: Migration and the New Agendas in the Social Sciences

This project COMPAS will run a number of background studies and symposia. These will identify and analyse the emergent agenda for the social sciences in the UK.

The three key areas that will be explored are "The economics of migration and migration policy: Towards a future research agenda", "Beyond Market Efficiency: The economics and psychology of migration after neoliberalism", "Migration Temporalities". Attendance at the events are by invitation only, but we will post further information on the COMPAS Website in due course.

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New Research from the Migration Observatory

A magnet for migrants? How does the UK’s migrant population growth compare with that in other high-income countries?
The number of international migrants has increased from 156 million in 1990 to 214 million in 2010 according to UN data. Over the same period the number of migrants in the UK has increased to historically high levels, but is the UK experience unique? The Migration Observatory compares UK immigration data to that in other high-income countries.

The net migration bounce
A recent Migration Advisory Committee report into the new cap on labour immigration from outside the EU highlights an important issue for the net-migration debate: even if the Government manages to hit the elusive “tens of thousands” net migration target by 2015, net migration is unlikely to be sustained at that level because there will be a “bounce” caused by reduced emigration in the following years. The Migration Observatory looks at how the short-term and longer-term effects of cutting inflows of different types of migrants might work out.

Press coverage included stories in the BBC, Financial Times, two articles in the Sun (article 1, article 2) and the Daily Mail.  

Sign up to the Migration Observatory newsletter to keep up to date with news and activities.

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Everyday Multiculturalism

COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity Term 2012
Convened by the COMPAS Urban Change and Settlement Cluster

The seminars are held every Thursday at  14.00 - 15.30 in the Pauling Centre, 58a Banbury Road, Oxford and the series will conclude with a panel discussion.

All are welcome to attend and there is no need to register. Podcasts will be available shortly after each seminar.

Please add your comments to our facebook discussion around the seminars.

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COMPAS Breakfast Briefings

Topical, cutting edge research on migration and migration related issues is provided in an accessible format for policy makers and other research users. Full series details.

Podcasts of previous presentations are available.

Next Briefing: Migration policy and skills policy: substitutes or complements
Speaker: Jonathan Portes, National Institute of Economic and Social Research
Friday, May 11, 2012 (8:30 - 9:45)

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Call for Papers: Turkish Migration in Europe

TurkMiS is one of three partners organising the international conference "Turkish Migration in Europe: Projecting the next 50 years".

TurkMiS (the Turkish Migration Studies Group, COMPAS), together with the Regent's Centre for Transnational Studies and the London Centre for Social Studies, is calling for papers and session proposals for the conference. Call for papers deadline: Tuesday, 15 May 2012.

The conference aims to elaborate the patterns of Turkish migration, future prospects, and potential challenges in a changing Europe. Discussion will include a foucs on the internal and international migration nexus, as well as diverse and potentially competing destination countries, as part of the broader Turkish transnational migration experience. Hence it aims to bring new perspectives on mobility and possibilities of (re-)configuration of policies. For more information visit www.turkishmigration.net

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PREVIOUS EVENTS

Migrants & Welfare States: Inclusion or Exclusion?

COMPAS Seminar Series Hilary 2012
(Convened by the COMPAS Welfare Cluster)

Podcasts are available from the COMPAS Website.

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The Criminal, the Pauper, and the Foreigner in the Production of Citizenship

Public Lecture,  12 March 2012, Oxford
Speaker: Loïc Wacquant, University of California, Berkeley and Centre européenne de sociologie, Paris

The social and symbolic silhouette of the modern citizen is defined through contraposition with three deviant figures: the criminal, who violates the law and imperils the physical integrity of civil society from within; the pauper, who shirks the obligation of work and corrodes the moral integrity of the wage-labor compact from within; and the foreigner, who threatens to breach the membrane of national membership from without and is suspected of being prone to turning into a criminal or a welfare recipient. Wacquant sought to bring the three modern definitions of the ‘deviant’ citizen under a single analytic framework. A podcast of the lecutre will be available soon. 

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Sixth TurkMiS meeting

The Turkish Migration Studies Group (TurkMis) held its sixth meeting on 9th March 2012. Esra Kaytaz, Anthropology, Oxford, talked about her recent field work on Afghan refugees in Turkey and the impact of the devastating October earthquake on the local communities and refugees. Aysegul Kayaoglu, Louvain and LSE, presented a paper on citizenship and economic integration in Germany and France.

TurkMis provides a newsletter focused on current issues, events and meetings, publications, and other activities related to migration issues in, from, and/or through Turkey. To subscribe to the TurkMis mailing list or send the group any relevant items to be included in the next TurkMis newsletter please email turkmis@compas.ox.ac.uk.

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NEWS & NOTICES

COMPAS Vacancy

Research Officer

Applications are invited for one full-time (37.5 hrs) (or two part-time (18.75hrs)) Research Officer post(s) at the Migration Observatory, University of Oxford, to work on its project on “Migration in the Media and Public Opinion in Britain”.

