Socialising with Diversity

"Meissner's book makes a signifi cant contribution to the growing fi eld of superdiversity studies. With her emphasis on small migrant groups and focus beyond ethno-national categories she brings a fresh perspective to the understanding of migrants' networks and new ideas about research design. The book will interest students and academics from a range of disciplines." (Professor Jenny Phillimore, Director of the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS), University of Birmingham, UK) "In this book Fran Meissner succeeds in making the small big. Using a sophisticated understanding of the interplay between migration and socio-cultural diversifi cation, and focusing on the experiences and social networks of Pacifi c Islanders in two world cities, she challenges static models of society and brings to life the complexities of living in superdiverse environments through a combination of a lucid text and compelling visualisations of data." (Professor Dan Hiebert, Department of Geography, University of Birtish Columbia, Canada) "Here is a book that addresses the crucial role of complex social and migration-related diversities for a fruitful analysis of interacting, socialising and networking. Meissner shows, in a scholarly fashion, how multidimensional homophily intersect rather than consolidate - even for a relative small immigrant group." (PD Soren Petermann, Head of the staff division of Knowledge Transfer, GESIS, Cologne, Germany) "In this book Fran Meissner succeeds in making the small big. Using a sophisticated understanding of the interplay between migration and socio-cultural diversification, and focusing on the experiences and social networks of Pacific Islanders in two world cities, she challenges static models of society and brings to life the complexities of living in superdiverse environments through a combination of a lucid text and compelling visualisations of data." (Dan Hiebert, University of British Columbia, Canada)

This book analyses post-migration social networks via the notion of superdiversity. Using cluster analytic pattern detection to explore alternative ways of describing migrant networks, she brings into play multifaceted descriptions such as city-cohort, long-term resident, superdiverse and migrant-peer networks.This book analyses post-migration social networks via the notion of superdiversity. Approaching diversity as relational and complexly configured through multiple migration-related differentiations, it challenges us to rethink how we talk about and classify migrant networks. Based on research in two cities of migration -  London and Toronto -  the author investigates how we can use a superdiversity lens to discuss migrant networks in urban contexts. Focusing on the personal networks of Pacific Islanders and New Zealand Māori, she sheds light on the sociality practices of relatively small groups of migrants, the members of which are nonetheless differentiated in terms of superdiversity. Using cluster analytic pattern detection to explore alternative ways of describing migrant networks, she brings into play multifaceted descriptions such as city-cohort, long-term resident, superdiverse and migrant-peer networks. Visualising complex patterns of diversity, thisbook therefore contributes to theoretical debates by proposing a relational understanding of diversity rather than one based on the enumeration of (ethnic) categories. This book will appeal to sociologists, political scientists and all scholars interested in urban diversity, migration and diasporas.