Multi-scalar and diasporic integration: Kurdish populations in Europe between state, diaspora and geopolitics

Adamson, Fiona; Dag, Veysi; Craven, Catherine R

Abstract

This article challenges both methodological nationalist and decolonial approaches to ‘integration’ by drawing attention to how transnational factors—including trans-state diaspora networks and geopolitical relations between European states and Kurdish ‘homelands’—have direct impacts on the integration trajectories of newly arrived Kurdish displaced populations in Europe. Based on over 200 interviews with Kurdish immigrants, including refugees and asylum seekers across seventeen sites in rural and urban regions in six European countries, our research suggests the need to move beyond local and national-level understandings of integration to one which is also transnational, diasporic, and multi-scalar, taking account of the enduring effects of homeland politics on integration determinants. Such a model of integration does not throw out the concept, but recognizes both the protective and empowering role that local and national policies can play in enabling refugee and diaspora populations to function autonomously in a broader transnational and global context.

Citation

Adamson, F., Dag, V., & Craven, C. R. (2024). Multi-scalar and diasporic integration: Kurdish populations in Europe between state, diaspora and geopolitics. Journal of Refugee Studies, 37(2), 518-533. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feae027

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 5, 2024
• Online Publication Date: May 10, 2024
• Publication Date: May 10, 2024
• Deposit Date: May 19, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: May 19, 2024
• Journal: Journal of Refugee Studies
• Print ISSN: 0951-6328
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-6925
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 518-533
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feae027
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/jrs/article/37/2/518/7668384