What makes an expert? Doing migration research in Denmark

What makes a migration expert? Taking Bourdieu’s understanding of the academic field as its point of departure, this article outlines the field of migration research in Denmark. Migration and integration are heavily politicised topics in Denmark as in many other countries. The migration field has also been influenced by this politicisation. The migration research field is an open field which means that academic knowledge producers are not the only actors within this field. Neither are they necessarily the ones recognised the most. The article outlines different types of experts which in different ways signal a change of hierarchies within the field. Not the only one but the dominating ones. The last years we have seen a research field characterised by different academic positions but also an expansion of the field with an increased importance given to boundary organisations. The article discusses what the implications for doing migration research might be.