39 / 2014
Janja Žitnik Serafin

The Role of Emigrant/Immigrant Literature and Literary Science in Migration Research



ABSTRACT
The article discusses some key questions regarding the study of migrant literature in the context of migration research. In the introduction, the author outlines the history of the use of migrant literary productionas a source in Slovenian and international migration studies. Particular attention is paid to various polemics concerning the use of the term emigrant/immigrant literature and to major differences between disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to migrant literature. In the following sections, the article discusses some methodological challenges in this field, the achievements of Slovenian literary history in the framework of migration studies, the disproportion between the academic research into Slovenian emigrant literature compared to the literature of immigrants to Slovenia, and the question of the status of emigrant/immigrant literary production written in foreign languages.
KEY WORDS: emigrant/immigrant literature, migration studies, terminology, foreign-language literature, interdisciplinary approach