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THEMIS: Beyond migrant lives: The rise and fall of meso-level actors

Series
International Migration Institute
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Joana Sousa Ribeiro presents his paper 'Beyond migrant lives: the rise and fall of meso-level actors' in Parallel session VI(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013
This paper examines the migration from East European countries to Portugal as a particular pattern of the named `southern European model´ (Baldin-Edwards, 1999; King, 2000). It discusses this sub-system through the analysis of the emergence, development and decline of migratory dynamics.

Biographic interviews to physicians and nurses coming from Russia Federation, Moldova and Ukraine to Portugal are explored in order to sustain the debate. These non-EU citizens arrived in Portugal without their credentials recognised before they left their country of origin; as a consequence, they do not benefit from any professional, organizational, or supra-national framework.

The analysis of the East European doctors and nurses’ pioneer paths into the Portuguese Health Service underlines the importance of multi-level actors: either as service providers (e.g. of language courses, of training programs), as bridge-builders of social capital, as mentors for newcomers or as gatekeepers.

The biographic approach of this study allows perceiving the role of the initial movers on the sustainability of the flows. Moreover, it contributes to emphasize the range of mechanisms that is on inter-play over time, namely, the ones resulted from the interactions with state institutions, employers, educational establishments, professional associations, NGO´s, Foundations, migrants fellows.

This paper argues for the need to overcome the structure/agency divide on the (re)valuation of the migratory dynamics.
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Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
International Migration Institute
People
Joana Sousa Ribeiro
Keywords
THEMIS
migration
biographic methods
migration process
migration system
structure and agency
Department: Oxford Department of International Development
Date Added: 24/02/2014
Duration: 00:10:07

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THEMIS: Accounting for diversity in Polish migration in Europe: motivation and early integration

Series
International Migration Institute
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Lucinda Platt presents her paper 'Accounting for diversity in Polish migration in Europe' co-authored by Renee Luthra & Justyna Salamonska in Parallel session VI(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013
Research on the decision to migrate overwhelmingly draws from neo-classical and revised economic models of international flows, in which individuals and their families choose migration strategies to maximize and diversify their incomes (Borjas, 1989)and reduce their exposure to financial risks (Taylor, 1999, Stark and Bloom, 1985). Yet these models do little to explain the large amount of remaining variation in the type and size of migration flows across receiving countries after the costs and benefits of migration are accounted for. We also know relatively little about how non-economic determinants of migration impact the integration process of new immigrants in the destination country.

This paper examines cross-national variation in the non-economic motivations and early integration of Polish immigrants to four Western Europe destinations: the UK, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands. We rely on a unique new data set that contains standardized measures of pre-migration and post-migration characteristics among recent Polish migrants in all four countries, enhancing comparability and sample size and reducing return-migration selection bias. Focusing only on Poles allows us to control for many economic confounders in the relationship between non-economic migration determinants and social and economic integration, because the legal and financial costs of migration from Poland to Western Europe, as well as the potential wage returns, are fairly uniform across destination countries. Despite this seeming interchangeability, we show considerable variation in the size and socioeconomic characteristics of Polish migration flows to these four countries. We link this variation to differences in the migration motives, pre-migration social networks, and settlement intentions. Furthermore, we show that these non-economic variables exert a significant impact on early socioeconomic integration in the destination countries, influencing the likelihood of unemployment as well as occupational status and subjective life satisfaction of Polish immigrants within the first 18 months after arrival.
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Episode Information

Series
International Migration Institute
People
Lucinda Platt
Keywords
THEMIS
migration
poland
integration
Department: Oxford Department of International Development
Date Added: 24/02/2014
Duration: 00:22:39

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THEMIS: The ‘Neogramscian approach’: using 'Critical Theories' to explain migration systems

Series
International Migration Institute
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Robert Westermann presents his paper 'The ‘Neogramscian approach’: using 'Critical Theories' to explain migration systems' in Parallel session V(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013
Until now World System approaches, also known as Critical Theories, are mainly applied in International Relation research. In the following I will illustrate on one example, the Neogramscian approach of Robert Cox, how global correlations of social forces, forms of state and global orders profoundly affect International Migration processes and should be considered by theoretical debates in Migration Studies. Furthermore, I will show how the specific perspective of social transformation in combination with the awareness of local rescaling processes can be a promising extension for the research of Migration Systems.
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Episode Information

