Beyond Methodological Nationalism

This volume strives to establish a new agenda for methodologies in the social sciences, summarizing the most important research strategies developed in the social sciences since the early globalization and transnationalization studies of the 1980s and 1990s - namely, the cosmopolitican approach, the transnational lens, the scalar approach, and global and multi-sited ethnography. The contributions go beyond the early criticisms of methodological nationalism, providing insights into new strategies and illustrating how scholars apply these research strategies in different fields such as migration research and social anthropology. Analyzing the advantages and lacunae of new research strategies helps both to outline general methodological directions and to provide helpful guides for empirical analysis.

Auteur

Anna Amelina is a researcher at the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University.

Devrimsel D. Nergiz is a Doctoral Fellow at Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS).

Thomas Faist is Professor of Transnational Relations and Sociology of Development at the Department of Sociology, Bielefeld University.

Nina Glick Schiller is the Director of the Cosmopolitan Cultures Institute and Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester.

Résumé
Cross-border studies have become attractive for a number of fields, including international migration, studies of material and cultural globalization, and history. While cross-border studies have expanded, the critique on nation-centered research lens has also grown. This book revisits drawbacks of methodological nationalism in theory and methodological strategies. It summarizes research methodologies of the current studies on transnationalization and globalization, such as multi-scalar and transnational approaches, global and multi-sited ethnography, as well as the entangled history approach and the incorporating comparison approach. This collected volume goes beyond rhetorical criticism on methodological nationalism, which is mainly associated with the ignorance and naturalization of national categories. It proffers insights for the systematic implementation of novel research strategies within empirical studies deployed by young and senior scholars. The novelty lies in an interdisciplinary lens ranging from sociology, social anthropology and history.

Contenu

1. Methodological Predicaments of Cross-Border Studies Anna Amelina, Thomas Faist, Nina Glick Schiller and Devrimsel D. Nergiz Part I: Researching International Migration after Redefining Spatiality and Mobility
   2. Transnationality, Migrants and Cities: A Comparative Approach Nina Glick Schiller
      3. Transnational Migration and the Reformulation of Analytical Categories: Unpacking Latin American Refugee Dynamics in Toronto Luin Goldring and Patricia Landolt
         4. Overcoming Methodological Nationalism in Migration Research: Cases and Contexts in Multi-Level Comparisons Anja Weiß and Arnd-Michael Nohl Part II: Material, Culture and Ethnicity: Overcoming Pitfalls in Researching Globalization
            5. Global Ethnography 2.0: From Methodological Nationalism to Methodological Materialism Zsuzsa Gille
               6. Uncomfortable Antinomies: Going Beyond Methodological Nationalism in Social and Cultural Anthropology David Gellner
                  7. Approaching Indigenous Activism from the Ground Up: Experiences from Bangladesh Eva Gerharz Part III: Juxtapositions of Historiography after the Hegemony of the National
                     8. The Global, the Transnational, and the Subaltern: The Limits of History Beyond the National Paradigm Angelika Epple
                        9. Incorporating Comparisons in the Rift: Making Use of Cross-Place Events and Histories in Moments of World Historical Change Sandra Curtis Comstock
                           10. Interrogating Critiques of Methodological Nationalism: Propositions for New Methodologies Radhika Mongia Part IV: Conclusions
                               11. Transnational Social Spaces: Between Methodological Nationalism and Cosmo-Globalism Ludger Pries and Martin Seeliger
                                   12. Concluding Remarks: Reconsidering Contexts and Units of Analysis Thomas Faist and Devrimsel D. Nergiz