Beyond Methodological Nationalism

"This book brings together various theoretical stances and empirical research strategies from sociology, anthropology, and history that help overcoming the container model of nationally bounded societies. Focusing on border-crossing social fields established by migrants or cultural flows, the territorial localization and confinement of social processes at other levels than the nation-state, the interrelations and connections between historical developments across vast spaces, the chapters push our understanding of the nature of the social world in new directions."

- Andreas Wimmer, University of California Los Angeles

"The critique of methodological nationalism has been widely accepted by critical social scientists. Yet how does one actually do transborder or transnational research when data, policies and public perceptions are still caught up in national frameworks? This important book shows the way by analyzing emerging options for conceptualizing the social in an epoch of globalization. Even more importantly, the authors present their own varied experiences of operationalizing cross-border processes to allow new forms of empirical investigation. The work provides an essential guide to methodologies and methods for researchers of contemporary transformations."

- Stephen Castles, The University of Sydney

"An important next step in the theoretical journey toward thinking outside the nation-state box. The authors model innovative methodologies, suggest new epistemologies, and specify new spaces and units of analysis that will help move scholarship beyond methodogical nationalism."

- Peggy Levitt, author of God Needs No Passport

"Theoretical critiques of methodological nationalism have been in the air for some years now. This volume importantly grounds and advances the concept through thoughtful, empirically rich and multi-disciplinary studies. It is an essential text for anyone involved in cross-border studies."

- Steve Vertovec, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity