Migration, Citizenship, Ethnos

by Y. Michal Bodemann (Editor), G. Yurdakul (Editor)

This collection of essays addresses three interrelated the basic issues in contemporary German and European Migration since 1945 with particular focus on new developments in the 80s; the ways in which the citizenship debate has proceeded and how immigration and citizenship have been handled in Western Europe.

264 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 2006

About the author

Y. Michal Bodemann was professor emeritus, University of Toronto, sociologist, best known for his work on German Jewry, the concept of ideological labor and "memory theater" (1991) and his contributions to sociological praxis, interventive field work, in particular, his interventive observation method in qualitative field work. In the approach to interventive observation, Bodemann advocated the reciprocal nature of researcher and the people in a setting, as active participation, against the notion of the passive or neutral role of the observer. Bodemann's theoretical foundation continue to be influential against positivist notions of objectivity, which still persist in the field of sociology and in the approach to qualitative methods. His methodological approach is close to that of Michael Burawoy and notions of public sociology. Bodemann is best known for his contributions to Jewish studies, and Holocaust memory, and his concept of "ideological labour": where especially ethnic minorities are cast as representing values contrasting those of the larger society. He authored and edited numerous books, newspaper and academic articles, spanning the entirety of his academic career, in English, German and Italian.