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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Scheffer, Paul, 1954-
Uniform title:	Land van aankomst. English.
Imprint:	Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA : Polity, c2011.
Description:	ix, 390 p. ; 24 cm.
Language:	English
Subject:	Emigration and immigration -- History -- 21st century. Immigrants -- History -- 21st century. Ethnic relations -- History -- 21st century. Immigrants -- Netherlands. Emigration and immigration. Ethnic relations. Immigrants. Netherlands -- Ethnic relations. Netherlands. History.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/8433965

Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:	Waters, Liz, trans.
ISBN:	9780745649610 (hbk.) 0745649610 (hbk.) 9780745649627 (pbk.) 0745649629 (pbk.)
Notes:	First published in Dutch as: Het Land van aankomst. Amsterdam : De Bezige Bij, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. [355]-376) and indexes.
Summary:	This book is a reassessment of how immigration is changing our world. The policies of multiculturalism that were implemented in the wake of postwar immigration have, after 9/11, come under intense scrutiny, and the continuing flow of populations has helped to ensure that immigration remains high on the social and political agenda. Based on his deep knowledge of the European and American experiences, the author shows how immigration entails the loss of familiar worlds, both for immigrants and for host societies, and how coming to terms with a new environment evolves from avoidance through conflict to accommodation. The conflict that accompanies all major migratory movements is not a failure of integration but part of a search for new ways to live together. It prompts an intensive process of self-examination. That is why immigration has such a profound existential impact: it goes to the heart of institutions like the welfare state and liberties like the freedom of expression. The author argues that our ability to cope with the challenges posed by immigration requires that we move beyond multiculturalism and find a new balance between openness and exclusion. Tolerance cannot be based on avoidance but should rest on the principle of reciprocity, which means that native populations cannot ask of newcomers any more than they themselves are prepared to contribute.
Standard no.:	40019601249

Review by Choice Review

Scheffer (urban studies, Univ. of Amsterdam) tackles problems resulting from immigration into Europe with a candid critique of antiforeign sentiments and the feelings of immigrant populations as well. Offering insights from varied academic disciplines, Scheffer compares immigration to Europe with the history of immigration to the US. The author's essayistic style is well suited to widely promoting the contention that immigrants can be integrated into European society after the cycle of avoidance, conflict, and accommodation has run its course only if both natives and newcomers agree that the primary obligation of citizenship is respect for the legitimate rights of all. Scheffer concludes, however, that reciprocal respect remains uncertain, for it requires fundamental changes such as an acknowledgement by host societies that mass immigration has permanently altered Western Europe and also mandates that immigrants recognize the rights of those who engage in lifestyles and religions not acceptable to the traditional cultures immigrants have brought with them to their new homelands. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. P. Lorenzini Saint Xavier University

Review by Choice Review

Immigrant nations /

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