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Sept 1, 2025 - Aug 31, 2026

Antje Ellermann

she/they
Professor
email antje.ellermann@ubc.ca
phone 604 822 4359
location_on C.K. Choi 323
file_download Download CV
Office Hours
By appointment
Research Area
Canada | Colonial, post-colonial, settler theories, and practices | Comparative Politics | Europe | Methods: Qualitative | Migration policy and politics | Public policy | United States

About

I am Professor of Political Science and Founder and Co-Director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. My research focuses on the politics of migration and citizenship in the global North. My current projects include several community-engaged research collaborations at the intersection of citizenship, belonging, and decolonization in Metro Vancouver, alongside a comparative study of immigration bureaucracies in Canada, Australia, and the UK.

My latest book, Crossing Lines: Comics About Human Migration (University of Toronto Press, 2025, co-edited with Frederik Køhlert, Sarah Leavitt and Mireille Paquet), is a graphic anthology that challenges the rise of anti-immigrant populism by offering nuanced perspectives on displacement, identity, and community. My second book The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States was published in 2021 with Cambridge University Press as part of the Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics series. It was recognized with the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize (co-winner) by the International Political Science Association.  My first book States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States (Cambridge University Press, 2009) examined the comparative politics and implementation of deportation.

My research has been supported by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Social Science Research Council, the German Academic Exchange Service, and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. I serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and served as Co-President of the American Political Science Association’s Migration and Citizenship Section from 2019-21.

I was born and raised in Germany before spending many years living, working, and studying in Northern Ireland, England, and the United States. I live on the beautiful, overlapping territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) (Vancouver) with my spouse, Alan Jacobs. I hold Canadian and German citizenship. Before becoming a political scientist, I trained in social work and worked as a community worker. I love spending time ocean kayaking, cross-country skiing, doing Pilates, playing the piano, reading, and knitting. I used to be an avid woodworker and like to think that one day I will start making furniture again.

Teaching

Research

I currently serve as the Principal Investigator for 5 collaborative research projects.

1. Belonging in Unceded Territories (2020-2028)

This project is a research collaboration of the Centre for Migration Studies, Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, Immigrant Services Society of BC, the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC, Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George and Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph from Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw  (Squamish Nation), Elder Morgan Guerin and Elder Victor Guerin from xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam Nation), and cultural facilitators Sussan Yáñez and Aaniya Asrani.

Vancouver is situated on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. Coast Salish peoples have belonged on these lands since times immemorial. Yet, narratives of belonging rarely grapple with the fact that belonging is negotiated on stolen land. The Belonging in Unceded Territories project brings Indigeneity and settler colonialism into the center of debates on social belonging in Vancouver. The project seeks to facilitate settler dialogue and learning from Indigenous knowledge keepers about Coast Salish histories and the impact of colonization, and explore decolonizing ways of living and belonging.

From 2020-2025 this project was funded by a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant (#890-2019-0100). It is now funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

2. Building Relations through Stories (2023-2026)

This is an Indigenous-led project focused on non-extractive, land-based work rooted in Indigenous epistemologies. The project is led by Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Hereditary Chief Chepximiya Siyam Janice George and supported by cultural faciliator Sussan Yáñez. Sḵwx̱wú7mesh hereditary chiefs are invited to share origin stories and reflections on land stewardship. The research honors territorial protocols and prioritizes giving back to the community by facilitating the gathering of traditional knowledge to be passed on to future generations. It also aims to foster stronger relationships between newcomers, Canadian-born settlers, and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw  (Squamish Nation).

This project is funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

3. Narratives of Citizenship (2023-2026)

This collaborative project explores the meaning of Canadian citizenship by examining its narratives and how people think about those narratives, with a focus on their relationship to Truth and Reconciliation. We are drawing on three key data sources: (1) partnerships with two Vancouver-based service organizations MOSAIC and YMCA BC to gather insights from staff and clients, (2) perspectives of policy makers and government employees, and (3) a content analysis of Canadian citizenship guides.

This project is funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

4. Naturalization Ceremonies (2023-2026)

This research collaboration of scholars from the UBC Centre for Migration Studies, the University of Toronto, and Concordia University  examines the impact of naturalization ceremonies, including the use of advanced digital technologies (ADT), on new citizens’ conceptions of their adopted national identity.

This project is funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

5. Comparative Immigration Bureaucracies (2021-2027)

This research collaboration with Mireille Paquet (Concordia University) investigates how powerful bureaucracies in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom navigate policymaking in the face of rapid economic and political shifts. Covering the period from 2000 to 2020, we utilize elite interviews and document analysis to compare how immigration departments in these countries address legitimacy challenges shaped by evolving political environments.

This project is funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant (#435-2021-0316).

Publications

Google Scholar Profile

Books and Special Issues

Ellermann, Antje, Frederik Køhlert, Sarah Leavitt and Mireille Paquet (Eds.). (2025). Crossing Lines: Comics about Human Migration. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Ellermann, Antje. 2021. The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press. Co-winner of the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize, International Political Science Association. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, Foreign Affairs

Ellermann, Antje (Ed.). 2020. Special Issue on “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship.”  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2601

Ellermann, Antje. 2009. States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, American Journal of Sociology, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, German Studies Review; featured in “Campaign for the American Reader”

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Ellermann, Antje. (Forthcoming) “The Institutional Politics of Migration: Making, Implementing, and Resisting Policy.” In: Migration, Mobility and Institutions: Interrelations and Dynamics In and Across World Regions. Karin Schittenhelm & Dominik Schieder (eds.), Edward Elgar.

Ellermann, Antje. 2024. “Reading Closely.” In: Jennifer Cyr and Sara Wallace Goodman (eds.). Doing Good Qualitative Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Schinnerl, Sandra and Antje Ellermann. 2023. “The Education-Immigration Nexus: Situating Canadian Higher Education as Institutions of Immigrant Recruitment.” Journal of International Migration & Integration

Ellermann, Antje. 2022. “Commentary: Canadian Exceptionalism.” In: James F. Hollifield et al. (eds.). Controlling Immigration: A Comparative Perspective (4th ed.). Stanford University Press, 168-174

Ellermann, Antje and Ben O’Heran. 2021. “Unsettling Migration Studies: Indigeneity and Immigration in Settler Colonial States.” In: Catherine Dauvergne (ed.) Research Handbook on the Law and Politics of Migration. Edward Elgar, 21-34

Ellermann, Antje and Yana Gorkokhovskaia. 2020. “The Impermanence of Permanence: The Rise of Probationary Immigration in Canada,” International Migration, 58: 45-60

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship,”Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2479

