German Migration Integration Regime

Morgan Etzel - former PhD student at our institute - invites to the online launch of his newly published book:

German Migration Integration Regime

The Migration, Politics and Society Research Cluster, Middlesex University, invites you to a book launch of Morgan Etzel’s (Federal Ministry of Civic Education, Germany) recently published book The German Migration Integration Regime. Syrian Refugees, Bureaucracy, and Inclusion, Bristol University Press, 2023.

The presentation will take place online 1.30-3pm (GMT) and 2.30-4pm CET on Tuesday 21 November 2023.

Zoom link: https://mdx-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/96487416899

The book discusses how Syrian refugees who gained asylum in Germany following the so-called refugee crisis in 2015 quickly entered into an ‘integration regime’ which produced a binary notion of ‘well integrated’ migrants versus refugees falling short of the narrow social and political definitions of a ‘good’ refugee. Etzel’s rich ethnographic study shows how refugees navigated this conditional inclusion. While some asylum seekers gained international protection, others were left with limited agency to demand government accountability for the ever-moving target of integration. Putting a spotlight on the inconsistencies and failings of a universal approach to integration, this is an important contribution to the wider field of migration and anthropology of the state.

However, between externalization of EU Borders, truncated refugee regimes, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s recent statement that Germany needs to start deporting people “on a large scale”, the lessons from the so-called 2015 refugee crisis do not seem to have altered current debates. Nonetheless, the mainstay of integration as a centerpiece for the incorporation of migrants remains present across Europe. The newly published book by Morgan Etzel in Bristol University Press’s series Global Migration and Social Change analyses these themes with particular focus on conditional inclusion. This panel of scholars from Netherlands, Spain and Germany will use their empirical research based on intensive fieldwork to discuss the forms of social exclusion and bureaucratic policies refugees across Europe face in relation to this newly published book.

The webinar will include a brief presentation by Dr. Morgan Etzel followed by commentaries by three speakers:

• Dr. Alèxia Rué, Postdoctoral Researcher, European Social Research Unit, Departament d'Antropologia Social, Universitat de Barcelona
• Prof. Dr. Rik Huizinga, Assistant Professor in Urban Geography at the Human Geography and Spatial Planning Department of Utrecht University
• Dr. Fadi Saleh, Program Officer for Queer Intersectional Civic Education, Federal Agency for Civic Education (Germany)