Qualitative research in the field of (forced) migration is confronted with language diversity in conversations. The integration of interpreters within these conversations changes the setting profoundly. While methodological reflections on the relationship between researcher and (forced) migrant have already led to new research methods that are sensitive to the (re)production of power (im)balances, the role of interpreters in this process is still surprisingly underexposed. This article captures qualitative research with interpreters as parts of the ‘conversation triad’ and links this approach to postcolonial theories. Considering processes of Othering we attain a better understanding of the possible roles of each participant within the conversation and how background knowledge comes into play. These methodological reflections enable us to consider the (re-)production of power (im)balances in such a conversation setting. The authors describe the chances and challenges in conversations between interpreter, (forced) migrant and researcher and thus make the involvement of interpreters visible.

Concepts such as “belonging” (Yuval‐Davis, 2011) and “community of value” (Anderson, 2013) try to capture the multiple ways of classifying migrants. In this article, we argue that belonging needs to be analyzed against the backdrop of active social citizenship in European welfare states. Although the literature acknowledges the increasing links between migration and social policies, the latest “turn to activation” in social policy has hardly been accounted for. By focusing on two policy fields in Germany, the labor market and health policies, we briefly describe discourses and social right entitlements and their ambivalences. Empirically we show (a) how bureaucrats within the two policy fields regulate and justify refugees’ social rights in practice and (b) how refugees act vis‐à‐vis relevant institutional opportunity structures. Our study contributes to previous research twofold: Firstly, we illustrate processes of positioning and selecting refugees that stem from recent social policy architecture. Secondly, we demonstrate everyday experiences from refugees’ vis‐á‐vis relevant institutional opportunity structures in Germany. Our results show that inconsistencies within and between social policy fields of one welfare state have to be taken into consideration for further national and transnational research.

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Kulturen der Gesellschaft| Band 53 Merve Schmitz-Vardar (M.A.) promoviert an der Universität Duisburg-Essen zur politischen Kultur in Einwanderungsgesellschaften. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, (Kritische) Migrations-und Demokratieforschung, Intergruppenbeziehungen sowie Einstellungsforschung. Andrea Rumpel (Dipl.-Päd., Mag.) promoviert an der Universität Duisburg-Essen zu Gesundheitspolitik und Fluchtmigration. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Asyl-, Flucht-und Gesundheitspolitiken sowie Kritische Migrationsforschung. Alexandra Graevskaia (M.A.) promoviert an der Universität Duisburg-Essen zu interkultureller Öffnung in der Polizei. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Kritische Migrations-und Rassismusforschung sowie Diskurs-und Dispositivanalyse. Laura Dinnebier (M.A.) arbeitet an der Universität Duisburg-Essen zu gesellschaftlichen Konflikten und Dynamiken des Parteienwettbewerbs in der Migrations-und Integrationspolitik. Zu ihren Forschungsschwerpunkten zählt u.a. die