Fern von Afrika. Die nordafrikanischen "Gastarbeiter" im franzosischen Industrierevier von Longwy (1945-1990). By Sarah V. Losego (Koln, Weimar, Wien: Bohlau Verlag, 2009. 576 pp. 72,90)

Abstract

This publication by Sarah V. Losego is representative of the trend in historiography that focuses on the long tradition of migration between Europe and other continents. However, the author presents an innovative approach to writing about the migration history of the 20th century. She does not treat the migration process only as a phenomenon of “otherness”—i.e., as a confrontation of the immigrant's “own” world with that of “the other” but rather as a process that influences whole social spheres and functional systems (historical, political and socio-economic), in both the sending and receiving countries, including migrants' strategies and their efforts to adapt. In analyzing the origins and dynamics of North African immigration both individual and familial, Losego embarks on an ambitious project that focuses on three central aspects: 1) the naturalization process—which encompasses the semantics and practices that include and exclude migrants; 2) social assistance for Maghrebian migrants which looks at the individual and group strategies of migrants; and 3) the social and collective memories of migrants and their placement in regional and national memory cultures—which use system-theoretical descriptive categories, micro history and gender study approaches. This structure mirrors the division of the book into three chapters.