It’s rare for a scientist to argue that we should pay less attention to their own field of study, yet migration expert Peter Scholten does exactly that. He says that the Netherlands’ intense focus on migration prevents us from discussing the deeper social and political issues underlying the migration and integration debate.
Immigration is one of the most important political issues in Europe right now, and in the Netherlands this is no different. Migration and integration have become the focus of social fears, political conflicts and media controversies. From the housing shortage to public safety concerns, migration is continuously linked to many of our country’s most significant social challenges. Why does the Netherlands repeatedly find itself under the spell of migration? And why do facts seem to matter so little in the discussion?
In his recent book De migratie-obsessie (The Migration Obsession), Peter Scholten analyzes the mechanisms behind our collective fixation. In this lecture he will discuss how factors such as language use, disputes over facts, globalization, confrontational politics and media logic reinforce one other, ultimately preventing a clear and honest debate about migration.
Prof. dr. Peter Scholten is a professor in the Governance of Migration and Diversity at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Leiden University. In addition he is the scientific director of the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus research centre on the Governance of Migration and Diversity. He has published extensively on how policy, politics and the media deal with migration, and his contributions regularly appear in the opinion sections of Dutch and international newspapers.
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