Participation, integration and transnational relations

‘We feel at home, but we do not feel welcome’: Integration processes in a multi- and intergenerational perspective

Description: This dissertation enriched the knowledge on ‘integration’ by combining a multidimensional with a multi- and intergenerational perspective. We added to existing knowledge by including not only migrants and their children in our study, but also their grandchildren; and by studying integration from not only a multi- but also an intergenerational perspective. Furthermore, we showed how the concept of (the politics of) belonging provides much needed additional tools to open up the discussion about the definition and the pathways of integration with the perspectives of (descendants of) migrants themselves, to conceptualise their transnational belongings next to their local ones, and to grasp the dynamic interplay between (descendants of) migrants and the broader (receiving) society. We concluded that (studying) integration should not only be about increasing similarities to a dominant majority group, but also about the remaking of the mainstream and its growing capacity for dissent.
Promoter(s): Ilse Derluyn , Lieve Bradt
Researcher(s): Floor Verhaeghe
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Period of time: 2012 - 2019