Doing Reflexive Migration Research in Cultural Institutions: Some Thoughts on Critical Knowledge Production

This contribution focuses on the possibilities and restrictions of studying change in cultural institutions from the perspective of migration research. To elaborate on the main argument of the chapter – that knowledge production is relational and situated – we draw on the reflexive turn in migration studies. This helps us to examine major societal institutions and the changes they are undergoing and thus to broaden the scope beyond the migrant subject. Furthermore, it enables us to develop a relational perspective on our positionality as researchers – of (not) becoming part of these researched institutions – and to focus on power relations within the institutions. By drawing on two cases in the German cities of Osnabrück and Dresden, we contrast a research setting that was easily accessible, flexible and open for change with one in which access meant overcoming a number of hurdles and being on the lower end of a hierarchical organisation that was partly resistant to a reflective researcher. From our ethnographic fieldwork in both case studies, we draw several conclusions. First, the initial contact with the institutions is very important; second, the local embeddedness and networks of the institution are of importance; and, third, the positionality of the researcher plays a major role in the outcome of the study. In so doing, the article argues for the embedding of reflexivity in the role of entanglement and positionality when generating knowledge on change and migration in cultural institutions.