Law School

Leo Lucassen on Integration of Post-War Immigrants in Western Europe

By University at Buffalo Law School

Welcome to UBLaw Conversations, a production of University at Buffalo Law School and the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy. Today is October 23, 2008, and I'm James Milles, Professor of Law and Director of the Law Library.

Our guest today is Professor Leo Lucassen. Professor Lucassen holds the chair of Social History at Leiden University and is attached to the Institute of Ethnic and Migration Studies (IMES) in Amsterdam. He is a former fellow of the New School for Social Research in New York and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS). He is a specialist in the migration history of Europe and has also worked extensively on gypsies and itinerant groups. His recent publications include: Migration; Migration History; History: Old Paradigms and New Perspectives (1997, 1999, and 2005) (ed. with Jan Lucassen); Gypsies and other Itinerant Groups. A Socio-Historical Approach (1998), The Immigrant Threat: The Integration of Old and New Migrants in Western Europe since 1850 (2005); Paths of Integration. Migrants in Western Europe (1880-2004) (2006) (ed. with J Oltmer & D Feldman); and the forthcoming Migration in Europe: An Encyclopedia (2009) (ed. with K Bade, P Emmer & J Oltmer). He is interviewed here by Professor David Gerber, of the University at Buffalo Department of History.

Abstract: This paper compares the propensity to intermarry of various migrant groups and their children who settled in Germany, France, England, Belgium, and the Netherlands in the post-war period, using a wide range of available statistical data. Professor Lucassen explains the different intermarriage patterns within the framework of Alba and Nee?s assimilation theory and pays special attention to the role of religion, colour and colonial background. He then compares colonial with non-colonial migrants and within these categories between groups with "European" (Christian/Jewish) and non-European (Islam, Hinduism) religions.

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Playing time: 32:48

UBLaw20081023.mp3

Full post as published by UBLaw on October 23, 2008 (boomark / email).