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Indian migration in France is remarkable for its diversity and social invisibility. Indian migrants belong to a wide spectrum of religious, ethnic, linguistic and social backgrounds and their migration routes to France are multiple: one can roughly distinguish between French speaking groups linked to France by the colonial past and more recent migrants from Panjab and Gujerat who ended in France because they could not migrated to the UK. Unskilled labour predominates among the first generation of non-French speaking migrants, but the second generation, supplemented by highly qualified professionals from India, start entering the job-market with qualifications. Few in numbers, Indians tend also to be invisible as migrants for the general public and in academic research –the later traditionally focusing on formerly colonised migrants. India benefits from a good image in France, and Indians tend to be considered as a model minority.

"Theoretical background and objectives The project contributes to societal and scientific debate by examining the relationship between integration policies and the socio-cultural integration of immigrants in three European countries that have pursued contrasting integration policies: France, Germany and the Netherlands. Socio-cultural integration is treated as a two-dimensional concept consisting of the degree of host culture adoption and the degree of ethnic retention. Following Berry (1997) these two dimensions are seen as – at least potentially – independent. Both dimensions are measured on the basis of four indicators. The degree of host culture adoption is measured as identification with the host country, host country language proficiency, host country language usage and social contacts with natives. The degree of ethnic retention is measured as identification with Turks, Turkish language proficiency, identification with Muslims and the observance of Islamic religious rules (halal diet, participation in Ramadan, mosque visits and headscarf wearing). The project tests several theories of immigrant assimilation in a cross-national perspective: theories em­phasis­ing material costs and benefits of retention and adoption, which claim that assimilation pressures will lead to adoption of the host culture and multicultural policies will promote ethnic retention; acculturative stress theories that pose that adoption is less likely to occur if it is seen as requiring the rejection of the culture of origin; and reactive ethnicity theories, which assume that immigrants withdraw in their ethnic cultures if they face assimilation pressures. In addition, the project pays special attention to naturalisation policies: Based on the widespread assumption that easily accessible citizenship promotes socio-cultural integration, two hypotheses are tested. First, whether naturalised immigrants display higher levels of socio-cultural integration than non-naturalised immigrants. Second, whether immigrants in countries with few preconditions for naturalisation show higher levels of socio-cultural integration. Research design, data and methodology Most previous comparative studies have not been able to control sufficiently for compositional effects related to the timing of immigration and the national and regional composition of immigrant populations. By choosing a quasi-experimental design, the project sought to eliminate such composition effects as far as possible. Therefore, original data were collected based on a telephone survey in the three countries that targeted a selected group of Turkish immigrants and their direct offspring originating in two rural regions of Turkey, who migrated before 1975. Thus, the sample (n = 1 000) excludes all follow-up migration of Turkish refugees and marriage migrants, which occurred to varying degrees in the three countries, and ensures that we are comparing similar immigrants in the three countries, and not predominantly urban Turkish guest workers from Istanbul in one country to Kurdish refugees in another country. All respondents had the option to answer the questionnaire either in Turkish or in their host-country language. The survey data were analysed using multivariate regression techniques, and took into account a range of individual-level control variables as well as the local density of the Turkish immigrant population. The quantitative findings were corroborated and refined with almost 90 additional in-depth interviews. Findings Results show that ethnic retention is strongest in the Netherlands, where multicultural policies were long prevalent, while host culture adoption is strongest in the French context, which has more strongly emphasised assimilation, at least where participation in the public realm is concerned. On the individual level, there is a negative relationship between ethnic retention and host culture adoption, which persists after controlling for relevant background variables. Naturalisation is positively associated with socio-cultural integration only in those countries—France and Germany—that have traditionally required a certain degree of cultural assimilation from their new citizens. Regarding country differences, the analyses reveal that Turkish immigrants in France show higher levels of host culture adoption on all four indicators. For host-country identification, they share this position with Dutch Turks. Taken together, these results provide no support for reactive ethnicity theories, as ethnic retention was strongest in the Netherlands, where citizenship policies have been most inclusive. They do provide support for a combination of material cost/benefit perspectives and acculturative stress perspectives, as neither a lack of incentives for adoption of the host culture (as was long the case in the Netherlands) nor very restrictive citizenship policies that promote an ethnically thick conception of citizenship (as long prevalent in Germany) have been successful in seducing immigrants to adopt the host culture. The results show that limited cultural assimilation conditions tied to an otherwise inclusive notion of citizenship (as in France) may be more helpful in promoting socio-cultural integration, but they also demonstrate that the allowance of dual nationality does not have the negative effects that are sometimes ascribed to it."

