Nancy Green discusses immigration and emigration

In an interview conducted by Laetitia Van Eeckhout, the American historian Nancy Green, director of studies at EHESS (School of Advanced Social Science Studies) considers that it is worthwhile "looking at how nations have defined themselves by their attitude towards those who leave them. Animated these days by big debates on immigration, Europe is forgetting that it was a land of massive emigration in the 19th century and right through to the middle of the 20th century. The massive phenomena of departure that it experienced then is not so different from the flux that is occurring today ... Yet the migratory phenomenon and the concept of nation are closely linked. Are those who emigrated still part of a nation ? Are they considered as traitors, or as ambassadors ? ... In general, there has always been a tension between laxity and anxiety on the part of states torn between a negative and a positive vision of emigration."

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