The six local studies in this volume were part of a summer institute at Europa Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) in July 2003 which, under the umbrella of the TIRES project (Transnationalism, International migration, Race, Ethnocentrism, and the State), brought together students and teachers from eight participating universities.TIRES is a transatlantic consortium, funded by the European Commission in Bruxelles and the Department of Education in Washington, DC, and consisting of a network of researchers and institutions from, in the United States, Florida International University in Miami (the US lead university), New York University, the University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and, in Europe, Europa-Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) (the EU lead university), Sciences Po Paris, the University of Amsterdam, and the University of Liège.