17/10/2022
Books to be reviewed to Nordic Journal of Migration Research (NJMR)
Nordic Journal of Migration Research (NJMR) is a scholarly and professional electronic, open access journal, published by Nordic Migration Research (NMR) and the Society for the Study of Ethnic Relations and International Migration (ETMU). NJMR aims to promote and advance the circulation of the multidisciplinary study of ethnic relations and international migration that is conducted in the Nordic countries. The language of the journal is English.
We are looking for reviewers (PhD candidates; junior and senior scholars; independent researchers; practitioners) to review the books listed below. Unfortunately, we are unable to pay our book reviewers. The book might come in an electronic form. Sometimes it is possible to receive a printed version. The language of the review is English even if the book is written in another language.
If you are interested, please send an e-mail to Joanna Spyra ([email protected]) in which you highlight with a few words your research background and suitability to do the review. Please remember to add your postal address if you prefer a printed version of the book.
If there is another newly published book that you would like to review, please let us know.
1. Einhorn, Eric; Harbison, Sherrill and Huss, Markus (eds.) 2022. Migration and Multiculturalism in Scandinavia. University of Wisconsin Press.
Scandinavian societies have historically, and problematically, been understood as homogenous, when in fact they have a long history of ethnic and cultural pluralism due to colonialism and territorial conquest. After World War II, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway all became destinations for an increasingly diverse stream of migrants and asylum seekers from war-torn countries around the globe, culminating in the 2015â16 ârefugee crisis.â This multidisciplinary volume opens with an overview of how the three countriesâ current immigration policies developed and evolved, then expands to address how we might understand the current contexts and the social realities of immigration and diversity on the ground.Drawing from personal experiences and theoretical perspectives in such varied fields as sociology, political science, literature, and media studies, nineteen scholars assess recent shifts in Scandinavian societies and how they intertwine with broader transformations in Europe and beyond. Chapters explore a variety of topics, including themes of belonging and identity in Norway, the experiences and activism of the Nordic countriesâ Indigenous populations, and parallels between the racist far-right resurgence in Sweden and the United States. Amid global tensions around border security and refugee crises, these powerful conversations about the past, present, and future of a Scandinavia in transition capture the current cultural moment.
2. Andersson, Mette. 2022. Rasisme. En innfĂžring. Fagbokforlaget.
Rasisme â en innfĂžring tilbyr en oversiktlig innfĂžring til fenomenet og forskningsfeltet, men ogsĂ„ en engasjert diskusjon om antirasisme. Skal vi studere rasisme, krever det at vi forstĂ„r innholdet i begreper som rase, etnisitet, fordommer, stereotypier, nasjonalisme, rasialisering og diskriminering. Boken gir leseren en innfĂžring i sentrale teorier og definisjoner, og mange eksempler pĂ„ forskning om rasisme fra ulike samfunnsarenaer. Rasisme angĂ„r nesten alle aspekter av livet: Ăžkonomi, kultur, religion, psykisk og fysisk helse, utdanning, arbeidsliv, politikk â og den enkeltes grunnleggende menneskesyn. Derfor er dette en bok som vil vĂŠre nyttig og tankevekkende for veldig mange.
3. Astapova, Anastasiya; Bergmann, Eirikur; Dyrendal, AsbjĂžrn; Rabo, Annika; Rasmussen, Kasper Grotle; ThĂłrisdĂłttir, Hulda and Ănnerfors, Andreas, 2022. Conspiracy Theories and the Nordic Countries. Routledge.
This book explores the relevance of conspiracy theories in the modern social and political history of the Nordic countries.The Nordic countries have traditionally imagined themselves as stable, wealthy, egalitarian welfare states. Conspiracy theories, mistrust and disunity, the argument goes, happened elsewhere in Europe (especially Eastern Europe), the Middle East or in the United States. This book paints a different picture by demonstrating that conspiracy theories have always existed in the Nordic region, both as a result of structural tensions between different groups and in the aftermath of traumatic events, but seem to have become more prominent over the last 30 or 40 years. While the book covers events and developments in each of the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland), it is not a comparative country analysis. Rather, the book focuses on conspiracy theories in and about the Nordic region as a region, arguing that similarities in the trajectories of conspiratorial thinking are interesting to examine in cultural, social, and political terms. The book takes a thematic approach, including looking at states and elites; family, gender and sexuality; migration and the outside view on the Nordic region; conspiracy theories about the Nordic countries; and Nordic noir.This book will be of great interest to researchers on extremism, conspiracy theories and the politics of the Nordic countries.
4. Ă
gotnes, Gudmund and Larsen, Anne Karin (eds.) 2022. Kollektiv mobilisering. Samfunnsarbeid i teori og praksis. Nordic Open Access Scholarly Publishing.
