Feminist Debates in the Analysis of Non-Communitarian Migration in Spain

Abstract

Even if recent, the theoretical production on gender and transnational migrations is very abundant. To this extent, we can identify the creation of a new “field” of study dealing with “gender and migrations”. Based on the analysis of the scientific work developed in Spain since the nineties of the XX century, I hereafter put forward the different subjects and matters that researchers have been involved with. I will also identify the “conceptual tensions” (as called by Virginia Maquieira in 2008). Finally, I will share some reflections stemming from my commitment as a social anthropologist and as a professor. These thoughts will try to define a specific look, neither ethnocentric nor andro-centric, on the issue of gender and migrations. My approach acknowledges the unquestionable value of ethnography as a key feature to understand the processes of reproduction and social change in our multicultural societies.