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Human-capital Citizenship and the Changing Logic of Immigrant Admissions,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2515-2532

Ellermann, Antje. 2019. “50 Years of Canadian Immigration Policy.” In Peter John Loewen, Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, Andrew Potter, and Sophie Borwein (eds.), Canada and Its Centennial and Sesquicentennial: Transformative Policy Then and Now, Toronto: University of Toronto Press

Ellermann, Antje and Agustín Goenaga. 2019. “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States,” Politics & Society, 47(1), 87-116

Ellermann, Antje. 2015. “Do Policy Legacies Matter? Past and Present Guest Worker Recruitment in Germany.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(8), 1235-1253

Ellermann, Antje. 2014. “The Rule of Law and the Right to Stay: The Moral Claims of Undocumented Migrants.” Politics & Society, 42(3), 293-308

Ellermann, Antje. 2013. “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration? Self-Limited Sovereignty and Guest Worker Recruitment in Switzerland and Germany.” World Politics, 65(3), 491-538. Winner of the APSA Prize for Best Article in Migration and Citizenship

Ellermann, Antje. 2012. “Studying Migration Governance from the Bottom-Up.” With Matthew Gravelle and Catherine Dauvergne. In: The Social, Political, and Historical Contours of Deportation. Anderson, Bridget, Matthew Gibney & Emanuela Paoletti (eds.). New York: Springer

Ellermann, Antje. 2010. “Undocumented Migrants and Resistance in the Liberal State.” Politics & Society, 38(3), 408-429

Ellermann, Antje. 2008. “The Limits of Unilateral Migration Control: Deportation and Interstate Cooperation.” Government and Opposition, 43(2), 168-189

Ellermann, Antje. 2006. “Street-level Democracy? How Immigration Bureaucrats Manage Public Opposition.” West European Politics, 29(2), 287-303. Reprinted in Immigration Policy in Europe: The Politics of Control (2007), Virginie Guiraudon and Gallya Lahav (eds.), New York: Routledge, 93-109

Ellermann, Antje. 2005. “Coercive Capacity and the Politics of Implementation: Deportation in Germany and the United States.” Comparative Political Studies, 38(10), 1219-1244

Commissioned Articles

Ellermann, Antje and Dhriti Mehta. 2024. Diverging Paths Comparing Immigration Policies in Canada and the United States. Federal Agency for Civic Education and Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, University of Osnabrück, Germany

Ellermann, Antje. 2024. ‘Do Firewalls Create Social Fog? A Response to Schmid (2024).  Commentary for The Ethics of Migration Policy Dilemmas project, Migration Policy Centre (MPC), European University Institute (EUI).

Book Reviews

Review of “The Political Economy of Managed Migration: Nonstate Actors, Europeanization, and the Politics of Designing Migration Policies,” Georg Menz. 2010. Comparative Political Studies, 43, 156-160

Review of “Becoming Multicultural: Immigration and the Politics of Membership in Canada and Germany,” Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos. 2017 Canadian Journal of Political Science, 50(2), 639-641

Commentary

“New World Disorder.” Fall/Winter 2020. Alumni UBC – TREK: The Migration Issue. 76:1, 5-7

With Agustín Goenaga. “Citizens in the West Should Care about Discriminatory Immigration Policies.” The Conversation, February 11, 2019. Reprinted in: National Post, February 12, 2019; LAWNOW, Vol. 43-4: Canadian Immigration, March 5, 2019

“Fairness Lost in Immigration Reform.” The Vancouver Sun, January 24, 2013

Newsletters

Founding Editor, American Political Science Association Migration and Citizenship Newsletter, 2012-14 (4 issues)

Spring 2013. “Explaining Immigration Policy,” Polity (UBC Political Science Newsletter)

Work-in-progress

Book manuscripts

Ellermann, Antje, Lisa Brunner and Sussan Yáñez, in collaboration with Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George and Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph. Belonging in Unceded Territories: Truth, Reconciliation, and Immigration in Canada. Under contract with Fernwood Press

Article manuscripts

Ellermann, Antje and Mireille Paquet. “Performing for Multiple Audiences: Immigration Bureaucracies and Horizontal Accountability” (Revise & Resubmit)

Brunner, Lisa and Antje Ellermann. “Making Immigrants into Settlers: Colonialism and Reconciliation in Canadian Citizenship” (Revise & Resubmit)

Ellermann, Antje. “Economic Immigration, Policy Layering, and Germany’s Incomplete Paradigm Shift.”

Brunner, Lisa, Antje Ellermann and Denali YoungWolfe. “Migration Arguments as Colonial Entitlements” (In progress)

Mehta, Dhriti and Antje Ellermann. “Executive Dysfunction in Immigration Governance: Divergent Institutional Pathways in the United States and Canada” (In progress)

Brunner, Lisa, Antje Ellermann and Dhriti Mehta. “Naturalization and the Settler Contract: Citizenship Guides in Australia and Canada” (In progress)

 

 

Awards

2025.  Senior Visiting Researcher Fellowship, Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Tokyo, Japan

2022. Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize. Research Committee on the Structure of Governance, International Political Science Association. Co-winner, Best Book on Comparative Administration or Public Policy (for The Comparative Politics of Immigration)

2016. Best Paper Award (with Agustín Goenaga), Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States”)

2014. Best Article Award, Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration,” World Politics)

2006. Early Career Scholar, UBC Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies

Graduate Supervision

I am interested in working with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with a research focus on migration, belonging, and citizenship.

October 2024

CURRENT SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Lisa Brunner, Research Associate

PhD Supervisor

Dhriti Mehta, “The Determinants and Consequences of Canadian and U.S. High-Skilled Immigration Policies”

Claudia Serrano, “Migration Control Practices and Human Right Violations: The US and Australia in Comparison”

Cindy Robin, “The Political Economy of Diaspora Engagement as a Development Tool: The Case of Anglo-Caribbean Small Island Developing States”

PhD Committee Member

Denali Youngwolfe, “The Âhkameyihtamowin Project (We Rise): Mapping Indigenous Assurgency across Turtle Island”

Addye Susnick, “Trans Communities, Trans Joy, and Prefigurative Politics”

 

COMPLETED SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Sandra Schinnerl, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Kelsey Norman, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow

Jonathan Hall, Assistant Professor, University of Uppsala

PhD Supervisor

Ibukun Kayode (Interdisciplinary Studies), “Experiences of Black Anglophone African Immigrant Women in Accessing Primary Healthcare in Canada” (Co-supervisor, 2025)

Camille Desmares, “Discrimination in Post-World War II Naturalization Policy: France and Switzerland” (2023)

