EU Citizens, Migration, and National Social Space

This paper addresses ways to both conceptualize and conduct ethnographic research among mobile European citizens.  The mobility of those whom Recchi (2015) calls “European movers” within a supranational European Union differs from other forms of international migration. It also presents dilemmas for qualitative research methods that entail participant observation and therefore do not depend solely on interviews with migrants.  How to best investigate the wider milieus that shape their sense of affiliation and belonging?  Although critiques of methodological nationalism have been aptly applied in much migration research via a transnational or cross-border (Amelina et al. 2012) lens, the persistent intervention of nationalism in the lives of European citizens entails a serious consideration of the ongoing role of the nation in their emplacements and mobilities.  This paper draws upon Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of social space to consider its application in studies of European migration as a way to examine national social space and its extension across territorial boundaries in the EU.  Some examples from fieldwork among French migrants in London will be offered to illustrate methodological dilemmas and possible solutions for understanding migration and national social space.