Series
International Migration Institute
People
Robert Westermann
Keywords
THEMIS
migration
critical theory
Department: Oxford Department of International Development
Date Added: 24/02/2014
Duration: 00:19:42

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THEMIS: ‘Now smells like revolution': migrants' activism, subjectivities, and agency in contemporary London

Series
International Migration Institute
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Gabriela Quevedo presents her paper '‘Now smells like revolution': migrants' activism, subjectivities, and agency in contemporary London' in Parallel session V(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013
Over the last sixty years London has transformed itself into a service based city where global economic forces have developed an expanding low-paid economy that relies heavily on migrant labour (Sassen, 1991; quoted in Evans et al., 2005). These historic and social processes have been the fertile ground of new forms of political, social and cultural mobilisation often led by migrants. It is within this setting that my doctoral research seeks to illuminate empirically the links between migrant's activism -as it comes into being- and the question of agency and social change.

Using ethnographic data from my engagement with the 3cosas campaign at the University of London, I argue that the epistemological premises of feminism, and in particular the notions of subjectivity and reflexivity can be instrumental to develop a deeper understanding of how migrants in London have become authentic pioneers in the resurgence of radicalised and somewhat unconventional forms of union activism (Seidman, 2011).

I take a ‘carnal' approach to ethnography (Wacquant, 2005) that is grounded in my personal engagement as an activist in the left wing London scene for more than three years. Departing from Bourdieu's concept of ‘habitus' as methodological focus (Bourdieu, 1990), together with Touraine's theory of ‘the subject' (Touraine, 1995), this paper hopes to provide some insights into the question of how activism ‘occurs', and the entangled articulations between the migrants' sense of self in relation to their current positions (material and symbolic), and the marks of their unique histories. This approach moves on from mono-causal understandings of collective action and seeks to expand the traditional remit of current anthropological research by adopting a dialogic, bottom up methodology to explain migrants' mobilisation (Pèro and Solomos, 2010).
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Episode Information

Series
International Migration Institute
People
Gabriela Quevedo
Keywords
THEMIS
migration activism
london
Department: Oxford Department of International Development
Date Added: 24/02/2014
Duration: 00:23:21

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THEMIS: Dis-locating the local: A study of the migrants originating from the Indian enclaves

Series
International Migration Institute
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Sanghita Datta presents her paper 'Dis-locating the local: A study of the migrants originating from the Indian enclaves' in Parallel session V(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013
Borders divide nations and with it, it also divides localities irrespective of class and religion. The partition of India happened in two folds:- firstly with Pakistan and secondly with Bangladesh. In this entire process of drawing and re- drawing of borders the residue, in this entire process, are the inhabitants of borders. This has been a similar experience in case of all those who have been uprooted due to war and have been displaced internally due to various reasons. The Radcliffe Commission's ‘Blunder Line', demarcated the boundary line between India and Pakistan-East and West Pakistan separately. It gave rise to a number of boundary disputes about the adversarial possession of enclaves. The major bone of contention are the 106 enclaves (locally known as ‘chits') of India in having a total area of 20,957.07 acres situated within Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan).

This paper is an attempt to find answers to the big question of how and what motivated the inhabitants of the Enclave region to migrate and how the actual migration cycle took place. Based on unstructured interviews and mixed sampling techniques it traces the experiences of these migrants and there four decades of struggle to stay in India, mostly without legal citizenship in the two bordering districts of West Bengal:- Darjeeling and Coochbehar. Set on the backdrop of partition, the experience of travelling back to the mainland as a complete "alien" makes the journey different and the settling process sets them apart from the rest of the migration taking place in the country.
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Episode Information

Series
International Migration Institute
People
Sanghita Datta
Keywords
THEMIS
migration
india
Department: Oxford Department of International Development
Date Added: 24/02/2014
Duration: 00:18:52

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THEMIS: Migrant networks and the migration process

