The winners of the 2024 Maria Ioannis Baganha Dissertation Award are Dr. Iva Dodevska and Dr. Uzair Ahmed. Dr. Dodevska’s dissertation entitled “Europe and its Others: Migrant Integration in Research and Policy”, was defended at Charles University, Prague and Université Paul-Valéry, Montpellier (Joint degree), in September 2023. Dr. Ahmed’s, entitled “Muslims and Political Violence: A sociological study of meaning-making among radicalized and non-radicalized Muslim men in Norway”, was defended at the University of Oslo, in March 2023.
Dr. Dodevska’s dissertation examines the role of scientific research, EU policy and research-policy infrastructures in shaping the ‘immigrant integration’ paradigm in Europe. Iva Dodevska’s main argument is that the politics of integration research and the scientific claims in ‘evidence-based’ policy intersect to produce migrant integration as the hegemonic paradigm in governing migration-related diversity in Europe. The author illustrates her point with an extensive analysis of academic research on integration (journal articles and books), of EU documents published in the last few decades (an impressive analytical overview never seen before), and of various forms of research-policy collaboration at the European level. Before proceeding to this analysis Iva presents a critical discussion of the concept of integration and how it is being used in policymaking and research. This, of course, has been done before, but usually at a national level or on a comparative basis, and seldom at the EU-level. This may be understandable since the EU has only very limited formal competencies in the field of migrant integration. Nevertheless, the study reveals – in the footsteps of Foucault – the underlying power relations that have made the EU into a key player in this area. The dissertation is clearly structured and well written, rich in theory, but also highly relevant for policymakers since it clearly shows the limitations of the assumptions on which mainstream integration and diversity policies are based.
Dr. Ahmed’s dissertation elucidates how Muslim men in Norway make meaning about why they adapt, maintain and reject political violence. Uzair Ahmed has used a qualitative approach, consisting of a triangulation of participant observation and in-depth semi-structured interviews with imprisoned and non-imprisoned Muslims, both radicalised and non-radicalised. This approach is quite rare in terrorism studies, many of which focus on convicted individuals only. The use of theories from cultural sociology – namely on meaning-making and on symbolic boundaries – opens new opportunities for understanding the motives and the process of radicalization into political violence, and thus also fosters the development of adequate forms of prevention and intervention. The thesis basically is a compilation of three papers, of which the jury found the third one of particular interest. Here the author reflects on his own role and introduces the concept of racialization. He realises that, given his Muslim background, he may be subject to the same forms of racialisation as his research subjects. At the same time, he must maintain a scientific distance from the people he examines. This leads to an expansion of his methodological apparatus that looks very promising for future researchers in similar positions.