Publication
Title
The possible role and position of social work as part of the arrival infrastructure
Author
Abstract
In order to de-nationalise, de-‘ethnicise’ and de-‘migranticise’ migration studies, scholars are increasingly turning to space as a conceptual and empirical entry-point. Inspired upon the notion of the urban ‘transition zone’, initially coined by Chicago School urban sociologists in the 1930s, recent research re-focuses on the role of particular urban neighbourhoods as places of ‘arrival’ and ‘gateways’ that stimulate the social and spatial mobility of newcomers. In this paper we develop a friendly critique on the teleological and normative underpinnings of the notion of ‘arrival neighbourhood’ and propose the concept of ‘arrival infrastructures’ as an alternative. Arrival infrastructures are those parts of the broader urban fabric in which newcomers become entangled on arrival and where their future local or translocal social becomings are produced as much as negotiated. Starting from such an approach, we explore the possible role and position of social work as part of the arrival infrastructure. We argue that the concept of arrival infrastructures allows social workers to capture the broad range of actors involved in ‘arriving’ and to discuss their own position and role. Moreover, it demonstrates how arrival is always a provisional state of being, during which local or translocal futures are in preparation.
Language
English
Source (journal)
European journal of social work. - Oxford
Publication
Abingdon : Routledge journals, taylor & francis ltd , 2019
ISSN
1369-1457 [print]
1468-2664 [online]
DOI
10.1080/13691457.2019.1688257
Volume/pages
23 :3 (2020) , p. 414-424
ISI
000497007900001
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
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UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 19.11.2019
Last edited 02.10.2024
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