Migration: An Interdisciplinary Natural?

Historians of migration have borrowed heavily from sociology and anthropology in their study of migration.  “Assimilation,” “ethnicity,” and “transnationalism,” for example, have defined the field for social scientists and have been imported for use by historians.  Yet transdisciplinary practices can be either un-reflexive borrowings or usages fraught with misunderstandings.  Most recently, historians have questioned the “newness” of transnationalism as theorized by some anthropologists and sociologists, but, more generally, the search for regularities by sociologists sometimes conflicts with the focus on change over time by historians.  To a certain extent the disciplines remain specific unto themselves, while at the same time exchanging concepts as well as methods.  Historians can usefully add to the dialogue by historicizing the very introduction of the concepts as well as the repeated calls for interdisciplinarity itself.