In deze toekomstverkenning biedt de Adviescommissie voor Vreemdelingenzaken (ACVZ) handvatten om met de onzekere toekomst van migratie om te gaan. Onder meer klimaatverandering, conflicten in de landen rond Europa, de bevolkingsgroei in Afrika, de toekomst van de Europese Unie, innovatie en de sociale cohesie in Nederland passeren de revue als relevante factoren voor migratie. Op basis daarvan schetst dit rapport vier verschillende mogelijke ‘toekomsten’ waarin een migratiebeleid ontwikkeld kan worden. We zijn het in Nederland echter niet met elkaar eens over de richting van het migratiebeleid. Sommige Nederlanders vinden dat migratiebeleid vooral het economisch belang van Nederland moet dienen, anderen dat migratiebeleid er is om vluchtelingen en migranten te beschermen en weer anderen vinden juist dat migratie een last is voor onze samenleving en daarom zoveel mogelijk moet worden beperkt. De ACVZ heeft daarom drie verschillende beleidsscenario’s geschreven, die ieder één van deze perspectieven als uitgangspunt heeft. Uit de studie komt duidelijk naar voren dat de toekomstbestendigheid van de beleidsscenario’s erg afhankelijk is van de vraag hoe de (onbekende) toekomst eruit komt te zien. Voor een zinvol beleid zal zodoende een voortdurende afstemming van het beleid aan de omgeving noodzakelijk zijn. Aandachtspunten die volgens de ACVZ de komende 12 jaar prioriteit verdienen zijn onder meer: 1) Het aanpakken van de grondoorzaken van gedwongen migratie; 2) Het bijdragen aan hoogwaardige en toekomstgerichte opvang in de regio; 3) Een deugdelijke grensbewaking; 4) Een goed functionerende internationale samenwerking; 5) De gevolgen voor de sociale cohesie in de samenleving; 6) Participatie in de samenleving van migranten die toegelaten zijn; 7) De migratiebestendigheid van het sociale zekerheidsstelsel; 8) Een open en eenduidige communicatie van de overheid

Darryl Pinckney’s “Black Deutschland” (2016), Paul Beatty’s “Slumberland” (2008), and John A. Williams’ “Clifford’s Blues” (1999) are three recent novels by African American authors and with African American protagonists that are partly set in Germany and that include references to events of German history such as the Holocaust and German Reunification. The research action will take these three novels as points of departure for an investigation that combines an accurate analysis of the images and functions of Germany and German history in African American literature with a transnational, comparative perspective. Drawing on a theoretical framework that connects comparative imagology, black diaspora studies, and the recent academic focus on world literature's “multidirectional memory” and its “cosmopolitan style”, the project will analyze four historically diverse, cross-cultural discourses that have shaped the role of Germany and German history in African American literature: 1) the formation of a ‘canonic’ African American image of postromantic Wilhelminian Germany that can be traced back to Du Bois’ time as a student in Berlin (1892-94); 2) the interwar period and its intertwining sub-discourses of the Old World as “racial haven” for African Americans, and of Berlin as “European capital of sexual libertinage”; 3) National Socialism and its relations and parallels to racism in the U.S.; 4) African American perceptions of Germany as a divided and/or reunified country. The project is based at two institutions in Berlin: the interdisciplinary Zentrum für Literatur- and Kulturforschung (ZfL), where the applicant will be part of the research area on world literature, and the Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at the FU Berlin, where a secondment will take place. The project's location in the German capital, which is in itself a major topic of the research action, will be a connecting factor for numerous networking, dissemination and communication activities.

The full complexity of educational evaluation at various levels (i.e., system, school, classroom, and student) in different countries has hardly been recognized. It constitutes a tremendous barrier to consolidate theories on evaluation, and for countries to draw on successful experience and implement targeted educational policies for better quality and effectiveness. Important barriers include the insufficient methodology to soundly compare multiple countries and a cultural insensitive approach to unfolding evaluation processes and outcomes. This project aims to provide a comprehensive framework for the dynamics of evaluation with a solid cross-cultural research methodology. Using self-report data in 70 countries/economies in the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), this project delineates the pathways in processes and outcomes of educational evaluation in 70 educational systems by integrating policies at system level, practices in schools and classrooms, and student assessment outcomes with demonstrated comparability of data. Study 1 has a methodological focus to analyze scalable measures and their cross-cultural comparability. It tests whether self-report multiple-item measures from school principals, teachers, and students across countries reach approximate measurement invariance to ensure proper comparisons. Study 2 tests the effects of accountability policy, country affluence at country-level, and various evaluation practices including the feedback mechanisms at school and teacher levels, and the cross-level interactions on a broad range of student outcomes such as achievement, motivation, wellbeing, and test anxiety. This project contributes to theory building on educational evaluation from a cross-cultural perspective and identify effective measures for more targeted educational interventions.

