1st Edition
Young Migrant Narratives Ontological Security, Identity, and Belonging in Scotland
1. Scotland, Migration Politics, and National Narratives in Context. 2. Ontological Security Theory, Minority Actors, and Research Design. 3. Young Migrant Identities, Agency, and Ontological (In)Security in Scotland. 4. Everyday Insecurity, Racism, and the Politics of Belonging. 5. Coping Strategies, Narrative Repair, and Ontological Security. 6. Narrative, Ontological Security, and Conclusions on Belonging and Migration.
Biography
Dr Marcus Nicolson is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for Minority Rights, Eurac Research, Bolzano, Italy. His research sits at the intersection of political sociology, migration studies, identity studies, narrative analysis, minority rights, and border studies. He has published in leading international journals, including International Migration (2022), Comparative Migration Studies (2023), Social Inclusion (2023), Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power (2024), Journal of Contemporary European Studies (2025), and European Planning Studies (2026).
This poignant and powerful book contributes to ontological security and migration studies by examining the overlooked voices of young migrants in Scotland. Nicolson’s ground-level approach and innovative methods creatively disclose how ontological security is a tenuous combination of negotiation, struggle, coping, and, ultimately, the expression of agency. This work is a scholarly achievement, but also a civic and neighborly invitation, to listen to the stories of those in our communities who struggle to become part of them.
Brent Steele, University Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Utah
This book offers a highly original approach to understanding the relationship between macro-level political narratives and the everyday experiences of young adult migrants in Scotland. By showing how young adult migrants constantly negotiate their identities both in the face of everyday racism and ontological insecurity, and in relation to macro-narratives of inclusion, the book delivers an important challenge to the narrative of Scottish distinctiveness. Through its theoretical engagement with ontological security studies and its innovative methodological focus on creative arts visual data, the book provides a very timely and important contribution to the wider literature on migration, identity, and security.
Catarina Kinnvall, Professor of Political Science, Lund University