Series
International Migration Institute
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Alexandra Winkels presents her paper 'Migrant networks and the migration process: considering the spatial and temporal dimensions of social capital' in Parallel session V(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sep 13
This paper investigates the different functions of migrant networks at different stages of the migration process. Migration processes are conceptually divided into three stages (a) decision making (b) transition and (c) adaptation. Looking at migration as a spatial as well as a temporal process allows us to consider the role of social capital in managing the risks and opportunities of mobility, and to gain a deeper understanding of migrant agency. Based on a case study of internal migration in Vietnam the research shows that migrants are highly reliant on their family and friends to access resources and information to reduce the challenges associated with moving, settling and both accessing and maintaining income opportunities at the destination. This is particularly pertinent in the context of Vietnam, where household registration and poverty combine to exclude many migrants from accessing opportunities at their chosen destination. I argue that it is important to view the role of social capital over time, and in parallel with economic and political changes, as relationships also change over time and space so that the resources accessible through these social contacts do not always remain constant throughout the migration process.
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Episode Information

Series
International Migration Institute
People
Alexandra Winkels
Keywords
THEMIS
migration
Social Capital
Department: Oxford Department of International Development
Date Added: 24/02/2014
Duration: 00:22:00

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THEMIS: Migration networks in action: Case of Daba Tianeti

Series
International Migration Institute
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Tamar Zurabishvili presents her paper 'Migration networks in action: Case of Daba Tianeti' co-authored by Tinatin Zurabishvili in Parallel session V(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013
International labor migration started from most of the former Soviet republics only after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and Georgia is no exception. Since then, however, migration flows and the character of migration from Georgia changed drastically from being overwhelmingly directed towards Russia and consisting of male migrants, to redirecting itself towards the EU and Northern America and becoming feminized.

Present paper analysis how migration networks develop and work based on the analysis of two waves of fieldwork, conducted in a small migrant sending community in Georgia, Daba Tianeti. First fieldwork was conducted in Daba Tianeti in 2006 and employed a mixed method approach, consisting of the survey of all Daba Tianeti Households (1062 cases) and 23 in-depth interviews with return migrants, family members of current migrants, and potential migrants. In 2008, a survey of all Daba Tianeti households was conducted (957 cases) together with a survey of Daba Tianeti migrants in Athens (52 cases), Greece.

By 2008, every third household in Daba Tianeti had at least one migrant abroad, mainly in Western Europe, Israel, and the US, and about half of the migrant stock from the community emigrated with the help of a close relative or a friend. Present paper argues that despite the relatively short period of inclusion in the migratory processes, migrants from Daba Tianeti have already developed migration networks, that effectively connect them with both each other and members of Daba Tianeti community left behind. The paper draws on both qualitative and quantitative data to demonstrate how migration networks developed and to closely examine several cases when migration of one family member led to the migration of several other family members and/or friends from the community.
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Episode Information

Series
International Migration Institute
People
Tamar Zurabishvili
Keywords
THEMIS
migration
Department: Oxford Department of International Development
Date Added: 24/02/2014
Duration: 00:13:52

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THEMIS: Skilled Iranians in Germany and the United States: Exploring migrants' networks

Series
International Migration Institute
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Uta Lehmann presents her paper 'Skilled Iranians in Germany and the United States: exploring migrants' networks' in Parallel session V(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013
Every year 150.000 highly skilled persons leave Iran and seek new opportunities in the United States and Europe (Carrington/Detragiache 1998). A look back at history shows that these migration flows have a long tradition. They first started with educational exchanges in the early 19th century and reached its climax in the year of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. A well-educated Diaspora has resulted as a result of these movements. However, empirical findings indicate that Iranians immigrating to the United States are more successful in sustaining and promoting their educational and professional potential than Iranians coming to Europe. Here, the complex interconnection of influencing factors at the micro-, meso and macro level within a migration system becomes important. One key trait that emerged in my empirical findings is the role of social networks. My paper explores the dynamics of Iranian skilled immigration from a Bourdieuian perspective on social capital and argues that networks serve to overcome structural obstacles in migration. They help to generate social capital, which can be used to transform educational potential into cultural capital that facilitates swift market access.
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Episode Information

