A way beyond methodological Nationalism:
Immigrant-native relations as established–outsiders figurations
Sociology Seminar by Manolis Pratsinakis, AISSR
Nations and ideologies of national belonging comprise authoritatively
interlocked ideas which shape people’s thinking and model their interactions.
Social-science research on the settlement of immigrants has been also
constrained by the bounds of nationalist thought. This has been done in two
ways.
- Firstly, by mirroring the nationalist image of normal life and thus presenting immigrants as culturally ‘others’, socially marginal and political security risks.
- Secondly, by disregarding the significance of nationalist thought-frames in structuring the unequal power configuration in which immigrant-native relations are embedded.
Focusing on my ethnographic research of the relationship between Soviet Greek
immigrant and native Greek residents in the neighbourhood of Nikopoli,
Thessaloniki, I propose that rather than assuming the nationalistic standpoint
or ignoring it as if it did not matter, we should analyse and problematize its
hegemonic power.
In order to do so my study puts forward a theoretical framework that draws from
Elias and Scotson’s established-outsiders model (1994/1965) and Hage’s notion of
practical nationality (2000).This framework views immigrant-native relations as
power configurations unfolding through a (symbolic) contestation over defining
the nation and who belongs to it.