Janine Dahinden

Gender as a Boundary Marker in Migration, Citizenship and Belonging

Migration prompts confrontations with questions of belonging among both migrants and those considered native citizens. Often, migrants experience ethnic and cultural boundaries, which exclude them from the majority society. As a result, they have become symbols of ‘the other’. In this project we examine how gender affects constructions of migrant others and promotes particular realities of exclusion and non-belonging. We show that our society reproduces forms of exclusion over generations, which is incompatible with the principles of a liberal democracy.

Project Fact Sheet (PDF)
Main Results (PDF)

Messages for Decision-Makers

Gender contributes to determining how people are excluded and classified as non-belongers. Political and administrative practice needs to be grounded in better knowledge of the effects of gendered representations.
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The construction of migrant descendants as others is a symbolic misrecognition and promotes processes of disintegration. A liberal, modern, democratic society needs to take responsibility for all its members and combat such forms of exclusion.

Project-related scientific publications Select publication   Kristol, Anne, Joanna Menet, Carolin Fischer and Janine Dahinden (Doing) belonging as technology of power: how the principle of ‘gender equality’ governs membership in Swiss society 2024   Kristol, Anne and Janine Dahinden Naturalisation. Immersion dans la fabrique des Suisse·sse·s 2022   Wyss, Anna and Carolin Fischer Working for Protection? Precarious Legal Inclusion of Afghan Nationals in Germany and Switzerland 2022   Dahinden, Janine, Carolin Fischer and Joanna Menet Knowledge production, reflexivity, and the use of categories in migration studies: tackling challenges in the field 2021   Jashari, Shpresa, Janine Dahinden and Joëlle Moret Alternative spatial hierarchies: a cross-border spouse’s positioning strategies in the face of Germany’s ‘pre-integration’ language test 2021   Moret, Joëlle, Apostolos Andrikopoulos and Janine Dahinden Contesting categories: cross-border marriages from the perspectives of the state, spouses and researchers 2021   Wyss, Anna and Carolin Fischer Männlichkeit im Spannungsfeld 2021   Dahinden, Janine, Joëlle Moret and Shpresa Jashari The Reconfiguration of European Boundaries and Borders: Cross-border Marriages from the Perspective of Spouses in Sri Lanka 2020   Fischer, Carolin Manifestations and Contestations of Borders and Boundaries in Everyday Understandings of Integration 2020   Fischer, Carolin, Christin Achermann and Janine Dahinden Revisiting Borders and Boundaries: Exploring Migrant Inclusion and Exclusion from Intersectional Perspectives 2020   Kristol, Anne and Janine Dahinden Becoming a citizen through marriage: how gender, ethnicity and class shape the nation 2020   Menet, Joanna Entangled Mobilities in the Transnational Salsa Circuit: The Esperanto of the Body, Gender and Ethnicity 2020   Cohen, Robin and Carolin Fischer Diaspora studies: an introduction 2018   Cohen, Robin and Carolin Fischer Routledge Handbook of Diaspora Studies 2018   Fischer, Carolin Reframing transnational engagement: a relational analysis of Afghan diasporic groups 2018   Fischer, Carolin and Janine Dahinden Using pragmatism to approach ‘diaspora’, its meanings and political implications 2018   Moret, Joëlle European Somalis’ Post-Migration Movements. Mobility Capital and the Transnationalisation of Resources 2018   Toader, Alina and Janine Dahinden Family configurations and arrangements in the transnational mobility of early-career academics: Does gender make twice the difference? 2018   Dahinden, Janine Spannungsfelder der Institutionalisierung der Migrationsforschung: Anstossüberlegungen 2017   Dahinden, Janine Transnationalism reloaded: the historical trajectory of a concept 2017   Fischer, Carolin Imagined Communities? Relations of Social Identities and Social Organisation among Afghan Diaspora Groups in Germany and the UK 2017   Fischer, Carolin and Janine Dahinden Gender representations in politics of belonging: An analysis of Swiss immigration regulation from the 19th century until today 2017   Schaer, Martine, Janine Dahinden and Alina Toader Transnational mobility among early-career academics: gendered aspects of negotiations and arrangements within heterosexual couples 2017   Dahinden, Janine Migration im Fokus? Plädoyer für eine reflexive Migrationsforschung 2016   Dahinden, Janine A plea for the ‘de-migranticization’ of research on migration and integration 2016