Intersectionality: How Gender Studies Might Inspire the Analysis of Social Inequality among Migrants

The paper discusses the possible impact of the intersectionality approach on the study of inequality and the inclusion/exclusion of migrants. Developed from recent strands of gender studies performing a social re-turn, the focus on intersectionality promises to solve one of the fundamental problems of migration research: how to reconcile structure and agency without promoting cultural essentialism. Rooted in social theory, it makes a case for non-finalised empirical and theoretical reconstructions of the social practice of migrants. In doing so, it also queries preconceived notions of community, ethnicity, and everyday culture that are abundant in migration studies. By linking the state-of-the-art of inequality studies with migration, promising starting points and conditions of a future integration of a focus on intersectionality into migration studies are considered. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.