Johan Wets presents his paper 'Changing migration opportunity structures of Roma and their hosting societies: the case of Belgium' in Parallel session IV(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 The overthrowing of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe lead to different societies, with more freedom on the one hand, but disappearing social safety nets, economic disruption and often booming unemployment, especially amongst ethno-cultural minorities like the Roma. As a result of the accession of Eastern European countries, some communities saw their "migration opportunity structures" change dramatically. This had lead to increasing numbers of Eastern European migrants with a Roma background in other European countries. Roma populations are on a policy level often approached as one homogenous group. The Roma themselves are however an extremely heterogeneous group having different nationalities, speaking different languages, adhering to different religions, having different visions and experiences on the labour market an defining themselves in different ways as Roma, Sinti, Kalderash, ... . There live in the different European countries, some are EU citizens and some not. Some rely heavily on social security benefits and others work and provide for their own sustenance. But there are many common characteristics: they have been (often suppressed) minorities for centuries, they have extended networks spread over different countries and they have specific forms of organization. The question that can be raised is what exactly makes them Roma? Is it the fact that they are very often poor, is it a ‘culture of poverty" or is it a "Roma culture"? Is the migration of these ethno-cultural minorities to (other) EU countries a "Roma migration" or a migration of Roma individuals?
The paper proposed will address this issue and look at the dynamic of new Roma migration, on the "push and pull" factors (reaction of host societies), at opportunity structures and networks. The data used in this paper results from an analysis of international research on the one hand and of a research project executed in Belgium in 2012.
THEMIS: Changing migration opportunity structures of Roma and their hosting societies: The case of Belgium
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THEMIS: What kind of asylum and which destination? Afghan asylum seekers transiting from Greece
Angeliki Dimitriadi presents her paper 'What kind of asylum and which destination? Afghan asylum seekers transiting from Greece' in Parallel session IV(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 The paper discusses Afghan asylum seekers in Greece and how migrant agency factors in the context of transit from Greece to other EU member states. Labeled in public discourse as transit migrants, I argue that their mobility, when successfully pursued, is more than the sum of structural constraints; they are not only escaping from specific factors but simultaneously pursuing specific conditions. Thus, an element of choice and active participation in the migratory journey is incorporated in the discussion on asylum. The paper draws from two sources, the fieldwork conducted in the framework of my PhD thesis (2009 - 2012) across Greece and the fieldwork conducted in 2013 in Athens, in the context of the project “IRMA-Governing Irregular Migration” carried out as part of a funded research project. Drawing from interviews conducted with irregular Afghan migrants in Greece, that were ‘in transit’, asylum is discussed not from the perspective of safety, but as a way of acquiring a particular identity and social position coupled with specific benefits. This raises once more the question of whether we can incorporate migrant agency in the context of forced migration, and the case of Afghans shows that agency does not negate the need for refuge; rather the need for refuge can be complemented by the expectations for certain conditions and preferences to be met. From this perspective, it is possible to view the asylum seeker as an active agent of his/her migration, attempting and often succeeding in determining his/her own migration journey.
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THEMIS: Violence, surveillance and agency experiences of the women refugees in the Italian reception camps
Barbara Pinelli presents her paper 'Violence, surveillance and agency experiences of the women refugees in the Italian reception camps' in Parallel session IV(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper focuses on the relation between agency and the process of becoming refugees. In the last four years, I have carried out an ethnographic research in southern Italy refugee camps organized by the Italian government for the detention and control of undocumented migrants, in order to document the violence experiences of women asylum seekers who have reached Italy after spending a period of time in Libya, and crossing the Mediterranean Sea. These women have endured terrible abuses in their trajectory toward Europe; once inside the camps, they are subject to forms of moral and institutional violence, surveillance mechanisms, that shape their subjectivities as women and refugees. In particular, they are exposed to the disciplinary regimes of the camps and the imaginary of assistance culture that perceive them only as victims, female subjects to be emancipated and devoid of any agency. In this paper, I will show how refugee women are not mere bodies to be educated, controlled or emancipated: I will describe the weight of the memory of violence and of the power abuses experienced in the arrival context, paying attention on how women refugees have coped with these burdens, how they read the power networks they were involved in or the gap between refugees' self-perceptions and imaginary produced by the system of protection. I will refer to the issue of subjectivity (as multi-positioned and an ongoing process) as an important key for exploring both signs suffering, and the dimensions of agency, desire (to reconstruct a new life) and hope for the future, and the practices performed by women asylum seekers to reconstruct their existences after the flight. My intention is to show how the recognition of agency has an important political valence when ethnographic research involves subjectivities affected by violence and living in extremely marginal conditions.
