CRÉ’s former postdoctoral researcher Anna Milioni (U. of Athens) authored an article entitled “Methodological Nationalism and Hermeneutical Injustice”, published in the journal Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy.

Abstract

Even though human mobility has always been part of human history, most contemporary analyses portray it as an exceptional, and often problematic, phenomenon. Social scientists suggest that this view of mobility is the result of methodological nationalism, that is, of a tendency to assume that states are the most basic form of social organization. Recently, there have been calls for migration ethics to “break free” from methodological nationalism, focusing on normative questions that arise in several contexts of human mobility within and across states. However, it is not immediately clear why methodological nationalism is problematic, given the central role of states in the contemporary world. My paper identifies one such reason: I argue that methodological nationalism leads to hermeneutical injustices against members of social groups that do not conform to its dominant paradigm. I begin by briefly presenting the notion of hermeneutical injustice. I then focus on two social groups that are subject to hermeneutical injustices through methodological nationalism: mobile people (migrants or not) and Roma. I show that methodological nationalism prevents these groups from accessing the hermeneutical resources that would enable them to conceptualize and communicate their experiences, resulting in various types of hermeneutical injustices. I conclude with some remarks on moving beyond methodological nationalism.