Migration research in German-speaking folklore studies / cultural anthropology began after World War II with the exploration of the situation of German expellees and refugees, whereby the focus was on traditional topics such as narratives, songs, rituals, costumes and other material things. However, with the study “New settlements” by Bausinger, Braun and Schwedt in 1959, a new orientation towards cultural and social change of the present became apparent. This initiated a discussion on categories of belonging, which was now one of the core topics of the subject: The dissolution and flexibilisation of allegedly rigid structures through mobility - the mobility of people, goods, ideas, finance and media - and the flexibilisation of related concepts such as “society”, “culture” and “identity.”
But at first these new perspectives were still little recognized. From the exploration of the contact of Germans abroad with other cultures developed the application-oriented intercultural communication, which tried to determine central values and norms, concepts and worldviews, and standards and patterns of a certain ethnic or national group and to use them for the intercultural dialogue.
Migration research was given a major boost with the immigration of foreign workers into German-speaking countries, which had been growing rapidly since the 1960s. Arnold Niederer, Rudolf Braun and Ina-Maria Greverus became pioneers of research on cultural contact and conflict. Many of the publications of this period focused on the ethnically defined origins of the migrants and addressed the difficulties of adaptation.
From the 1980s onward, globally discussed theories followed, first the idea of a multicultural society, then approaches that were oriented towards the transnational connections of individuals and groups. Against this background, cultural anthropology has dealt more and more with concepts that emphasize the process, the transition, the gradual, the intertwining.
Recently, research has been developing in various directions: border studies are critically observing the “governmentalization” of migration policy which seeks to control and prevent immigration movements. In the opposite direction, emigration from the rich German-speaking countries has become an important topic. In addition, there are many links with other fields of research, such as city, media, work and gender.
Migration is no longer understood as an exceptional situation of a normally sedentary society, but as a normal case in a mobile and transnational world. Its research concerns all areas of society. There is a visible shift towards the opportunities and potential of migration, and to a perspective that no longer distinguishes between migrant and sedentary people but seeks an overall view of a society determined by multiple forms of mobility.
Migration research contributes significantly to rethinking social and cultural theories and to emphasizing the agency of those affected as well as the processuality of cultural settings.
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