“Labor Migrants”, “High-Skilled Migrants”, “Students”, “Refugees”, “French Citizens”? Migrants’ Narratives and Experiences of Categorization in a Biographical and Historical Perspective

Abstract

This article explores categorizations of migration from a biographical and historical perspective. By comparing biographical narratives of migrants who arrived in France during two historical periods: in the 1960s-1970s (in the context of labor migration) and in the 2010s (in the context of student, high-skilled and refugee migration), it analyzes the impact of categorizations on migrants’ life courses as well as the subjective meaning migrants themselves attribute to these categories. The article shows that counter-intuitively, despite their differences, the presented case studies share a strong feeling of social downgrading linked to the interplay between sexism and racism.