The successful applicant will have a primary responsibility for compiling and analysing a database of coverage of migration and related topics in the British media. The post will be funded by a grant from the Oxford University Press/John Fell Fund for an initial period of 12 months, with possibility of extension for four to six months if funds remain. More details

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COMPAS Blog

The COMPAS Blog provides information and discussion points about work taking place at COMPAS. It allows our researchers to share what they thinking about, working on, and reactions to migration issues taking place globally.

Recent topics have included Is there such a thing as migration, Creating the Conditions for Integration, Understanding a diaspora through Lamu Maulid,  ‘Can’t change one without the other’: Reforming labour immigration and labour markets in the Gulf States, Pen-top emotion, and Dutch-American-British.

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Martin Ruhs and the impact of government immigration policy on UK universities

On 29 February Martin Ruhs joined a panel of experts to debate the impact of government immigration policy on UK universities at an event organised by Universities UK. He was joined by The Rt. Hon Keith Vaz MP, Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Glyn Williams, Head of Migration Policy, Home Office, and Professor Julia King, Vice-Chancellor, Aston University.

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Sarah Spencer discusses super-diversity with Cities of Migration

Sarah Spencer met with Cities of Migration at the 14th National Metropolis Conference, held at the end of February in Toronto, to speak about diversity, super-diversity and belonging.

In her discussion with Cities of Migration Sarah answered questions such as "what is super-diversity?" and "are there differences in how cities approach the challenges arising from super-diversity?" She also discussed the role of local authorities and national strategies. Read the full interview to see Sarah tackle these integration questions.

The 14th National Metropolis Conference was held on February 29, 2012- March 3, 2012 at Westin Harbour Castle, in Toronto, Ontario.

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Global Body Shopping makes top ten

The Chinese version of Xiang Biao's book 'Global "Body Shopping": An Indian Labor System in the Information Technology Industry' has been listed among the top ten publications by Sina.com.

The book was released in Chinese in January 2012 and in less than a couple of months has come to be considered a leading publication in Economics and Finance. Xiang Biao offers a richly detailed and nuanced analysis of the India-based global labor management practice known as "body shopping. It is popular among readers due to an interest in learning about global divisions of labour in the high-technology sector.

Global "Body Shopping" was first published in English in 2006, by Princeton University Press. Sina.com is the largest Chinese-language infotainment web portal.

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COMPAS Social Media

COMPAS offers an interactive element to its website via our Facebook page. This involves general updates about events, a discussion forum for our seminar series an posts about COMPAS news and publications.

Do visit and 'like' the COMPAS facebook page. Please let us know whether this online forum is worthwhile and what you would like from it.

COMPAS is also available to follow on Twitter as compas_oxford.  

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PUBLICATIONS

Handbook of Research Methods in Migration

In March, Carlos Vargas-Silva, Senior Researcher at COMPAS, published a new edited book: in conjunction with IMI -  “Handbook of Research Methods in Migration”, Edward Elgar Publishing.

Covering both qualitative and quantitative topics, the expert contributors in this Handbook explore fundamental issues of scientific logic, methodology and methods, through to practical applications of different techniques and approaches in migration research. Further details

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What does ‘The Migrant’ tell us about the (Good) Citizen?

This working paper by Bridget Anderson looks at the relationship between the citizen and the state. The term 'migrant' speaks both to citizenship and to the 'good citizen', to citizenship as a legal relation between an individual and a state, and as 'substantive citizenship', that is, the rich content of citizenship.

It reveals how citizenship signifies closure and exclusion at the same time as it claims universalism and inclusion, and thereby calls into question the claims of citizenship as signifying equality and resistance to subordination.

Further details and download - WP-12-94

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Making light of borders: The case of the external EU border

Bastian Vollmer has contributed the journal article 'Making light of borders: The case of the external EU border' to Migration Letters, Volume 9 (2), May 2012. 

In the paper Bastian questions the notion of borders. His ethnographic work around journeys counters popular discourse by showing travellers as they went about their everyday business. They dealt with the bulwark of the EU, the EU external border, with ease and amusement.

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Faith Communities and Racism: Some Reflections from the Anglo-Jewish Experience

Ben Gidley has contributed the paper "Faith Communities and Racism: Some Reflections from the Anglo-Jewish Experience" to the new publication by the Runnymede Trust, "Runnymede Perspectives: Secularism, Racism and the Politics of Belonging".

The paper uses the long history of the Jewish  minority ethnic population in Britain and the racism that has been suffered by this group as a lens through which it is possible to study British racism and its changing nature.

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Reliance on migrant labour: inevitability or policy choice?

Bridget Anderson and Martin Ruhs have contributed the article 'Reliance on migrant labour: inevitability or policy choice?' to the Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, Volume 20, Nr 1, February 2012. 

This article discusses employer demand for migrant labour. Anderson and Ruhs argue that the UK’s growing reliance on migrant workers cannot simply be explained by lax immigration controls or migrants’ superior ‘work ethic’. It arises from the complex interactions between institutions, public policies and social relations. A wide range of public policies have contributed to a growing demand for migrant workers in the UK.

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