Salta Zhumatova, “Mainstreaming the Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in the EU: Policy Framework and Policy Impact” (2022)

Sandra Schinnerl, (Interdisciplinary Studies), “The Influence of Higher Education on Immigration Policy in Canada” (2021, Co-supervisor)

Conrad King,“The Politics of Subsystems: Agenda Management and Policy Change in Education” (2018)

Stewart Prest, “Civil Peace, Political Conflict: Understanding Negative Cases of Civil War” (2015, Co-supervisor)

PhD Committee Member

Paolo Andre Sosa Villagarcia, “Authoritarian Legacies and Far Right Normalization: Peru in Comparative Perspective” (2025)

Laura Cleton (University of Antwerp), “Deporting Children. Policy Framing, Legitimation and Intersectional Boundary Work” (2022)

Daniel Westlake, “Multiculturalism, Parties, and Voter Behaviour: Explaining the Role of Political Parties in the Development of Multiculturalism Policies” (2017)

Grace Lore, “Women in Politics: Descriptive and Substantive Representation and the Moderating Effect of Political Institutions”(2016)

Serban Dragulin (Philosophy), “Science and Political Legitimacy”

Jan Boesten, “Between the Rule of Law and Democratic Security: Judicial, Constituent, and State Power in Columbia” (2015)

Agustín Goenaga Orrego, “The Social Origins of State Capacity: Civil Society, Political Order and Public Goods in France (1789-1970) and Mexico (1810-1970)” (2015)

Charles Breton, “Incorporation Policies, Identity, and Relationships between Host Societies and Immigrants” (2015)

Konrad Kalicki, “Acting Like a State: The Politics of Foreign Labour Admission in Japan and Taiwan”(2015)

Erin Penner, “The Attitudinal Mosaic: Forming Attitudes about Multiculturalism, Immigration, and Ethnic Diversity in Canada” (2013)

John Ferguson (Law), “International Human Trafficking in Canada: Why So Few Prosecutions?” (2012)

Joe Sulmona (Geography), “Trade with Security: How Canada and the Netherlands Relocated State Frontiers Through Civilian Aviation Networks” (2012)

MA Supervisor

Thelma Muñoz Barajas: “Context Does Matter: Exploring the Influence of Moral Exculpation in Attitudes Towards Undocumented Mexican Migration in Canada” (2024)

Sofia Ngieng, “Locating Indigeneity in Migration Studies: Where do Métis People Fit into Indigenous Mobility Narratives?” (2024)

Lee Barrett-Lennard, “Climate Change and the Shifting Cost-Benefit Calculus of Development in the Russian Far East and High Arctic” (2023)

Hanne Schaefer, “Memory Politics and Right-Wing Anti-Immigration Agendas in Contemporary Germany” (2023)

Chandima Silva (SCARP, main supervisor Leonora Angeles), “Moving beyond the Colonial Politics of Recognition by Transcultural Placemaking” (2023)

Melika Khajeh Hosseiny, “Reconceptualizing the Politics of Integration: Tactical Cosmopolitanism among Iranian Immigrants in Los Angeles” (2022)

Dhriti Mehta: “The Construction of the Emigrant-Unfriendly Liberal Democracy: The Case of India” (2022)

Sarah Despatie: “Secularism or Nationalism? Partisan Differences in Quebec’s Bill 21 Debate” (2021)

Renauld Chicoine-McKenzie, “Photographic Frames of Immigration in a Polarized Media Environment” (2021)

Isabella Picui, “Diversity and Inequality? An Analysis of Multicultural Policies and Immigrant Economic Integration in Europe” (2019)

Miaofeng Zhang, “The Hukou System and Sociopolitical Stability in China” (2015)

Tania Sawicki Mead, “Between Care and Control: The Uses and Abuses of Humanitarianism in Contemporary Migration Debates” (2015)

Forrest Barnum, “Crossnational Divergence in Post-OPEC Embargo Energy Policy in Germany and the United States” (2012)

Margery Pazdor (Institute for European Studies), “Female Genital Mutilation in France and the UK: The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Policy Formation” (2009)

Lisa Stark, “Do Muslims Make the Difference? Explaining Within Country Variation on Mosque-Building Policies in Western Europe” (2007)

On this page
About
Teaching
Research
Publications
Awards
Graduate Supervision

Antje Ellermann

she/they
Professor
email antje.ellermann@ubc.ca
phone 604 822 4359
location_on C.K. Choi 323
file_download Download CV
Office Hours
By appointment
Research Area
Canada | Colonial, post-colonial, settler theories, and practices | Comparative Politics | Europe | Methods: Qualitative | Migration policy and politics | Public policy | United States
ON LEAVE
Sept 1, 2025 - Aug 31, 2026

About

I am Professor of Political Science and Founder and Co-Director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. My research focuses on the politics of migration and citizenship in the global North. My current projects include several community-engaged research collaborations at the intersection of citizenship, belonging, and decolonization in Metro Vancouver, alongside a comparative study of immigration bureaucracies in Canada, Australia, and the UK.

My latest book, Crossing Lines: Comics About Human Migration (University of Toronto Press, 2025, co-edited with Frederik Køhlert, Sarah Leavitt and Mireille Paquet), is a graphic anthology that challenges the rise of anti-immigrant populism by offering nuanced perspectives on displacement, identity, and community. My second book The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States was published in 2021 with Cambridge University Press as part of the Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics series. It was recognized with the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize (co-winner) by the International Political Science Association.  My first book States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States (Cambridge University Press, 2009) examined the comparative politics and implementation of deportation.

My research has been supported by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Social Science Research Council, the German Academic Exchange Service, and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. I serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and served as Co-President of the American Political Science Association’s Migration and Citizenship Section from 2019-21.

I was born and raised in Germany before spending many years living, working, and studying in Northern Ireland, England, and the United States. I live on the beautiful, overlapping territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) (Vancouver) with my spouse, Alan Jacobs. I hold Canadian and German citizenship. Before becoming a political scientist, I trained in social work and worked as a community worker. I love spending time ocean kayaking, cross-country skiing, doing Pilates, playing the piano, reading, and knitting. I used to be an avid woodworker and like to think that one day I will start making furniture again.

Teaching

Research

I currently serve as the Principal Investigator for 5 collaborative research projects.

1. Belonging in Unceded Territories (2020-2028)

This project is a research collaboration of the Centre for Migration Studies, Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, Immigrant Services Society of BC, the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC, Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George and Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph from Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw  (Squamish Nation), Elder Morgan Guerin and Elder Victor Guerin from xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam Nation), and cultural facilitators Sussan Yáñez and Aaniya Asrani.