Collective mobilization arises in the context of social movements and peopleâs desire for change. In this book, collective mobilization is discussed in light of a variety of perspectives, theories and methodological entryways. Grassroots mobilization is an important principle in community work along with citizen collaboration, influence, and co-creation in the development of local environments and communities. This anthology explores current issues related to welfare policies and practices, as well as global challenges associated with environmental and societal problems. The authors show how community work as a subject, theory, method, and field of research can contribute to greater understanding and development of sustainable solutions.The chapters include examples from a minority organizationâs work to counteract negative social control, peer-support consultantsâ contributions in treatment programs, young personsâ entry into and resolution of conflicts on social media, union organization of women in India, and neighborhood development planning in urban areas. With Freireâs consciousness-raising teachings on teamwork and Putnamâs and Bourdieuâs ideas about social capital as an underpinning, the authors examine how collective mobilization happens and how it is exercised. As such, the book is a contribution to disciplines and educational programs within the social sciences and social professions.
5. Chouliaraki, Lilie and Georgiou, Myria, 2022. The Digital Border. Migration, Technology, Power. NYU Press.
Taking their case studies from the biggest migration event of the twenty-first century in the West, the 2015 European migration âcrisisâ and its aftermath up to 2020, Lilie Chouliaraki and Myria Georgiou offer a holistic account of the digital border as an expansive assemblage of technological infrastructures (from surveillance cameras to smartphones) and media imaginaries (stories, images, social media posts) to tell the story of migration as it unfolds in Europeâs outer islands as much as its most vibrant cities.This is a story of exclusion, marginalization, and violence, but also of care, conviviality, and solidarity. Through it, the border emerges neither as strictly digital nor as totally controlling. Rather, the authors argue, the digital border is both digital and pre-digital; datafied and embodied; automated and self- reflexive; undercut by competing emotions, desires, and judgments; and traversed by fluid and fragile social relationshipsârelationships that entail both the despair of inhumanity and the promise of a better future.
6. Lidén, Gustav and Nyhlén Jon (eds.) 2022. Local Migration Policy: Governance Structures and Policy Output in Swedish Municipalities. Palgrave Macmillan.
This book examines local migration policy in Sweden in light of the European migrant crisis. The novel approach of this volume covers both local governmentsâ policies on admission of immigrants and their efforts for enhancing social integration. The focus is on the division of responsibilities between political levels, examined through theories encompassing both governance structures and output and outcomes of policy. Sweden is a rare example where migration policy has undergone massive changes in the last decade. During the crisis, the country received some of the largest flows of immigrants in relation to its population compared with other European countries. Drawing from statistical material, case studies and a rich body of interviews, this innovative work provides a valuable resource that aspires to investigate the significance of the local level of government in migration policy. The objective is to reach general conclusions that go beyond the realms of the empirical focus.
7. Eve, Michael; Keskiner, Elif and Ryan, Louise (eds.) 2022. Revisiting Migrant Networks: Migrants and their Descendants in Labour Markets. Springer Cham.
This open access book provides new conceptualisations on the networks of migrants and their descendants in accessing the labour market. Although references to social networks are common in discussions of migration, simplified ideas of co-ethnic networks often obscure the reality, for example confounding ties with co-ethnics and âstrong tiesâ. This open access book addresses key questions about the role of networks in migration contexts, particularly in relation to how migrants and their descendants, access the labour market and develop their employment trajectories over time. Rather than adopting a narrow essentializing ethnic lens, the research presented in this book explores intersectional identities of class, generation and gender. By focusing on the kinds of capital circulating between ties, including the dark side of social capital, the book offers insights into power dynamics and the potentially exclusionary dimension of networks. Taking a long term view, across generations, the research in this book shows how migrants and their descendants mobilize resources to tackle discrimination and enhance their position within particular labour markets. Drawing on robust quantitative and rich qualitative data, this book provides a primary source to students, scholars and policy- makers focusing on issues of migration, social networks, social mobility as well as labour market inequalities.
8. Monsen, Marte and Steien, Guri Bordal (eds.) 2022. Language Learning and Forced Migration. Multilingual Matters.
This pioneering piece of research on the situated study of language issues in the context of forced migration provides interdisciplinary insights into language as learned, used and lived by 12 Congolese refugees in Norway. It offers an innovative contribution to the field of SLA by bringing together structural, cognitive, social and critical approaches to data collected among the same individuals, these individuals being underrepresented within the field of SLA research as both refugees and learners whose experiences with language stem from the Global South.
9. Aure, Marit; FĂžrde, Anniken; Magnussen, Tone and Nyseth, Torill (eds.) 2022. Retten til byen. Kraften i krysskulturelle mĂžter. Scandinavian Academic Press.
I boka analyserer kunstnere og frivillige, forskere og kulturarbeidere i fellesskap aktiviteter og mÞter som kan bidra til forandring, medvirkning og deltakelse og dermed mer rettferdige byer. Forfatterne tar oss med til parsellhager, bibliotek, nabolagsorganisasjoner, teaterrom, bruktbutikker og idrettsbaner. De gÄr pÄ kafé med ureturnerbare asylsÞkere og pÄ jakt etter gatekunst i smug og bakgÄrder. Boka viser deltakende aksjonsforskning og samproduksjon av vitenskapelig kunnskap i praksis. Den presenterer ny viten til studenter, frivillige organisasjoner og folk som arbeider og forsker i det flerkulturelle samfunnet.
