Conceptualizing migration and mobility in anthropology: An historical analysis (original) (raw)

How have mobile humans (migrants) and the migration process been defined in the past and what role has the discipline of anthropology in particular played, not only in contributing to conceptual definitions and classifications regarding mobile populations, but also in challenging them? This is the central question of this article that lays a foundation for those that follow in this special issue focused on advances in the analysis of migration and mobility. The article investigates this question through five snapshots across the twentieth century, exploring how immigrant/migrant populations were defined and constructed by anthropologists and how these constructions were and are situated within broader historical contexts. The article also interrogates the role of human mobility in the production of anthropology as a discipline, including its own move from a lens focused on tradition and fixedness to one focused on fluidity and transformation.