Vancouver is situated on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. Coast Salish peoples have belonged on these lands since times immemorial. Yet, narratives of belonging rarely grapple with the fact that belonging is negotiated on stolen land. The Belonging in Unceded Territories project brings Indigeneity and settler colonialism into the center of debates on social belonging in Vancouver. The project seeks to facilitate settler dialogue and learning from Indigenous knowledge keepers about Coast Salish histories and the impact of colonization, and explore decolonizing ways of living and belonging.

From 2020-2025 this project was funded by a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant (#890-2019-0100). It is now funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

2. Building Relations through Stories (2023-2026)

This is an Indigenous-led project focused on non-extractive, land-based work rooted in Indigenous epistemologies. The project is led by Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Hereditary Chief Chepximiya Siyam Janice George and supported by cultural faciliator Sussan Yáñez. Sḵwx̱wú7mesh hereditary chiefs are invited to share origin stories and reflections on land stewardship. The research honors territorial protocols and prioritizes giving back to the community by facilitating the gathering of traditional knowledge to be passed on to future generations. It also aims to foster stronger relationships between newcomers, Canadian-born settlers, and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw  (Squamish Nation).

This project is funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

3. Narratives of Citizenship (2023-2026)

This collaborative project explores the meaning of Canadian citizenship by examining its narratives and how people think about those narratives, with a focus on their relationship to Truth and Reconciliation. We are drawing on three key data sources: (1) partnerships with two Vancouver-based service organizations MOSAIC and YMCA BC to gather insights from staff and clients, (2) perspectives of policy makers and government employees, and (3) a content analysis of Canadian citizenship guides.

This project is funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

4. Naturalization Ceremonies (2023-2026)

This research collaboration of scholars from the UBC Centre for Migration Studies, the University of Toronto, and Concordia University  examines the impact of naturalization ceremonies, including the use of advanced digital technologies (ADT), on new citizens’ conceptions of their adopted national identity.

This project is funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

5. Comparative Immigration Bureaucracies (2021-2027)

This research collaboration with Mireille Paquet (Concordia University) investigates how powerful bureaucracies in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom navigate policymaking in the face of rapid economic and political shifts. Covering the period from 2000 to 2020, we utilize elite interviews and document analysis to compare how immigration departments in these countries address legitimacy challenges shaped by evolving political environments.

This project is funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant (#435-2021-0316).

Publications

Google Scholar Profile

Books and Special Issues

Ellermann, Antje, Frederik Køhlert, Sarah Leavitt and Mireille Paquet (Eds.). (2025). Crossing Lines: Comics about Human Migration. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Ellermann, Antje. 2021. The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press. Co-winner of the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize, International Political Science Association. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, Foreign Affairs

Ellermann, Antje (Ed.). 2020. Special Issue on “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship.”  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2601

Ellermann, Antje. 2009. States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, American Journal of Sociology, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, German Studies Review; featured in “Campaign for the American Reader”

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Ellermann, Antje. (Forthcoming) “The Institutional Politics of Migration: Making, Implementing, and Resisting Policy.” In: Migration, Mobility and Institutions: Interrelations and Dynamics In and Across World Regions. Karin Schittenhelm & Dominik Schieder (eds.), Edward Elgar.

Ellermann, Antje. 2024. “Reading Closely.” In: Jennifer Cyr and Sara Wallace Goodman (eds.). Doing Good Qualitative Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Schinnerl, Sandra and Antje Ellermann. 2023. “The Education-Immigration Nexus: Situating Canadian Higher Education as Institutions of Immigrant Recruitment.” Journal of International Migration & Integration

Ellermann, Antje. 2022. “Commentary: Canadian Exceptionalism.” In: James F. Hollifield et al. (eds.). Controlling Immigration: A Comparative Perspective (4th ed.). Stanford University Press, 168-174

Ellermann, Antje and Ben O’Heran. 2021. “Unsettling Migration Studies: Indigeneity and Immigration in Settler Colonial States.” In: Catherine Dauvergne (ed.) Research Handbook on the Law and Politics of Migration. Edward Elgar, 21-34

Ellermann, Antje and Yana Gorkokhovskaia. 2020. “The Impermanence of Permanence: The Rise of Probationary Immigration in Canada,” International Migration, 58: 45-60

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship,”Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2479

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Human-capital Citizenship and the Changing Logic of Immigrant Admissions,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2515-2532

Ellermann, Antje. 2019. “50 Years of Canadian Immigration Policy.” In Peter John Loewen, Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, Andrew Potter, and Sophie Borwein (eds.), Canada and Its Centennial and Sesquicentennial: Transformative Policy Then and Now, Toronto: University of Toronto Press

Ellermann, Antje and Agustín Goenaga. 2019. “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States,” Politics & Society, 47(1), 87-116

Ellermann, Antje. 2015. “Do Policy Legacies Matter? Past and Present Guest Worker Recruitment in Germany.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(8), 1235-1253

Ellermann, Antje. 2014. “The Rule of Law and the Right to Stay: The Moral Claims of Undocumented Migrants.” Politics & Society, 42(3), 293-308

Ellermann, Antje. 2013. “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration? Self-Limited Sovereignty and Guest Worker Recruitment in Switzerland and Germany.” World Politics, 65(3), 491-538. Winner of the APSA Prize for Best Article in Migration and Citizenship

Ellermann, Antje. 2012. “Studying Migration Governance from the Bottom-Up.” With Matthew Gravelle and Catherine Dauvergne. In: The Social, Political, and Historical Contours of Deportation. Anderson, Bridget, Matthew Gibney & Emanuela Paoletti (eds.). New York: Springer

Ellermann, Antje. 2010. “Undocumented Migrants and Resistance in the Liberal State.” Politics & Society, 38(3), 408-429

Ellermann, Antje. 2008. “The Limits of Unilateral Migration Control: Deportation and Interstate Cooperation.” Government and Opposition, 43(2), 168-189

Ellermann, Antje. 2006. “Street-level Democracy? How Immigration Bureaucrats Manage Public Opposition.” West European Politics, 29(2), 287-303. Reprinted in Immigration Policy in Europe: The Politics of Control (2007), Virginie Guiraudon and Gallya Lahav (eds.), New York: Routledge, 93-109

Ellermann, Antje. 2005. “Coercive Capacity and the Politics of Implementation: Deportation in Germany and the United States.” Comparative Political Studies, 38(10), 1219-1244

Commissioned Articles

Ellermann, Antje and Dhriti Mehta. 2024. Diverging Paths Comparing Immigration Policies in Canada and the United States. Federal Agency for Civic Education and Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, University of Osnabrück, Germany

Ellermann, Antje. 2024. ‘Do Firewalls Create Social Fog? A Response to Schmid (2024).  Commentary for The Ethics of Migration Policy Dilemmas project, Migration Policy Centre (MPC), European University Institute (EUI).