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THEMIS: 'Do as I say, not as I do?': analyzing the potential effects of immigrants' representations of the crisis on migration systems. Insights from a peripheral southern European country
Dora Sampaio presents ''Do as I say, not as I do?': analyzing the potential effects of immigrants' representations of the crisis on migration systems' co-authored by Rui Carvalho in Parallel session V(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics The current context of economic crisis is producing multiple challenges, particularly evident in European economies and societies. This has and will continue to influence the reshaping of international migration streams in Europe, both at the countries of origin and destination. These changes can be felt more vividly in those migratory destinations facing major financial constraints and higher unemployment rates, as is the case with most southern European countries, among which Portugal is included. Bearing this in mind, this paper examines how the representations of the crisis may contribute to (re)define the migration pathways of international migrants in Portugal and how they influence the evolution and dynamics of the country's positioning in the European migration systems. Resorting to data from the THEMIS project, a comparative analysis of three immigrant groups (Brazilians, Moroccans and Ukrainians) - drawn mostly from qualitative information obtained from interviews seconded with quantitative data from key questions of a questionnaire - is proposed. The focus will lay on both individual and contextual variables, aiming to verify if analytical dimensions such as the country of origin, the stage of maturation of the migrant system, or individual socio-demographic variables (e.g. gender, age, educational level, socioeconomic status), assume an important role in shaping these immigrants' representations of the crisis, their stated intentions towards future migration movements and also the feedback they transmit to co-nationals in their countries of origin. Preliminary results suggest that the intensity and contours of the immigrants' social and spatial discourses and representations of the crisis appear to differ between immigrant groups. Moreover, these visions do not tend to translate directly into intentions to redefine individual and family migration trajectories nor even into the advice given to co-nationals in their countries of origin, being instead influenced, although to a different extent, by the analytical dimensions previously considered.
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THEMIS: Developing migration systems in Europe and Asia
Hideki Tarumoto presents his paper 'Developing migration systems in Europe and Asia' in Parallel session I(A) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 As globalisation is accelerated in twenty-first century, surely migration systems have been emergent and developed in the globe. But, it is still ambiguous what differences migration systems hold and through what mechanism they appear.
Among various factors and actors, we cannot ignore the role of the state. In one aspect, the state seems to be an inhibitor against emergence of migration systems. Not only Western countries but also non-Western countries are struggling to handle massive international migration and to reconcile social issues appearing from it. But in the other aspect, the state takes a role of facilitator for migration systems. It tends to select migrants who can enter and/or stay in the society. What differences of migration systems does the state create? What mechanism does it produce, with relating to the other state, social groups, migrants and the society?
To these questions, this paper will take two approaches. Firstly, we should examine not only Western countries but also non-Western countries. With comparison to Western world, much less research has explored situations of migration in non-Western world. Asia is not an exception, although it has been remarkably shifting to multicultural societies. So, we will undertake comparative study of Europe and East Asia, such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, to examine differences and factors of migration systems.
Secondly, some theoretical perspective is needed to examine the questions. One theoretical key concept is citizenship. To create or limit migration systems, the state utilises citizenship of migrants composed of status, rights and duties, and identity. Then, with reference to a theoretical model called the Hammar=Koido=Tarumoto model (the HKT model), we will approach mechanisms of development of migration systems.
This exploration will lead us to comprehensive understanding emergence and development of migration systems which has been evolving all over the world.
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THEMIS: Migration system dynamics: evidence from global data
Hein de Haas presents his paper 'Migration system dynamics: evidence from global data' co-authored by Mathias Czaika in Parallel session III(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond held in Oxford from 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper provides a critical assessment of migration systems theory based on an analysis of global migration patterns between 1960 and 2000. Migration systems theory pioneered by Mabogunje (1970), predicts that migration that one form of exchange between countries or places, such as trade, is likely to engender other forms of exchange such as people, in both directions. This echoes earlier arguments by Ravenstein (1885; 1889) and Lee (1966) that migration in one direction is likely to engender a counterflow in the opposite direction. In this functionalist perspective, migrant networks fulfil a vital role in the process of ‘migration diffusion' and in facilitating return migration and counter-migration (of natives of the destination country to the origin), and this can be seen as part of a wider process of social, cultural and political entangling and increasing equilibrium (decreasing skewed-ness) between ‘origins' and ‘destinations'. From a historical-structural perspective, the hypothesis that migration reciprocity increases as migration systems mature can be criticized for its ignorance of structurally embedded power inequalities, the discriminatory role of immigration restrictions and the exclusionary dimensions of ‘negative social capital' in migrant networks. However, these hypotheses have remained strikingly untested, and this paper aims to fill this gap. Based on Global Migrant Stock database, it assess the extent to which bilateral migration corridors become more balances as migration systems mature, and which factors may explain difference in such migration system dynamics (i.e., when does such increasing equilibrium occur).
