Master Class by Prof. François Héran: Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, Ukrainians How has Europe received them since 2010?

An alumnus of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, agrégé in philosophy, holder of a 3rd cycle thesis and a State thesis in anthropology, François Héran spent several years in Spain and Bolivia, before heading the demographic surveys and studies division of INSEE (1993-1998), then the Institut national d'études démographiques (1999-2009).

Since 2017, he has led the Convergences Migrations Institute coordinated by the CNRS, where some 650 researchers are affiliated.

The Migrations and Societies Chair

"According to the latest UN assessment, 244 million people were living abroad in 2015, including nearly 20 million refugees. Beyond its burning topicality, revealing major tensions in our societies, the issue of international migration must be approached through serious methods that take into account the diversity of migratory phenomena and the questions they raise. In this field, more than in any other, preconceived ideas circulate, sometimes impervious to the facts.

The Collège de France Assembly has therefore decided to create a Migrations and Societies Chair and entrust it to François Héran, Director of Research at INED, the French National Institute for Demographic Studies. "This creation not only recognizes the need to study these phenomena as scientifically as possible, but also highlights the interactions between migrations and societies: there are no societies without migrations, and migrations have a lasting impact on societies. My program does not pretend to settle all the questions about the place of immigration in society: it aims to raise them in a way that respects the facts", says François Héran.

With this Chair, François Héran tackles international migration in all its diversity: voluntary or forced migration, migration from South to North but also from South to South and from North to South, ordinary or extraordinary migration. He is also interested in the links between migration and society: migration policies, administrative treatments, citizen mobilizations, popular and scholarly categories, the relationship between migration and religion, arguments exchanged in public debate, the gap between perception and reality...

For more information, click here.

Source: Collège de France. Press release : The Collège de France creates a "Migrations and Societies" chair and entrusts it to François HERAN, Director of Research at INED, 2018, France : Paris.

The Master Class

The Master Class focused on the topic "Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, Ukrainians What reception in Europe since 2010? " and was held on Thursday, February 2, 2023 at the Inalco Foundation.

During his Master Class, François Héran begins by reminding us that the German Chancellor's decision to welcome several hundred thousand Syrian refugees was perceived by some in Europe as an "opening of the floodgates". This decision enabled 800,000 Syrians to find a home in Europe. On the part of the French presidency, the need to respond to each migratory crisis by "taking our share of the effort" is emphasized. But F. Héran asks: has France really taken its share in welcoming Syrian, Afghan and Ukrainian refugees?

In fact, France represents 15% of the population of the European Union. Yet, he adds, it has received only 3% of Syrian and 4% of Ukrainian asylum applications. So why did France attract so few refugees? In the event of conflict, people at least initially prefer to move to neighboring regions, as this makes it easier to repatriate them if the conflict improves. What's more, refugees, particularly Ukrainians, have turned to countries with a large Ukrainian diaspora, where community solidarity was quickly mobilized. The diasporas then took over responsibility from the states. In the end, as Prof. F.Héran observes, "we're a long way from having done our bit".

If you missed the event or simply want to listen to it again, you can now access its broadcast on You Tube and in podcast format on Spotify or Acast.

Yout Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fh52Zqddrg
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3rLnXAPap3ew8rCBuCXmkj
Acast: https://shows.acast.com/masterclasses-fondation-inalco