Paper short abstract:

Shifting attention from 'migrant integration’ to the relationships emerging in a society shaped by migration, this paper focuses on the ways professional alliances are forged across origins – between migrants, their descendants and ‘natives’.

Paper long abstract:

Unpacking ‘integration’ as a matter of power relations related to the intersections of migrant status, ethnicity/race and class, can help advance the theoretical frameworks pertaining to highly skilled migrants' professional trajectories. This paper outlines the theoretical foundations of the project that explores the migrants’ and their descendants’ presence in leading position in academia and cultural production as the two fields in which migrants have the highest representation in leading positions in public institutions in Sweden. Instead of setting to do research on ‘migrant integration’, the project shifts attention to the relationships emerging in a society shaped by migration. It explores the ways professional alliances are forged across origins – between migrants, their descendants and ‘natives’, in different constellations – and focuses on established professionals who hold positions of high status. The project contributes to the emerging cross-European debate and research on the ‘postmigrant’ condition that acknowledges antagonistic positions towards migration, and struggles about participation and representation, but also highlights new alliances that are not reduced to heritage and cultural belonging: the paper will dwell upon the diversity of alliances, and the need to differentiate between allies perceived as mentors, friends and gate-keepers. This actor-perspective allows us to explore micro-mechanisms of selection and conversion of different types of capital in the academic and cultural fields.