[The research leading to these results is part of the DEMIG project and has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement 240940.]
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THEMIS: Remaining subjects despite structural constraints: migratory strategies among refugees hosted in Italy after their expulsion from Libya
Gabriele Tomei presents his paper 'Remaining subjects despite structural constraints: migratory strategies among refugees hosted in Italy after their expulsion from Libya' in parallel session IV (C) of the Examining Migration Dynamics conference During the 2011 Lybian crisis, Gheddafi decided to expel many African and Asiatic workers, forcing them to illegally migrate to Italy as a reaction to the government support of the international military intervention against his regime. As a consequence of that mass expulsion, and under the menace of the regime army, more than 30.0000 refugee arrived in Italy where they all have been requested to seek for refugee status and, consequently, they have been hosted for months into special centres, waiting for the conclusion of the application process under administrative limitations of their freedom and of their mobility in space and time.
Despite the strong pressure of these constraining new conditions, some refugees reacted in order to give chances to their own migratory projects, using administrative dispositive as opportunities: someone used government programme to return home; others became illegal and escaped to other European countries; others decided to remain in Italy, using the welfare system to integrate in the host society. Three seems to be the main strategies against the structural constraints: (1) improving their social capital, through informal networking among people of the same nationality and fraternizing with centres' personnel and local population; (2) defending their basic rights, mobilizing collective protests against the inactivity or the abuses of the Italian bureaucracy; (3) sustaining their livelihood, mapping the territory looking for some working opportunities.
According with the theoretical approaches that unveil the autonomous structuring power of subjectivity against the strength of the context structural conditions, with a special focus on the role of social networks and of their cultural and symbolical dimensions in orienting migrant's habits and trajectories, the hypothesis above mentioned will be tackled using a set of qualitative data from first hand interviews with refugees and centre's personnel, collected in Italy between April 2012 and February 2013.
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THEMIS: “How to get into London?”: the role played by travel agencies to move Brazilian migrants to the UK
Gustavo Dias presents his paper '“How to get into London?”: the role played by travel agencies to move Brazilian migrants to the UK' in parallel session IV(D) of the Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond conference How have Brazilian migrants moved into London after the September 11? Who are the social agents and what are the social conditions of movement involved in such mobility? Since 9/11 the EU have reinforced its borders and mobility control in the airports in order to stop undesirable mobile people, including undocumented migrant workers. As a consequence Brazilian migrants have created escape routes to literally escape from that mobility control (Papadopoulos et al. 2008, Frontex 2011). Considering the fact that migratory mobility is not just a matter of network involving kinship and relatives, this paper follows the argument that behind migration there is an informal industry which provides the mobility according to global politics and events (Khosravi 2010). Therefore, through an empirical study on Brazilian migration from Minas Gerais state to London, this presentation attempts to discuss how migration routes are carefully organized through package tours by travel agencies managed by pioneers, who became specialized in providing tactic of border crossing movement after the 9/11. Such tactic aims to transform the migratory mobility of those migrant workers into a more desirable type of mobility, the touristic one (Adey 2004). In other words, they have promoted a border-crossing movement able to ensure the connectedness between Brazil and the UK through any small airport hubs located in the Schengen area and British territory where the surveillance, according to them, is less strict to tourists. As a result this paper argues that due to the border reinforcement adopted by the EU after the terrorist attacks (Balibar 2002, Mezzadra 2007), friends and family members abroad are not the only ones who provide support to Brazilian emigrating to London, a migratory industry composed by specialized pioneers and their travel agencies have also played important roles in such mobility (Bakewell, de Hass and Kubal 2011).
