From the Margins of History to the Political Mainstream: Putting Migration History Centre Stage

Abstract

Historians of migration know that the global immigration debate is ahistorical; that it fails to sufficiently engage with immigration’s past and reflect on its varying forms. Their understanding therefore has the potential to offer a radically new perspective. The challenge is to bridge the gap between the contemporary global immigration debate and migration history. This involves putting migration history centre stage in two ways. First, within the discipline of history itself where the study of population movement has tended to be marginalised. Second, in the context of political debates by finding ways of enabling historical perspective to take its place in political fora.