The europeanization of immigration policy and the transformation of otherness

Abstract

The European Union is undergoing important transformations on both the normative and the identity level. The «Others» in Europe are no longer merely those who do not hold citizenship of one of the member states of the Union. In the new European immigration context, «Otherness» as defined on a legal basis —the foreigner— has been complemented by a culturally and an ethnically coloured definition. This paper analyses the construction of categories and identity classifications
underlying new forms of inclusion and exclusion that are to be found in the context of the emergence of Europe as a legal, political and cultural entity. It will focus more specifically on the formation of particular collective identities which are targets of stigmatization and derogation as a result of the process of «Europeanization» and the establishing of an «imagined European identity». In a context characterized by the increasing stress placed on the juridical dimension of social relations together with a rise in affirmative identities, this project attempts to analyse the processes of categorization and derogation of individuals and groups on the basis of «culture» or «ethnicity», and their consequences for both minority groups (mobilization, submission, retreat, etc.) and majority groups (the fight against discrimination, normative and cultural impositions, intercultural practices, etc.). An examination of the hypothesis according to which the definition of collective derogated identities —the «European outsiders»— is undergoing a transition from legal criteria (nationality) towards «cultural/ethnic» criteria («Blacks», «Roms», etc.) or even religious criteria («Muslims») is particularly important.