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THEMIS: Do institutions play a role in skilled migration? The case of Italy
Annamaria Nifo presents her paper 'Do institutions play a role in skilled migration? The case of Italy' in Parallel session IV(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics. Co-authored by Gaetano Vecchione. The factors identified by economic theory as determining migrants' decisions appear less relevant to the choices of the highly skilled, a fairly small but significant group which is able to wield a major economic impact on regional economies. This paper is based on the idea that in their migration choices the highly skilled are motivated to look for an area or context able to ensure a higher income and better employment opportunities. At the same time, it should be a favourable socio-economic environment with well-functioning local government institutions. The decisive impact of institutional quality on the level of services, the environment, regional development and the overall quality of life in the destination area has been extensively studied in the literature. Building on such previous studies, by using data from the "Survey on the professional recruitment of graduates" in Italy conducted by the National Statistics Office (ISTAT) in 2007 on a sample of 47,300 individuals who graduated in 2004, we study the impact of provincial institution quality on the probability of resident graduates migrating. Our Heckman Probit estimation indicates that institutions do matter for migration decisions and their importance is comparable to that of per-capita income provincial differences.
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THEMIS: New immigrant groups, integration and forms of citizenship in the global city: the case of Latin Americans in Europe
Fabiola Pardo Noteboom presents her paper 'New immigrant groups, integration and forms of citizenship in the global city: the case of Latin Americans in Europe' in Parallel session IV(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond In the last two decades, and with the so-called failure of multiculturalism, an important debate has emerged on the formulation of integration policies for immigrants in Western Europe. While these policies should aim to strengthen the participation of immigrant groups in all spheres of society and encourage intercultural processes, particularly in large cities, in practise, immigrants must assume the entire responsibility of their integration. This paper is based on the results of a recent comparative study on the integration practices of Latin American migrants in Amsterdam, London and Madrid in the framework of their specific local integration policies. Given the international socio-political context, Europe is undergoing a moment of resistance to non-western immigration and there is a strong tendency towards enforcing control measures and the establishment of strict selection criteria. In relation to integration, governments are resorting to short-term legislation interventions in an attempt to achieve results. Integration becomes a democratic urgency and rapid solutions are given for processes that need long-term perspectives. As shown in the case of Latin Americans, the efficiency of these policies is limited and migrants are more influenced by their informal social and civic networks and trajectories than by the formal policies designed to integrate them. In the context of the global city, these migrant intercultural trajectories have created alternative forms to experience citizenship and a genuine city identity without a direct connection to the national identity promoted by formal integration policies. The resurgence of the concepts of citizenship and national identity as a strategy for integration and social cohesion, and the urgency that characterised integration policies for processes that requires long-term views are leading to the inefficiency if not, the failure of these legislative efforts.
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THEMIS: Highly skilled migrants and the European mobility industry
Saara Koikkalainen presents her paper 'Highly skilled migrants and the European mobility industry' in Parallel session IV(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 The paper examines intra-European mobility and migrant agency from the perspective of highly skilled migrants, namely Finns working abroad in other EU15 countries. It is based on a web survey titled Working in Europe (n=364) conducted in 2008, its continuation in 2010 (n=194) and 18 migrant interviews (2011). The paper draws on Karen O'Reilly's (2012) practice theory for international migration. It focuses on understanding highly skilled mobility in Europe through an analysis of the external, macro level structures that ease or impede mobility, as well as the internal, micro level structures that affect the mobility behaviour of this particular migrant group. At the meso level the paper introduces a novel concept of mobility industry, which helps facilitate intra-European mobility. The term migration industry has been used to refer to the various agents and organizations helping migrants, remittance companies, as well as human smugglers who manage irregular migration. I argue that this term can also be useful in understanding different forms of intra-European mobility. In the European context permanent migration is not the only or perhaps even the main form of transnational movement across borders, so mobility industry is a more fitting term to be used. It can be roughly divided into two categories: firstly the non-commercial institutions and agencies that provide information and facilitate the mobility of students, trainees and academics, as well as job-seekers, and secondly the commercial relocation and headhunting agencies, consultants and job search portals whose business it is to facilitate the mobility of workers and professionals. The paper concludes that the paths that lead abroad from Finland are influenced by both external structures and individual migrant agency, as voluntary, intra-European migrants can choose their destinations according to their life projects focusing on work and careers, but also on quality of life and adventure.
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THEMIS: From post-socialist to post-accession pioneering: the shaping of Romanian migration networks to Spain and the United Kingdom
Chris Moreh presents his paper 'From post-socialist to post-accession pioneering: the shaping of Romanian migration networks to Spain and the UK' in Parallel session IV(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper examines the dynamics of Romanian migration networks following the fall of socialism, by comparing two receiving countries, Spain and the United Kingdom. While Spain is a well-established destination for Romanian migrants, who constitute the most numerous foreign-born group in the Iberian country, the United Kingdom has seen more moderate levels of immigration from Romania, slightly ascending following the latter's EU accession in 2007. The question posed in the paper is why movements to certain places have been more able to develop into systems than others.
