Arbeidsinnvandringsforskningens blindflekker – en metodologisk refleksjon

Abstract

This chapter is a methodological reflection on the construction of scientific objects in migration research. Drawing on literature that discusses different aspects of categorization and classification of social groups, and their implications, we analyze the construction of the phenomenon ‘labour migration from Eastern and Central Europe to Norway’. We reflect upon how categories such as ‘labour migration’ and ‘Eastern and Central Europe’ are defined and their implications for both the research practice and representation of the phenomenon. We highlight three aspects: 1) the nuances of the categories 2) the overlapping and diffusing boundaries between categories as used in general discourse vs. by the researchers, and 3) the problematics of methodological nationalism. We conclude that reflexivity is a precondition for a more comprehensive understanding of this increasingly complex phenomenon.