Uprootedness as the Other Side of Integration: Reframing Contemporary Migration Studies

Abstract

The paradigm of integration-assimilation has dominated the social studies of migration, ethnicity, race, and inequality for a century since Park and Burgess’s pioneer work. This paradigm has been criticized, but it has not been supplanted; in fact, it has reappeared in the last few decades as a transnationalism perspective. In this article, we explore the other side of integration—uprootedness—to reframe contemporary migration studies. We discuss its impact throughout the migration process: from displacement at the place of origin to settling limitations at the place of destination. We argue that uprootedness produces different manifestations of alienation in the lives of migrants, a problem compounded by the lack of recognition of migrants at the place of destination.