Book Reviews

Review of “The Political Economy of Managed Migration: Nonstate Actors, Europeanization, and the Politics of Designing Migration Policies,” Georg Menz. 2010. Comparative Political Studies, 43, 156-160

Review of “Becoming Multicultural: Immigration and the Politics of Membership in Canada and Germany,” Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos. 2017 Canadian Journal of Political Science, 50(2), 639-641

Commentary

“New World Disorder.” Fall/Winter 2020. Alumni UBC – TREK: The Migration Issue. 76:1, 5-7

With Agustín Goenaga. “Citizens in the West Should Care about Discriminatory Immigration Policies.” The Conversation, February 11, 2019. Reprinted in: National Post, February 12, 2019; LAWNOW, Vol. 43-4: Canadian Immigration, March 5, 2019

“Fairness Lost in Immigration Reform.” The Vancouver Sun, January 24, 2013

Newsletters

Founding Editor, American Political Science Association Migration and Citizenship Newsletter, 2012-14 (4 issues)

Spring 2013. “Explaining Immigration Policy,” Polity (UBC Political Science Newsletter)

Work-in-progress

Book manuscripts

Ellermann, Antje, Lisa Brunner and Sussan Yáñez, in collaboration with Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George and Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph. Belonging in Unceded Territories: Truth, Reconciliation, and Immigration in Canada. Under contract with Fernwood Press

Article manuscripts

Ellermann, Antje and Mireille Paquet. “Performing for Multiple Audiences: Immigration Bureaucracies and Horizontal Accountability” (Revise & Resubmit)

Brunner, Lisa and Antje Ellermann. “Making Immigrants into Settlers: Colonialism and Reconciliation in Canadian Citizenship” (Revise & Resubmit)

Ellermann, Antje. “Economic Immigration, Policy Layering, and Germany’s Incomplete Paradigm Shift.”

Brunner, Lisa, Antje Ellermann and Denali YoungWolfe. “Migration Arguments as Colonial Entitlements” (In progress)

Mehta, Dhriti and Antje Ellermann. “Executive Dysfunction in Immigration Governance: Divergent Institutional Pathways in the United States and Canada” (In progress)

Brunner, Lisa, Antje Ellermann and Dhriti Mehta. “Naturalization and the Settler Contract: Citizenship Guides in Australia and Canada” (In progress)

 

 

Awards

2025.  Senior Visiting Researcher Fellowship, Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Tokyo, Japan

2022. Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize. Research Committee on the Structure of Governance, International Political Science Association. Co-winner, Best Book on Comparative Administration or Public Policy (for The Comparative Politics of Immigration)

2016. Best Paper Award (with Agustín Goenaga), Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States”)

2014. Best Article Award, Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration,” World Politics)

2006. Early Career Scholar, UBC Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies

Graduate Supervision

I am interested in working with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with a research focus on migration, belonging, and citizenship.

October 2024

CURRENT SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Lisa Brunner, Research Associate

PhD Supervisor

Dhriti Mehta, “The Determinants and Consequences of Canadian and U.S. High-Skilled Immigration Policies”

Claudia Serrano, “Migration Control Practices and Human Right Violations: The US and Australia in Comparison”

Cindy Robin, “The Political Economy of Diaspora Engagement as a Development Tool: The Case of Anglo-Caribbean Small Island Developing States”

PhD Committee Member

Denali Youngwolfe, “The Âhkameyihtamowin Project (We Rise): Mapping Indigenous Assurgency across Turtle Island”

Addye Susnick, “Trans Communities, Trans Joy, and Prefigurative Politics”

 

COMPLETED SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Sandra Schinnerl, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Kelsey Norman, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow

Jonathan Hall, Assistant Professor, University of Uppsala

PhD Supervisor

Ibukun Kayode (Interdisciplinary Studies), “Experiences of Black Anglophone African Immigrant Women in Accessing Primary Healthcare in Canada” (Co-supervisor, 2025)

Camille Desmares, “Discrimination in Post-World War II Naturalization Policy: France and Switzerland” (2023)

Salta Zhumatova, “Mainstreaming the Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in the EU: Policy Framework and Policy Impact” (2022)

Sandra Schinnerl, (Interdisciplinary Studies), “The Influence of Higher Education on Immigration Policy in Canada” (2021, Co-supervisor)

Conrad King,“The Politics of Subsystems: Agenda Management and Policy Change in Education” (2018)

Stewart Prest, “Civil Peace, Political Conflict: Understanding Negative Cases of Civil War” (2015, Co-supervisor)

PhD Committee Member

Paolo Andre Sosa Villagarcia, “Authoritarian Legacies and Far Right Normalization: Peru in Comparative Perspective” (2025)

Laura Cleton (University of Antwerp), “Deporting Children. Policy Framing, Legitimation and Intersectional Boundary Work” (2022)

Daniel Westlake, “Multiculturalism, Parties, and Voter Behaviour: Explaining the Role of Political Parties in the Development of Multiculturalism Policies” (2017)

Grace Lore, “Women in Politics: Descriptive and Substantive Representation and the Moderating Effect of Political Institutions”(2016)

Serban Dragulin (Philosophy), “Science and Political Legitimacy”

Jan Boesten, “Between the Rule of Law and Democratic Security: Judicial, Constituent, and State Power in Columbia” (2015)

Agustín Goenaga Orrego, “The Social Origins of State Capacity: Civil Society, Political Order and Public Goods in France (1789-1970) and Mexico (1810-1970)” (2015)

Charles Breton, “Incorporation Policies, Identity, and Relationships between Host Societies and Immigrants” (2015)

Konrad Kalicki, “Acting Like a State: The Politics of Foreign Labour Admission in Japan and Taiwan”(2015)

Erin Penner, “The Attitudinal Mosaic: Forming Attitudes about Multiculturalism, Immigration, and Ethnic Diversity in Canada” (2013)

John Ferguson (Law), “International Human Trafficking in Canada: Why So Few Prosecutions?” (2012)

Joe Sulmona (Geography), “Trade with Security: How Canada and the Netherlands Relocated State Frontiers Through Civilian Aviation Networks” (2012)

MA Supervisor

Thelma Muñoz Barajas: “Context Does Matter: Exploring the Influence of Moral Exculpation in Attitudes Towards Undocumented Mexican Migration in Canada” (2024)

