This public lecture is now available as: MP3 (please listen to the file below in three parts) and PDF (as a courtesy to the presenter, please contact her for permission to refer to her PowerPoint notes for the purpose of further research).
The US has traditionally had a common focus on pro-migrant trends and practices. American immigration policies are perceived as being more open than in Europe. The US as a ‘nation of immigrants’ is commonly contrasted with ‘Fortress Europe’ in terms of immigration policies and migrant integration. Since 9/11, the US has introduced new restrictive immigration measures. Suspicion towards immigrants has been fuelled by the criminalisation of ‘others’ – increasingly identified as potential terrorists. Political controversies have emerged around the issues such as bilinguism, ‘anchor babies’, and the construction of mosques. Are we witnessing the emergence of ‘Fortress America’? In this presentation, Professor Chebel d’Appollonia offers a comparative perspective on European and US immigration policies and argues that the securitisation of immigration in the aftermath of 9/11 has politicised the process in the US. Although the forces that drive the politics of immigration remain different in Europe and the US, there are signs of convergence in terms of policy proposals articulated largely for electoral purposes.
Associate Professor Ariane Chebel d’Appollonia’s research focuses on the politics of immigration and anti-discrimination in Europe and the US, racism and xenophobia, extreme-right wing movements, immigrant integration, and urban racism. She has taught at universities in both France and the US, and was EU-US Fulbright scholar in 2006. She co-edited two books with Simon Reich entitled Immigration, Integration and Security: America and Europe in Comparative Perspective (2008) and Managing Ethnic Diversity After 9/11: Internal Security and Civil Liberties in Transatlantic Perspective (2010). She published five books, including Les Frontières du Racisme (2011), and is currently working on a book entitled Frontiers of Fears: Immigration and Insecurity in the United States and Europe (Cornell University Press, forthcoming 2012).
To view the flyer for this event please see: Ethnic Politics, Border Controls and Migrant Integration