Series
International Migration Institute
People
Uta Lehmann
Keywords
THEMIS
migration
skilled-migration
iran
Germany
united states
Department: Oxford Department of International Development
Date Added: 24/02/2014
Duration: 00:18:40

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THEMIS: Crisis, stay, and return in the case of Ecuadorians in Spain

Series
International Migration Institute
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Juan Iglesias presents his paper ''Se quedó ¿a volver?': crisis, stay, and return in the case of Ecuadorians in Spain' in Parallel session V(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013
The communication is based on a mixed research focused on the study of the effects of the current economic crisis is generating on the migration processes and projects of Ecuadorians living in Spain. Communication seeks to explore, specifically, in the processes of stay, new international mobility and return that the current economic crisis is making among the ethnic Ecuadorian population in Spain. Before the crisis, Ecuadorian migrants formed one of the most significant migratory realities in the Spanish context, not only for its volume, 458,437 (INE, 1-1-2008) but, especially, for their progressive and widespread process of incorporation, settlement and rooted in Spanish society (access regulation and nationalization, family reunification, residential settlement, some upward job mobility within the secondary market, etc.) Crisis has destabilized the ongoing process which substantially change processes and migration projects Ecuadorians in a bundle of options that include not only the commitment to stay in Spain, but new international mobility processes, among which the different processes of return to the country of origin. A landscape that has substantially changed the immigration system that Ecuadorians had built with Spain in recent years and it shows, not only the impacts of structural origin on migration processes, but the dynamism of the immigrants themselves and their resources and social networks to redefine their migration projects. Communication, which is part of a research project of the National I + D + I (CSO2009-10429) presents the main features of social and migration issues listed above, from quantitative and qualitative study conducted between 2009 - 2012 with the Ecuadorian community in Spain.
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Episode Information

Series
International Migration Institute
People
Jaun Iglesias
Keywords
THEMIS
migration
ecuador
spain
economic crisis
Department: Oxford Department of International Development
Date Added: 24/02/2014
Duration: 00:13:37

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THEMIS: The relevance of ‘feedback mechanisms' in migration impacted regions

Series
International Migration Institute
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Christiane Timmerman presents her paper 'The relevance of ‘feedback mechanisms' in migration impacted regions' in Parallel session V(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013
This paper is co-authored by Kenneth Hemmerechts, Helene de Clerck, and Roos Willems.

People form migration related perceptions - especially in regions with a long emigration tradition where migration has reached a certain momentum - from a range of specific local, national and international sources (Timmerman et. al 2010, De Haas 2010, Portes 2010). However, these regional migration impacted cultures are situated in changing socio-economic macro contexts that also influence people's perceptions of opportunities that migration may generate. Europe is going through an economic crisis while some ‘source countries' are witnessing considerable economic growth; as for example Turkey. This does not apply for Morocco, another important ‘source country' for Europe. In this contribution we focus on the relation between (1) the significance of feedback mechanisms of international migration and (2) changing macro socio-economic contexts.

Data are collected using a survey with a representative sample (2000 respondents) and in-depth interviews (80) in two seemingly similar regions in Turkey (Emirdag, Dinar) as well as in Morocco (Todra Valley, Central Plateau) which, however, have different emigration experiences: Emirdag, Todra Valley being high migration impacted regions, while Dinar, Central Plateau are not (FP7 EUMAGINE Project).

Using multiple regression analyses and qualitative cross-country analyses we found that people in the Turkish migration impacted region (Emirdag) who belong to transnational family networks are less eager to migrate and that the European crisis is considered an important issue compared to similar people in the low emigration area (Dinar). In Morocco, however, people in the migration impacted region (Todra Valley) still have higher migration aspirations regardless of transnational family networks than in the low emigration area (Central Plateau). Thus, feedback mechanisms (presence of transnational family networks) matter for explaining migration dynamics. Moreover, with changing larger socio-economic contexts - European economic crisis versus Turkish economic growth - the impact of negative feedback of transnational family networks on migration aspirations is likely to increase.
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Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
International Migration Institute
People
Christine Timmerman
Keywords
THEMIS
migration
Morocco
Turkey
Department: Oxford Department of International Development
Date Added: 24/02/2014
Duration: 00:14:28

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