Research Fields at REMESO

Our Research Fields

Five Research Streams in REMESO's Research

Research at the Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society is divided into five broad areas, or research streams, which also serve as platforms for research projects.

Social transformation, migration and mobility

Causes and conditions of migration, mobility, and displacement. Research on global, regional, national and local inequalities, environmental change, war, conflict, precarious livelihoods, unfair labor conditions, and other material processes affecting migration and mobility.

Borders and Boundaries

Frameworks and regimes of inclusion and exclusion. Research on local, national, international and geopolitical arrangements determining the processes of migration, such as borders and border practices, surveillance of migration and migration, and migration infrastructure, technology, and logistics.

Integration and Segregation

The Political Economy of Social (In)justice. Research on the forces of inequality and governance that affect migrant inclusion and exclusion in receiving societies, including institutional settings and rules for residency and citizenship, labour-market integration, language acquisition, and access to housing, healthcare, welfare, and human rights.

Discrimination and Racism

Discourses, Ideologies and practices of difference and discrimination. Research on discrimination related to identities, nation, indigeneity, race, gender, and class, as well as studies of ideas, ideologies, histories, cultural expressions, and social practices connected to ethnicity, nationality, nationalism, and whiteness.

Migrant Agency

Migrants’ experiences of injustice and their practices of coping, everyday living and resistance. Research on the agency and practices of migrants, migrant organizations, and migrants’ social movements, including struggles for recognition, redistribution, and rights, and the expressions of such struggles in politics and culture.

Man in refugee camp behind the Belgrade Central Station

Explanation to the photo

Abdul Saboor is an Afghan refugee and photographer based in Paris. During 2017 he was stuck in Serbia, due to the new border closure. He lived in an informal camp behind the Belgrade Central Station. There he started to take pictures with his phone and later with a donated digital camera.

Research

Research at the Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO)

In these videos, nine of the researchers at REMESO provide an insight into their work. Their research highlights power structures, identifies structural barriers within welfare systems, provides decision-makers with essential knowledge, promotes integration and deepens our understanding of democracy.

Anna Bredström

Racism and assumptions of biological differences in medical research and healthcare.

Nubin Ciziri

What we are missing in the integration debate.

Stefan Jonsson

How societies are shaped and reshaped through migration.

Kristoffer Jutvik

Migration policy, residency permits and inclusion.

Karin Krifors

Why it may be worthwhile to think about the different infrastructures of migration.

Catrin Lundström

Whiteness as capital.

Anders Neergaard

The role of security in migration and integration policy.

Olav Nygård

一本道al aspirations among young people with a migrant background.

Claudia Tazreiter

How democratic deliberation can contribute to better societies.

Glossary - important terms in the research

Asylum

Asylum means refuge or protection. It means that a person fleeing war, persecution or imminent death in their home country has a legal right to stay and seek protection in another country. Seeking asylum is a fundamental human right. At the same time, we are seeing a trend in Sweden and other parts of the world where states are making it more difficult to seek asylum.

Class

Groups of people that are formed and transformed in relation to one another based on how production is organised. Individuals and groups are divided into hierarchical strata 鈥� based on economic, social and political power structures 鈥� which affect their access to resources, such as wealth, income, education, influence and status.

Colonialism

A process whereby a state conquers, controls and economically exploits other territories and their populations. It is not merely a matter of geographical expansion, but of establishing asymmetrical power relations and institutions that favour the colonial power and its population at the expense of the colonised population. Colonial structures persist and shape global relations of today.

Cultural capital

A sociological concept, coined by Pierre Bourdieu, which refers to the intangible assets 鈥� education, language, style, taste in art and values 鈥� that confer social status and power. Cultural capital is often passed on by parents and through social networks, and is central to understanding individuals鈥� class position and the social class structure.

Ethnicity

An individual鈥檚 identification with and sense of belonging to a specific group. This sense of belonging is based on shared cultural traits such as language, religion, history, traditions, common origin or similar circumstances, as distinct from nationality, which refers to legal citizenship. Ethnicity is relational; we are all ethnic, but the term is often used to refer to 鈥榯he others鈥�.

Ethnoracism

An approach in which the division of people is based on ethnic affiliation, rather than class or social status, and which implies that a particular ethnic group is regarded as superior or exclusively entitled to resources and political influence within a specific territory. Even though the word 鈥榬ace鈥� is not used, the effect is racism, disguised as ethnicity.

Gender

The socially and culturally constructed concept of sex/gender. Gender differs from biological sex in that it focuses on the norms, expectations and roles that society ascribes to men and women, and how this creates and perpetuates power structures.

Infrastructure

Physical, institutional and digital systems that are fundamental to the functioning of a society and its economy. Infrastructure acts as the 鈥榮keleton鈥� of society, connecting people, organisations and institutions. It is both a product of power structures and a force that reshapes and transforms societies.

Integration

A process whereby individuals, groups or cultures come together and become part of a social community. Integration is an interaction between all groups in society to create cohesion and inclusion on equal terms. Integration differs from assimilation, which focuses on changing 鈥榯he others鈥� to resemble 鈥榰s鈥�.

Migration

An umbrella term for the movement of people across both geographical and other types of boundaries in order to settle permanently or temporarily, and the term encompasses both emigration and immigration. Understanding international migration requires an engagement with migration regulations and how they interact with class, gender and racialisation.

Mobility

A broad concept concerning the movement of individuals and groups, usually divided into two main categories: physical mobility and social mobility. Mobility is often understood within the tension between social structures and agency, that is, how people navigate and transform society.

Racialisation

A process through which people are classified and treated as members of distinct groups based on perceived differences such as appearance, culture, religion, ethnicity, or origin. These categories are socially created and often shape belonging, opportunities, power, and inequality in society.

Racism

An ideology or set of practices based on the belief that people can be divided into hierarchical groups based on ethnicity, skin colour, culture or religion. Racism works through exploitation and exclusion and manifests itself in prejudice, discrimination and abuse, which create inequality and restrict people鈥檚 fundamental freedoms and rights. Racism is used to maintain privileges, whilst anti-racism is based on an understanding of social justice.

Security/safety

A fundamental human need, both psychological, social and physical. Security is generally an important part of political projects, and the term can be understood in different ways, giving rise to different forms of real or perceived threats, anxiety and harm. The concept also engenders notions of solidarity: with whom, and how, security should be built.

Segregation

A process or state in which different groups of people live and operate separately from one another. This division is often based on factors such as class, ethnicity, racialisation, gender and/or level of education. Segregation is commonly used in relation to housing and the labour market.

Whiteness

Within critical whiteness studies, whiteness is a normative and social construct and not, first and foremost, a skin colour. The concept is used to analyse power relations, where whiteness is historically and structurally associated with social and political privileges in relation to other groups.

Welfare

People鈥檚 overall living conditions and quality of life across the life cycle. The concept encompasses resources such as economic standard of living, health, education, housing and social security. Welfare is used to study how society鈥檚 resources are structurally distributed between both individuals and groups, often based on dimensions such as class, gender and ethnicity/racialisation.

Research projects

A group of people standing around each other.

Democratic Futures

How is democracy experienced, shaped and challenged in everyday life? We explore this through ethnographic, artistic and Indigenous methods. We highlight minority communities whose perspectives are often absent from dominant narratives of democracy.

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