Belonging in Unceded Territory 

(2020-2024) ($200,000)

This research collaboration of the Centre for Migration Studies, Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, Immigrant Services Society of BC and the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC is funded by a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant (#890-2019-0100).

For details, check out our project page.

Immigration Bureaucracies in an Era of Anti-Immigration Populism

(2021-2026) ($284,864)

This research collaboration with Mireille Paquet (Concordia University) is funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant (#435-2021-0316).

Objectives

The project examines how comparatively powerful bureaucracies in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom (UK) have navigated policymaking in contexts that have been marked by anti-immigration populism since the early 2000s. In particular, this comparative study will document and compare how bureaucratic organizations responsible for immigration define and respond to the legitimacy challenges stemming from anti-immigration populism. The project pursues three objectives:

1) provide an analytical account of how anti-immigration populism has impacted bureaucratic organizations responsible for immigration in Canada, Australia, and the UK since 2000

2) contribute to theories of immigration policymaking by developing a richer understanding of the work of immigration bureaucracies

3) develop new insights into how bureaucracies can respond to the challenges associated with populism in countries with Westminster systems where the executive dominates policymaking.

Context

Over the past two decades, populism has swept across the Global North, questioning the legitimacy of policymaking by established elites and framing immigrants as a threat to national identity and economic welfare. This project explores the impact of anti-immigration populism on bureaucratic organizations. The rise of anti-immigration populism challenges the legitimacy of bureaucracies responsible for immigration. It disturbs traditional immigration policymaking, the agreed upon goals of national immigration programs, and official state discourse on immigration. Yet, while much has been written on the impact of populism on parties and elected officials, its impact on bureaucratic organizations, and immigration bureaucracies more specifically, remains poorly understood. Indeed, the rich body of research on anti-immigration populism has thus far neglected to explore how bureaucratic organizations have navigated this changing policymaking context.

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

Cindy Robin, Claudia Serrano, Ibukun Kayode, Salta Zhumatova

CURRENT SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Lisa Brunner, Postdoctoral Fellow

Sandra Schinnerl, Postdoctoral Fellow

PhD Supervisor

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”

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

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”

Nick Phin, “Cause or Effect? How Far-Right Messaging Influences Voter Attitudes”

Paolo Sosa-Villagarcia, “Why Does the Radical Right Become Mainstream? Peru in Comparative Perspective”

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

MA Supervisor

Thelma Muñoz Barajas

Sofia Ngieng, “Locating Indigeneity in Migration Studies”

COMPLETED SUPERVISIONS

Postdoctoral Supervisor

Kelsey Norman, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow

Jonathan Hall, Assistant Professor, University of Uppsala

PhD Supervisor

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

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)

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

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)