Boundary work: investigating the expert role of Danish migration researchers

ABSTRACT

Theoretically, this article investigates the politicisation of migration research in relation to boundary work between different spheres of the Danish public debate about migration, including research, media and politics. Empirically, the article analyses the roles that Danish migration researchers have played in such debates over the last two decades. Besides, the article presents and analyses results from a survey among migration researchers employed in four of Denmark’s six universities. The survey showed that while the majority of respondents did not feel unsafe participating in the public debate about migration, more than two out of five did. Jeopardising one’s professional reputation appeared to be a major concern. The article ends with a discussion of the survey results in relation to academic boundary work and presents suggestions for the road ahead, both for individual researchers and academic institutions.

KEYWORDS:

• Migration research
• academic freedom
• expert role
• boundary work
• threats against researchers
• Denmark

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Numbers are based on a search in the Danish media database Infomedia.

2. All translations from Danish to English in this article are mine.

3. I served as president of the association in that period.

4. The special issue can be read in full here: http://islamforskning.dk/tidsskrift/arkiv/2008-2/.

5. Rikke Andreassen, professor in communication at Roskilde University, was one of the other researchers who was particularly criticised in Necef and Bech’s book.