Im Jahr 2005 wurden 17 Fragen zur Migration in die deutsche Repräsentativstatistik, den Mikrozensus, aufgenommen. Die bis dahin existierende Unterscheidung in Deutsche und Ausländer hatte zunehmend durch die wachsenden Gruppen Spätaussiedler_innen, Eingebürgerte und in Deutschland geborene Ausländer_innen ihre Aussagekraft bezüglich Zuwanderung verloren. Aus den Fragen zur Migration wird der Migrationshintergrund abgeleitet. Sie machen auch Nachfahren von Eingewanderten in der Repräsentativstatistik sichtbar, so dass sie seitdem zu den Personen mit Migrationshintergrund zählen, selbst wenn sie mit deutscher Staatsangehörigkeit in Deutschland geboren sind.Bisher existieren kaum Studien, die sich mit der Einführung, Umsetzung und Folgen der neuen statistischen Kategorie beschäftigen. Ausnahmen bilden Untersuchungen zur Nutzung des Begriffs Migrationshintergrund im medialen Diskurs (Scarvaglieri/Zech 2013) und im Bundestag (Elrick/Schwartzman 2015). Zur Verbindung von statistischer Kategorie und Alltag liegt bisher nur eine (noch) unveröffentlichte Dissertation vor (Lang 2015, 2017). Ein aktueller Beitrag thematisiert das Missverhältnis zwischen statistischem und offenbarem Migrationshintergrund (Bednaschewsky/Supik 2018).Um die Lücke zu schließen, beschäftigt sich das Projekt mit der Einführung und Herstellung des Unterscheidungsmerkmals Migrationshintergrund und erkundet seine Auswirkungen im Alltag. Das Vorhaben lässt sich an der Schnittstelle von vier Forschungsfeldern verorten. Dazu gehören: 1) die ethnologische Beschäftigung mit Klassifikationssystemen, 2) wissensanthropologische und postkoloniale Untersuchungen zur Verbindung von Wissenschaft, Politik und Alltag, 3) Science and Technology Studies und 4) Forschungen zu nationalen und ethnischen Zugehörigkeiten. Diese vier theoretischen Bezüge sollen durch fünf empirische Zugänge miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt werden.Vorgesehen sind a) Feldforschungen in statistischen Ämtern als Produktionsstätten von Klassifikationen, b) Interviews mit Parlamentarier_innen, Verantwortlichen in Ministerien und statistischen Ämtern zur Entstehung und Weiterentwicklung der Mikrozensusfragen, c) Überblick über Definitionen des Migrationshintergrundes in ausgewählten wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen, d) mental maps zu deutscher Zugehörigkeit und Herkunft, e) Interviews mit in Deutschland Geborenen, die der sogenannten Zweiten oder Dritten Zuwanderungsgeneration zugerechnet werden sowie Personen ohne Migrationshintergrund.Die Ergebnisse werden auf einem Workshop mit Wissenschaftler_innen in und außerhalb von statistischen Ämtern diskutiert, die die Kategorie Migrationshintergrund nutzen, um die Auswirkungen von Wissenschaft im Alltag zu thematisieren. Hiermit soll insbesondere der Anspruch einer kritisch involvierten Ethnografie eingelöst und zu einer Entmigrantisierung der Migrationsforschung beigetragen werden, indem zu einer stärkeren Reflexion statistisch generierter Personenklassifikationen angeregt wird.

'Migrants constitute the most significant pool of workers at the disposal of the EU member states that wish to expand flexible forms of labour in order to meet the demands of their increasingly ageing and diverse population. They usually fit best the profile of the poor and vulnerable segments of society that would readily take the low status, low pay jobs, yet their freedom of movement towards (and within) the EU labour markets is restricted by inflexible migration policy regimes leaving the space open to a wide array of social networks to construct pathways of entry. Interdisciplinary research touching on the issue of the migrants’ integration in host societies has indicated so far that the ways migrants enter the host country are somehow related with the work opportunities and conditions they experience. This project aims to systematically investigate the factors determining the forms of temporary agency work in specific economic sectors. The key contribution of the proposed study from a conceptual perspective is that it tackles issues having to do with the socioeconomic context of work and its organisation as well as questions related to the socio-political framing of the (migrant) worker’s mobility. From an empirical and policy-related perspective, the significance of this research project consists in addressing the question of temporary agency work in a comparative setting across labour markets with different settings of work and across two EU countries experiencing different and managing differently migration flows.'