Sociology/Organisation, Migration, Participation

Faculty of social science

About the Project

The new research project "Diffusion and Contexts of Transnational Migrant Organizations in Europe (TRAMO)" which is funded by Volkswagen Foundation started in October 2007 under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ludger Pries. Dr. Zeynep Sezgin coordinates the project, Tülay Zenginguel and Dr. Dirk Halm works as researchers.

In the face of an increasingly globalized world, the issues of integration and migrants' civic participation can not be adequately addressed by analytical frames which focus only on the nation-states. In the last two decades, new political, social, cultural and economic migratory realities, which span across countries of origin and arrival, have emerged. Furthermore, current research shows that the linkages of migrant organizations with countries of origin have been intensified during the last decade. This calls for a new approach which focuses both on the role of the countries of origin and of arrival in migrants' integration and participation. What is evidently required is a transnational analysis which can grasp actual developments in international migration and can identify the linkages of migrants' organizations with homeland countries.

For this reason, the research project "Diffusion and Contexts of Transnational Migrants' Organizations in Europe (TRAMO)" has developed an analytical framework addressing both transnational organizations and the border-crossing contexts in which they exist. Particularly, it seeks to (1) identify the characteristics of cross border migrant organizations (CBMOs), (2) analyse the diffusion of transnational migrant organizations (TRAMOs), (3) study the context factors which influence the emergence of TRAMOs, and (4) address the consequences of the transnationalization of migrant organizations (if this transnationalisation can be proven to be taking place), regarding the participation and incorporation of migrants in European national societies.

The outlined analytical framework is applied in the four project countries (Germany, Great Britain, Poland und Spanien) each following the same research design. In a first step, about 30 CBMOs in each country were selected according to their cross-border profile, and analyzed with a mix of methods, such as document analysis, internet research and telephone interviews.

In a second step, four organizations were selected for each country of arrival that can be considered to be a TRAMO. Influence of national context factors as well as the activities, organizational structures, members and resources of these organizations have then been analyzed within the framework of an in-depth case study.

The Study Group consists of an international and interdisciplinary team, consisting - besides the before mentioned Bochum team - Prof. Dr. Stephen Castles, Prof. Dr. Gunther Dietz, Prof. Dr. Marek Okólski, Dr. Thomas Lacroix and Dr. Aurora Alvarez Veinguer, and a board of international researchers and European policy experts.

Applicant

Prof. Dr. Ludger Pries, Ruhr-Universität Bochum