Thesis Title:
Urban borderlands and minority nationalism: Understanding local approaches to migration in multinational states
Thesis Abstract:
In an era of rising anti-immigrant sentiment and strict border controls, cities are emerging as spaces where migration policy, regional identity, and national politics intersect.
This project looks specifically at cities located within regions with minority nationalist movements, investigating how they act as borderlands where migrants navigate intersecting layers of national, regional, and local policies. The arrival of immigrants and the growth of sub-state nationalist
movements actively challenge notions of the imagined national community, and it is therefore no surprise that the presence of minority nationalist movements impacts migration policy in these regions.
Focusing specifically on Barcelona and Glasgow, I will interrogate existing narratives that portray these cities as being sites of progressive and inclusionary migration policies, often in contrast with their respective national governments. For many migrants, this portrayal clashes with everyday realities of economic insecurity, barriers to employment and housing, and contested notions of identity and belonging. Drawing on concepts of everyday bordering and urban citizenship, the study investigates how migrants navigate localised systems of belonging and exclusion, and how they claim rights at the margins of national policy.
Through a relational comparative approach, I will use Barcelona and Glasgow as vantage points to understand how migration and minority nationalism are mutually constituted in urban spaces.
Primary Supervisor:
Dr Rachel Humphris