To answer this question, the paper analyses the development of particular migration networks in the two countries, showing the complex relationships and contingent events that led to the emergence and preservation of these systems. State, market and individual actors come into dynamic interaction to create and shape migration systems, and the paper traces the activities, histories and effects of key pioneers, migration policies and economic developments. The presented data come from an intensive ethnographic fieldwork in the Community of Madrid, Spain, during the first half of 2009, and an ongoing research in the United Kingdom.
An overarching structural factor analysed is European integration, which can influence all stages of the development and decline of a migration system. Romania's EU accession occurred almost concomitantly with the eruption of the global economic crisis, and the paper examines how these political and economic developments shape existing migrant networks and the initiation of new ones. In this respect, the paper compares the role and position of post-socialist and post-accession pioneers within the political-economic structure prevalent at the time of their migration.
Through this double comparative lens, the paper is able to expand our knowledge on the complexity of migration phenomena, and show how the interrelations between individual and structural factors shape migration systems.
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THEMIS: Strong ties, weak ties and protection for domestic workers: Ethiopian domestic worker migration to the Middle East
Katie Kuschminder presents her paper 'Strong ties, weak ties and protection for domestic workers: Ethiopian domestic worker migration to the Middle East' in Parallel session IV(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond Few comparisons have been made that examine the difference in migration outcomes for migrants that migrate via a strong versus a weak tie. This paper will contribute to this research area through an examination of Ethiopian female migration to the Middle East by using a network lens to compare migration via weak or strong ties. Domestic workers provide an interesting case for this analysis as they are vulnerable in their migration, and network supports can provide critical resources for the safety and security of the migrant and ensure an economic livelihood. The central hypothesis of this paper is two-fold: first that women with dense ties have greater opportunity to access migration due to their networks; and secondly that women migrating via strong ties would have the greatest opportunity for protection in the Middle East. Women migrating via weak ties, namely a migrant broker, would on the other hand, be less likely to have accurate information regarding migration, and secondly, be more likely to experience abuse in the Middle East. Migration via dense networks should allow for greater access to information and the ability for networks to assist an individual if needed. Migration via weak ties suggests that assistance is less likely to be available upon arrival. It is recognized that networks alone cannot determine the outcome of migration, and other issues such as legality in migration will be explored in the analysis. The paper will demonstrate that networks are not enough to protect migrants against the structural conditions in the Middle East.
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THEMIS: The influence of networks in the migration decisions of Kenyan and Nigerian women bound for the United Kingdom
Linda Oucho presents her paper 'The influence of networks in the migration decisions of Kenyan and Nigerian women bound for the UK' in Parallel session IV(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Networks and the information they convey can play a very important role in the decision to migrate. With technological advancements taking place in today's globalised world, potential migrants can consult individuals on information about their chosen destination, but they can also explore their options by using the internet to investigate the information that they need in order to make a decision of whether to migrate to their chosen destination. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changing nature of networks through time with a focus on exploring how different types of networks were used by Kenyan and Nigerian women in their decision to migrate to the UK as an individual or a family unit. The paper is based on my PhD thesis completed in November 2011 which focused on the migration decision-making experiences of Kenyan and Nigerian women in London between 1990 to 2010. The aim of the research was to capture women's agency in migration decisions and networks played a very important role in the decision-making process. Fawcett's conceptual framework (1989) was useful for understanding the linkages that exist between networks and potential migrants in terms of the information/ assistance shared and how they operate within a migration system. Fawcett's primary focus was to examine the communication between potential migrants and their networks as well as observable links such as trade flows or family obligations (1989: 673). He identified three types of linkages (tangible, regulatory and relational) and four categories of networks, namely State-to-State Relations, Mass Culture Connections, Family and Personal Networks and Migrant Agency Activities (1989: 673). Although outdated, Fawcett's conceptual framework provided guidelines to understand the relationship between migrants and how the information influenced the Kenyan and Nigerian women's decision to migrate to the United Kingdom.
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Hilary Seminar Series 2014: Nationality acquisition in Spain
'Nationality acquisition in Spain: Legal asymmetries and effects on selectivity' presented by Amparo González-Ferrer (Spanish Research Council – CSIC).
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THEMIS: The relevance of ‘feedback mechanisms' in migration impacted regions
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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THEMIS: Crisis, stay, and return in the case of Ecuadorians in Spain
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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THEMIS: Skilled Iranians in Germany and the United States: Exploring migrants' networks
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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THEMIS: Migration networks in action: Case of Daba Tianeti
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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THEMIS: Migrant networks and the migration process
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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