ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter opens the volume by taking issue with the widespread tendency of migration studies to conceive of migration as a project of ‘the other’. It is argued that failing to study the joys and challenges following migration as an experience that may be common to all humans produces a skewed understanding of integration. After briefly examining the integration concept’s both problematic and fruitful aspects, the chapter presents the proposal put forward in the book: the need to reclaim integration as an umbrella term for a variety of aspects of migrant life. By looking at an understudied phenomenon – the integration of European migrants into uncommon destinations – we thus introduce a book that aims to take a fresh look at integration processes without the risk of falling back on the most common biases that characterize much policy and academic work on integration into European countries.