Sofia Ngieng, “Locating Indigeneity in Migration Studies: Where do Métis People Fit into Indigenous Mobility Narratives?” (2024)

Lee Barrett-Lennard, “Climate Change and the Shifting Cost-Benefit Calculus of Development in the Russian Far East and High Arctic” (2023)

Hanne Schaefer, “Memory Politics and Right-Wing Anti-Immigration Agendas in Contemporary Germany” (2023)

Chandima Silva (SCARP, main supervisor Leonora Angeles), “Moving beyond the Colonial Politics of Recognition by Transcultural Placemaking” (2023)

Melika Khajeh Hosseiny, “Reconceptualizing the Politics of Integration: Tactical Cosmopolitanism among Iranian Immigrants in Los Angeles” (2022)

Dhriti Mehta: “The Construction of the Emigrant-Unfriendly Liberal Democracy: The Case of India” (2022)

Sarah Despatie: “Secularism or Nationalism? Partisan Differences in Quebec’s Bill 21 Debate” (2021)

Renauld Chicoine-McKenzie, “Photographic Frames of Immigration in a Polarized Media Environment” (2021)

Isabella Picui, “Diversity and Inequality? An Analysis of Multicultural Policies and Immigrant Economic Integration in Europe” (2019)

Miaofeng Zhang, “The Hukou System and Sociopolitical Stability in China” (2015)

Tania Sawicki Mead, “Between Care and Control: The Uses and Abuses of Humanitarianism in Contemporary Migration Debates” (2015)

Forrest Barnum, “Crossnational Divergence in Post-OPEC Embargo Energy Policy in Germany and the United States” (2012)

Margery Pazdor (Institute for European Studies), “Female Genital Mutilation in France and the UK: The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Policy Formation” (2009)

Lisa Stark, “Do Muslims Make the Difference? Explaining Within Country Variation on Mosque-Building Policies in Western Europe” (2007)

Antje Ellermann

she/they
Professor
ON LEAVE
Sept 1, 2025 - Aug 31, 2026
email antje.ellermann@ubc.ca
phone 604 822 4359
location_on C.K. Choi 323
Office Hours
By appointment
Research Area
Canada | Colonial, post-colonial, settler theories, and practices | Comparative Politics | Europe | Methods: Qualitative | Migration policy and politics | Public policy | United States
file_download Download CV
About keyboard_arrow_down

I am Professor of Political Science and Founder and Co-Director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. My research focuses on the politics of migration and citizenship in the global North. My current projects include several community-engaged research collaborations at the intersection of citizenship, belonging, and decolonization in Metro Vancouver, alongside a comparative study of immigration bureaucracies in Canada, Australia, and the UK.

My latest book, Crossing Lines: Comics About Human Migration (University of Toronto Press, 2025, co-edited with Frederik Køhlert, Sarah Leavitt and Mireille Paquet), is a graphic anthology that challenges the rise of anti-immigrant populism by offering nuanced perspectives on displacement, identity, and community. My second book The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States was published in 2021 with Cambridge University Press as part of the Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics series. It was recognized with the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize (co-winner) by the International Political Science Association.  My first book States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States (Cambridge University Press, 2009) examined the comparative politics and implementation of deportation.

My research has been supported by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Social Science Research Council, the German Academic Exchange Service, and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. I serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and served as Co-President of the American Political Science Association’s Migration and Citizenship Section from 2019-21.

I was born and raised in Germany before spending many years living, working, and studying in Northern Ireland, England, and the United States. I live on the beautiful, overlapping territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) (Vancouver) with my spouse, Alan Jacobs. I hold Canadian and German citizenship. Before becoming a political scientist, I trained in social work and worked as a community worker. I love spending time ocean kayaking, cross-country skiing, doing Pilates, playing the piano, reading, and knitting. I used to be an avid woodworker and like to think that one day I will start making furniture again.

Teaching keyboard_arrow_down
Research keyboard_arrow_down

I currently serve as the Principal Investigator for 5 collaborative research projects.

1. Belonging in Unceded Territories (2020-2028)

This project is a research collaboration of the Centre for Migration Studies, Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, Immigrant Services Society of BC, the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC, Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George and Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph from Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw  (Squamish Nation), Elder Morgan Guerin and Elder Victor Guerin from xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam Nation), and cultural facilitators Sussan Yáñez and Aaniya Asrani.

Vancouver is situated on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. Coast Salish peoples have belonged on these lands since times immemorial. Yet, narratives of belonging rarely grapple with the fact that belonging is negotiated on stolen land. The Belonging in Unceded Territories project brings Indigeneity and settler colonialism into the center of debates on social belonging in Vancouver. The project seeks to facilitate settler dialogue and learning from Indigenous knowledge keepers about Coast Salish histories and the impact of colonization, and explore decolonizing ways of living and belonging.

From 2020-2025 this project was funded by a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant (#890-2019-0100). It is now funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

2. Building Relations through Stories (2023-2026)

This is an Indigenous-led project focused on non-extractive, land-based work rooted in Indigenous epistemologies. The project is led by Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Hereditary Chief Chepximiya Siyam Janice George and supported by cultural faciliator Sussan Yáñez. Sḵwx̱wú7mesh hereditary chiefs are invited to share origin stories and reflections on land stewardship. The research honors territorial protocols and prioritizes giving back to the community by facilitating the gathering of traditional knowledge to be passed on to future generations. It also aims to foster stronger relationships between newcomers, Canadian-born settlers, and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw  (Squamish Nation).

This project is funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

3. Narratives of Citizenship (2023-2026)

This collaborative project explores the meaning of Canadian citizenship by examining its narratives and how people think about those narratives, with a focus on their relationship to Truth and Reconciliation. We are drawing on three key data sources: (1) partnerships with two Vancouver-based service organizations MOSAIC and YMCA BC to gather insights from staff and clients, (2) perspectives of policy makers and government employees, and (3) a content analysis of Canadian citizenship guides.

This project is funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

4. Naturalization Ceremonies (2023-2026)

This research collaboration of scholars from the UBC Centre for Migration Studies, the University of Toronto, and Concordia University  examines the impact of naturalization ceremonies, including the use of advanced digital technologies (ADT), on new citizens’ conceptions of their adopted national identity.

This project is funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund as part of the Migrant Integration in the mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program.

For details, check out our project page.

5. Comparative Immigration Bureaucracies (2021-2027)

This research collaboration with Mireille Paquet (Concordia University) investigates how powerful bureaucracies in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom navigate policymaking in the face of rapid economic and political shifts. Covering the period from 2000 to 2020, we utilize elite interviews and document analysis to compare how immigration departments in these countries address legitimacy challenges shaped by evolving political environments.

This project is funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant (#435-2021-0316).

Publications keyboard_arrow_down

Google Scholar Profile

Books and Special Issues

Ellermann, Antje, Frederik Køhlert, Sarah Leavitt and Mireille Paquet (Eds.). (2025). Crossing Lines: Comics about Human Migration. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Ellermann, Antje. 2021. The Comparative Politics of Immigration: Policy Choices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press. Co-winner of the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize, International Political Science Association. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, Foreign Affairs

Ellermann, Antje (Ed.). 2020. Special Issue on “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship.”  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2601

Ellermann, Antje. 2009. States Against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press. |  Reviewed in Perspectives on Politics, American Journal of Sociology, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, German Studies Review; featured in “Campaign for the American Reader”

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Ellermann, Antje. (Forthcoming) “The Institutional Politics of Migration: Making, Implementing, and Resisting Policy.” In: Migration, Mobility and Institutions: Interrelations and Dynamics In and Across World Regions. Karin Schittenhelm & Dominik Schieder (eds.), Edward Elgar.

Ellermann, Antje. 2024. “Reading Closely.” In: Jennifer Cyr and Sara Wallace Goodman (eds.). Doing Good Qualitative Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Schinnerl, Sandra and Antje Ellermann. 2023. “The Education-Immigration Nexus: Situating Canadian Higher Education as Institutions of Immigrant Recruitment.” Journal of International Migration & Integration

Ellermann, Antje. 2022. “Commentary: Canadian Exceptionalism.” In: James F. Hollifield et al. (eds.). Controlling Immigration: A Comparative Perspective (4th ed.). Stanford University Press, 168-174

Ellermann, Antje and Ben O’Heran. 2021. “Unsettling Migration Studies: Indigeneity and Immigration in Settler Colonial States.” In: Catherine Dauvergne (ed.) Research Handbook on the Law and Politics of Migration. Edward Elgar, 21-34

Ellermann, Antje and Yana Gorkokhovskaia. 2020. “The Impermanence of Permanence: The Rise of Probationary Immigration in Canada,” International Migration, 58: 45-60

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Discrimination in Migration and Citizenship,”Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2463-2479

Ellermann, Antje. 2020. “Human-capital Citizenship and the Changing Logic of Immigrant Admissions,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46:12, 2515-2532

Ellermann, Antje. 2019. “50 Years of Canadian Immigration Policy.” In Peter John Loewen, Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, Andrew Potter, and Sophie Borwein (eds.), Canada and Its Centennial and Sesquicentennial: Transformative Policy Then and Now, Toronto: University of Toronto Press

Ellermann, Antje and Agustín Goenaga. 2019. “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States,” Politics & Society, 47(1), 87-116

Ellermann, Antje. 2015. “Do Policy Legacies Matter? Past and Present Guest Worker Recruitment in Germany.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(8), 1235-1253

Ellermann, Antje. 2014. “The Rule of Law and the Right to Stay: The Moral Claims of Undocumented Migrants.” Politics & Society, 42(3), 293-308

Ellermann, Antje. 2013. “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration? Self-Limited Sovereignty and Guest Worker Recruitment in Switzerland and Germany.” World Politics, 65(3), 491-538. Winner of the APSA Prize for Best Article in Migration and Citizenship

Ellermann, Antje. 2012. “Studying Migration Governance from the Bottom-Up.” With Matthew Gravelle and Catherine Dauvergne. In: The Social, Political, and Historical Contours of Deportation. Anderson, Bridget, Matthew Gibney & Emanuela Paoletti (eds.). New York: Springer

Ellermann, Antje. 2010. “Undocumented Migrants and Resistance in the Liberal State.” Politics & Society, 38(3), 408-429

Ellermann, Antje. 2008. “The Limits of Unilateral Migration Control: Deportation and Interstate Cooperation.” Government and Opposition, 43(2), 168-189

Ellermann, Antje. 2006. “Street-level Democracy? How Immigration Bureaucrats Manage Public Opposition.” West European Politics, 29(2), 287-303. Reprinted in Immigration Policy in Europe: The Politics of Control (2007), Virginie Guiraudon and Gallya Lahav (eds.), New York: Routledge, 93-109

Ellermann, Antje. 2005. “Coercive Capacity and the Politics of Implementation: Deportation in Germany and the United States.” Comparative Political Studies, 38(10), 1219-1244

Commissioned Articles

Ellermann, Antje and Dhriti Mehta. 2024. Diverging Paths Comparing Immigration Policies in Canada and the United States. Federal Agency for Civic Education and Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, University of Osnabrück, Germany

Ellermann, Antje. 2024. ‘Do Firewalls Create Social Fog? A Response to Schmid (2024).  Commentary for The Ethics of Migration Policy Dilemmas project, Migration Policy Centre (MPC), European University Institute (EUI).

Book Reviews

Review of “The Political Economy of Managed Migration: Nonstate Actors, Europeanization, and the Politics of Designing Migration Policies,” Georg Menz. 2010. Comparative Political Studies, 43, 156-160

Review of “Becoming Multicultural: Immigration and the Politics of Membership in Canada and Germany,” Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos. 2017 Canadian Journal of Political Science, 50(2), 639-641

Commentary

“New World Disorder.” Fall/Winter 2020. Alumni UBC – TREK: The Migration Issue. 76:1, 5-7

With Agustín Goenaga. “Citizens in the West Should Care about Discriminatory Immigration Policies.” The Conversation, February 11, 2019. Reprinted in: National Post, February 12, 2019; LAWNOW, Vol. 43-4: Canadian Immigration, March 5, 2019

“Fairness Lost in Immigration Reform.” The Vancouver Sun, January 24, 2013

Newsletters

Founding Editor, American Political Science Association Migration and Citizenship Newsletter, 2012-14 (4 issues)

Spring 2013. “Explaining Immigration Policy,” Polity (UBC Political Science Newsletter)

Work-in-progress

Book manuscripts

Ellermann, Antje, Lisa Brunner and Sussan Yáñez, in collaboration with Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George and Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph. Belonging in Unceded Territories: Truth, Reconciliation, and Immigration in Canada. Under contract with Fernwood Press

Article manuscripts

Ellermann, Antje and Mireille Paquet. “Performing for Multiple Audiences: Immigration Bureaucracies and Horizontal Accountability” (Revise & Resubmit)

Brunner, Lisa and Antje Ellermann. “Making Immigrants into Settlers: Colonialism and Reconciliation in Canadian Citizenship” (Revise & Resubmit)

Ellermann, Antje. “Economic Immigration, Policy Layering, and Germany’s Incomplete Paradigm Shift.”

