Switzerland and Migration ― Historical and Current Perspectives on a Changing Landscape

This book explores the history of migration in Switzerland from the late nineteenth century to the present day. It brings together recent scholarship on Switzerland in the field of cultural and migration studies, as well as migration history, and combines various research approaches from postcolonial studies, transnational studies, border studies, and history of knowledge. Since the late nineteenth century, Switzerland has gradually transformed into a migration society, becoming one of the countries in Europe with the highest percentage of migrant population. While migration has become one of most contentious issues in Swiss public and political debates, the volume also shows how migrants have developed various strategies to deal with the country’s discriminatory policies and distinct institutional settings. The authors of the volume convincingly challenge the view that Switzerland still does not represent a migration (or even post-migrant) society and substantially contributes to the long overdue acknowledgement of Switzerland in migration history and studies at the international level.

Barbara Luthi is Assistant Professor in the History Department, University of Cologne, Germany’. She was a Visiting Scholar at UC Santa Barbara, the University of Chicago, and at UC Davis. Together with Patricia Purtschert and Francesca Falk, she has co-edited the volume Postkoloniale Schweiz: Formen und Folgen eines Kolonialismus ohne Kolonien (2012, 2^nd edition 2013), and with William Walters a special issue on politics and mobility for the International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society.