James F. Hollifield, Professor, Director of the Tower Center at
Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas.
The emergence of a new research field or area of study in the social
sciences always is fraught with controversy, fits and starts, theoretical,
methodological, and even epistemological debates. Migration studies is no
different, but some things are relatively unique about this ‘new’ field of
study, while others are more conventional. Building on the 4th
edition of Migration Theory: Talking Across Disciplines,
edited by Caroline Brettell and James Hollifield, in this seminar Hollifield
explores what is unique and conventional about the field, how research
questions are framed, what are the key concepts and theories, and how can scholars
of migration ‘talk across disciplines?’