Postcolonial Migrants and Identity Politics

These transfers of sovereignty resulted in extensive, unforeseen movements of citizens and subjects to their former countries. The phenomenon of postcolonial migration affected not only European nations, but also the United States, Japan and post-Soviet Russia. The political and societal reactions to the unexpected and often unwelcome migrants was significant to postcolonial migrants’ identity politics and how these influenced metropolitan debates about citizenship, national identity and colonial history. The contributors explore the historical background and contemporary significance of these migrations and discuss the ethnic and class composition and the patterns of integration of the migrant population.

Ulbe Bosma is Senior Researcher at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam.

Jan Lucassen is Senior Researcher at the International Institute of Social History and Professor at the Free University in Amsterdam.

Gert Oostindie is Director of the KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies in Leiden and Professor of Caribbean History at Leiden University.

Ulbe Bosma is Senior Researcher at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam.

“Together, the contributions to this collection offer an insightful and helpful overview of postcolonial migration within different national frameworks…Too often, migrants have been deemed a problem…[This volume] in comparison complicates contemporary discussions around migration and integration and points to several potential avenues for further research and contribution. It is therefore a timely addition to the rich literature on what happens when the empire, so to speak, comes home.” • Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History

“This is a stimulating book…The academic quality is very high, and the conceptual and methodological concerns are central to current debates concerning the second half of the twentieth century. The inclusion of a large geographic variety of cases is important and thought provoking.” • Nancy L. Green, L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris