First bargaining chips, now stocktaking: the plan to register EU citizens

EU citizens living in the UK will reportedly be asked to register in ‘a first step towards regularising’ their legal status post-Brexit. But the purpose of this move is unclear, writes Tanja Bueltmann. It comes after a year of uncertainty during which many EU citizens, concerned about their future in the UK, have decided to leave. And it offers no clarification on whether the rights they currently enjoy – such as pensions and access to the NHS – will continue after March 2019

Abused in the street, invited to a Brexit BBQ: the limbo of being German in the UK

An EU citizen is an EU citizen, writes Tanja Bueltmann, and the government has made it abundantly clear that we are all in limbo until a deal to secure our rights is negotiated with the EU – if such a deal can be done. Politicians have chosen not to oppose the wave of xenophobia sweeping across the country, but to indulge those Leave supporters who want to cherry-pick who stays and who goes

Identity, Belonging and Representation Post-Brexit among British Citizens in the EU/EEA and Switzerland : Survey Report

This report presents data and key findings from a survey of (former) British citizens resident in the EU/EEA/Switzerland. The survey was conducted between October and November 2022 and is part of a wider longitudinal study exploring Scottish migration to continental Europe in historical perspective; the study is funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The survey contained a mix of ‘tick box’ and free comment questions around five clusters of questions covering: (1) status; (2) identity; (3) belonging; (4) representation & community; and (5) standard demographic questions

"No colonists are more imbued with their national sympathies than Scotchmen”: the nation as an analytical tool in the study of migrant communities

For many Scots in New Zealand the Scottish nation was not just a political entity they left when they emigrated; it was also an identitarian construct comprized of a distinct culture. By focusing on those Scots who chose to actively maintain their national identity through associational culture, this article develops the idea of the ‘identitarian nation’ as a key analytical category for inquiry. In so doing the study moves beyond the romanticized, shortbread-tin facade frequently associated with Scottish identity. The identitarian nation was a usable reference point for the Scots. It was utilized to evoke the past, but also served strategically in the new environment as a tool of adjustment. Characterizations of Scottish expatriate identity that only emphasize emotions and nostalgia are misleading. Scottish national identity in New Zealand was characterized by a strong functional element. Many associations, especially Caledonian societies, transcended the national purpose they promoted at the outset. Associationalism was a mode of entry to a more or less exclusively defined collective in which other benefits could be cultivated, with the identitarian nation helping to overcome the potentially fracturing effects of setting up home in an alien world

‘The Image of Scotland which We Cherish in Our Hearts’: Burns Anniversary Celebrations in Colonial Otago

Scottish migrants fostered a range of cultural activities in the new worlds in which they settled, thereby identifying themselves as a distinct ethnic group. Celebrations of Scotland's national bard, Robert Burns, were the one recurring theme within all sites of settlement. The iconic figure of Burns is, in fact, central to the formulation, expression and commemoration of a Scottish cultural identity around the world. The present article explores the function of Burns celebrations in colonial Otago, the Scottish heartland of New Zealand. The celebrations were a key part of the Scots' associational culture in Otago, serving as an important social occasion within the Scottish community bounds and in wider Otago society. Moreover, the celebrations were effective sites of memory, employing familiar memory narratives and practices; these framed events and provided the initial common denominator that bound Scots and non-Scots together

Ethnizität und Organisierte Geselligkeit. Das Assoziationswesen deutscher Migranten in Neuseeland im mittleren und späten 19. Jahrhundert

The history of German migrants in New Zealand has only received little attention in historical scholarship, and the few studies that exist argue that the assimilation of German migrants was protracted. This article questions this traditional argument by exploring German associational culture. Ethnic associationalism among migrants helps to investigate the conditions for their assimilation or segregation, and promotes scrutiny of the continuity and discontinuity of ethnicity. The article documents that German associations, by offering coherent structures for organised sociability, were a response to an increasingly evolving colonial society, thus contributing an important new perspective on the experiences of non-British migrants in New Zealand. As sites of memory, German ethnic associations offered continuity with the past, while their interaction with wider colonial society facilitated assimilation. The associations’ activities, particularly as friendly societies, show that Germans were more integrated in New Zealand society than has previously been assumed. They used the same strategies as other migrants groups, ethnic associations could aid assimilation, and were quite successfully integrated in the matrix of New Zealand associational culture