Brunner, Lisa, Antje Ellermann and Denali YoungWolfe. “Migration Arguments as Colonial Entitlements” (In progress)

Mehta, Dhriti and Antje Ellermann. “Executive Dysfunction in Immigration Governance: Divergent Institutional Pathways in the United States and Canada” (In progress)

Brunner, Lisa, Antje Ellermann and Dhriti Mehta. “Naturalization and the Settler Contract: Citizenship Guides in Australia and Canada” (In progress)

 

 

Awards keyboard_arrow_down

2025.  Senior Visiting Researcher Fellowship, Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Tokyo, Japan

2022. Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize. Research Committee on the Structure of Governance, International Political Science Association. Co-winner, Best Book on Comparative Administration or Public Policy (for The Comparative Politics of Immigration)

2016. Best Paper Award (with Agustín Goenaga), Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “Discrimination and Policies of Immigrant Selection in Liberal States”)

2014. Best Article Award, Organized Section for Migration and Citizenship, American Political Science Association (for “When Can Liberal States Avoid Unwanted Immigration,” World Politics)

2006. Early Career Scholar, UBC Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies

Graduate Supervision keyboard_arrow_down

I am interested in working with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with a research focus on migration, belonging, and citizenship.

October 2024

CURRENT SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Lisa Brunner, Research Associate

PhD Supervisor

Dhriti Mehta, “The Determinants and Consequences of Canadian and U.S. High-Skilled Immigration Policies”

Claudia Serrano, “Migration Control Practices and Human Right Violations: The US and Australia in Comparison”

Cindy Robin, “The Political Economy of Diaspora Engagement as a Development Tool: The Case of Anglo-Caribbean Small Island Developing States”

PhD Committee Member

Denali Youngwolfe, “The Âhkameyihtamowin Project (We Rise): Mapping Indigenous Assurgency across Turtle Island”

Addye Susnick, “Trans Communities, Trans Joy, and Prefigurative Politics”

 

COMPLETED SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Sandra Schinnerl, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Kelsey Norman, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow

Jonathan Hall, Assistant Professor, University of Uppsala

PhD Supervisor

Ibukun Kayode (Interdisciplinary Studies), “Experiences of Black Anglophone African Immigrant Women in Accessing Primary Healthcare in Canada” (Co-supervisor, 2025)

Camille Desmares, “Discrimination in Post-World War II Naturalization Policy: France and Switzerland” (2023)

Salta Zhumatova, “Mainstreaming the Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in the EU: Policy Framework and Policy Impact” (2022)

Sandra Schinnerl, (Interdisciplinary Studies), “The Influence of Higher Education on Immigration Policy in Canada” (2021, Co-supervisor)

Conrad King,“The Politics of Subsystems: Agenda Management and Policy Change in Education” (2018)

Stewart Prest, “Civil Peace, Political Conflict: Understanding Negative Cases of Civil War” (2015, Co-supervisor)

PhD Committee Member

Paolo Andre Sosa Villagarcia, “Authoritarian Legacies and Far Right Normalization: Peru in Comparative Perspective” (2025)

Laura Cleton (University of Antwerp), “Deporting Children. Policy Framing, Legitimation and Intersectional Boundary Work” (2022)

Daniel Westlake, “Multiculturalism, Parties, and Voter Behaviour: Explaining the Role of Political Parties in the Development of Multiculturalism Policies” (2017)

Grace Lore, “Women in Politics: Descriptive and Substantive Representation and the Moderating Effect of Political Institutions”(2016)

Serban Dragulin (Philosophy), “Science and Political Legitimacy”

Jan Boesten, “Between the Rule of Law and Democratic Security: Judicial, Constituent, and State Power in Columbia” (2015)

Agustín Goenaga Orrego, “The Social Origins of State Capacity: Civil Society, Political Order and Public Goods in France (1789-1970) and Mexico (1810-1970)” (2015)

Charles Breton, “Incorporation Policies, Identity, and Relationships between Host Societies and Immigrants” (2015)

Konrad Kalicki, “Acting Like a State: The Politics of Foreign Labour Admission in Japan and Taiwan”(2015)

Erin Penner, “The Attitudinal Mosaic: Forming Attitudes about Multiculturalism, Immigration, and Ethnic Diversity in Canada” (2013)

John Ferguson (Law), “International Human Trafficking in Canada: Why So Few Prosecutions?” (2012)

Joe Sulmona (Geography), “Trade with Security: How Canada and the Netherlands Relocated State Frontiers Through Civilian Aviation Networks” (2012)

MA Supervisor

Thelma Muñoz Barajas: “Context Does Matter: Exploring the Influence of Moral Exculpation in Attitudes Towards Undocumented Mexican Migration in Canada” (2024)

Sofia Ngieng, “Locating Indigeneity in Migration Studies: Where do Métis People Fit into Indigenous Mobility Narratives?” (2024)

Lee Barrett-Lennard, “Climate Change and the Shifting Cost-Benefit Calculus of Development in the Russian Far East and High Arctic” (2023)

Hanne Schaefer, “Memory Politics and Right-Wing Anti-Immigration Agendas in Contemporary Germany” (2023)

Chandima Silva (SCARP, main supervisor Leonora Angeles), “Moving beyond the Colonial Politics of Recognition by Transcultural Placemaking” (2023)

Melika Khajeh Hosseiny, “Reconceptualizing the Politics of Integration: Tactical Cosmopolitanism among Iranian Immigrants in Los Angeles” (2022)

Dhriti Mehta: “The Construction of the Emigrant-Unfriendly Liberal Democracy: The Case of India” (2022)

Sarah Despatie: “Secularism or Nationalism? Partisan Differences in Quebec’s Bill 21 Debate” (2021)

Renauld Chicoine-McKenzie, “Photographic Frames of Immigration in a Polarized Media Environment” (2021)

Isabella Picui, “Diversity and Inequality? An Analysis of Multicultural Policies and Immigrant Economic Integration in Europe” (2019)

Miaofeng Zhang, “The Hukou System and Sociopolitical Stability in China” (2015)

Tania Sawicki Mead, “Between Care and Control: The Uses and Abuses of Humanitarianism in Contemporary Migration Debates” (2015)

Forrest Barnum, “Crossnational Divergence in Post-OPEC Embargo Energy Policy in Germany and the United States” (2012)

Margery Pazdor (Institute for European Studies), “Female Genital Mutilation in France and the UK: The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Policy Formation” (2009)

Lisa Stark, “Do Muslims Make the Difference? Explaining Within Country Variation on Mosque-Building Policies in Western Europe” (2007)