Remus Gabriel Anghel | National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (original) (raw)

Books by Remus Gabriel Anghel

Date and location The conference will take place between 13-16 September 2023 in Hosman (Hosmenge... more Date and location The conference will take place between 13-16 September 2023 in Hosman (Hosmengen), Transylvania, Romania. Hosman is a romantic Transylvanian village located 25 km distance from Sibiu (Hermannstadt), Romania. More on the location is here https://www.facebook.com/Hosman.Romania/ Online participation is possible. Travel costs (accommodation, meals and lowcost flights) will be covered by organizers.

Noțiunea de reinventare a germanității pleacă de la o realitate paradoxală a sudului Transilvanie... more Noțiunea de reinventare a germanității pleacă de la o realitate paradoxală a sudului Transilvaniei și a zonei Banatului. Deși au trecut mai bine de douăzeci de ani de la emigrarea în masă a sașilor transilvăneni și a șvabilor bănățeni, care literalmente a dus la golirea orașelor și satelor transilvănene și bănățene de populația germană autohtonă, germanitatea locală nu a dispărut, ci pur și simplu a fost adoptată și reinventată de populația locală negermană. Acest volum analizează cum germanitatea, atunci când nu mai există, este reinventată, reinterpretată, și asumată social și cultural, un exemplu al rezilienței structurilor sociale și a normelor și valorilor culturale locale în fața schimbărilor majore din ultimele decenii. Acest proces de recompunere socială este susținut și potențat de intense legături instituționale transnaționale dintre România și spațiul german, de mobilități transnaționale ale etnicilor români și germani care migrează și încearcă să refacă legăturile cu țara de origine, de politicile multiculturale ale statului român. Reziliența și reinventarea germanității în vechile localități săsești și șvăbești din România devin parte a schimbărilor sociale locale și a proceselor contemporane de mobilitate și transnationalism, de căutare identitară și culturală a locuitorilor acestor zone.

Papers by Remus Gabriel Anghel

Antipode, 2023

Carpathia-dubbed the "European Yellowstone"-is a private nature conservation project in Romania. ... more Carpathia-dubbed the "European Yellowstone"-is a private nature conservation project in Romania. Its establishment activates a critical linkage between entrepreneurs of the wilderness and transnational conservation elites. We indicate the contribution of entrepreneurialism to the expansion and adaptation of neoliberal conservation and reveal how biographical contingencies are involved in the making of conservation projects. At the same time, the focus on transnationalism reveals how local projects are designed, scaled-up, and connected to global neoliberal conservation networks. Carpathia reveals the adaptability of neoliberal conservation and its expansion into the Eastern European peripheries through transnational elites. Its establishment illustrates how private conservation projects become essential sites for securing privileged access to nature in times of global ecological crises and uncovers the varieties of the global geographies of capitalist conservation.

International Migration, 2023

This article examines the dynamics of Romanian seasonal migration and its effects on farming and ... more This article examines the dynamics of Romanian seasonal migration and its effects on farming and rural areas. We connect labour migration to changes in modes of food production in Western and Eastern Europe. Based on the fieldwork in seven Romanian localities with 40 semi-structured interviews, we interrogate how seasonal work is shaped by regimes of mobility and economic and social inequalities. Studying the case of Romania's large rural population raises critical questions regarding migration, development and change in rural areas. Answering such questions requires disentangling different categories of seasonal migrants and their return prospects. Looking at how agricultural labour is structured, we examine labour experiences and analyse how migrants' agency operates in precarious contexts. Observing the consequences of seasonal migration and return, we discovered diverging processes of agricultural diversification through entrepreneurialism and a radical change in peasant farming resulting in an increased concentration of farmland.

Central and Eastern European Migration Review, 2022

This article contributes to the growing debate on reintegration and the positioning of returnees ... more This article contributes to the growing debate on reintegration and the positioning of returnees in their home societies. Increasingly, studies focus on returnees' agency in reintegration processes, their practices of mobility in return and their use of social capital and financial and social remittances acquired abroad. Much less analysed is how ethnicity influences such processes of return and experiences of reintegration. In this paper we examine how returnees belonging to different ethnic groups-Germans, Romanians and Roma-reintegrate in a Romanian multi-ethnic context with marked ethnic inequality and lasting segregation. Fieldwork was carried out in a town that has undergone massive changes in the past 30 years due to the combined effects of foreign direct investment and international migration. Economically, the town changed from a poor and decaying context, to one that was poor but developing and finally to one experiencing strong development. Using a modes-of-integration perspective and analysing returnees' reintegration and mobilities, we show how return evolved as an ethnicised process in different contexts of reception.

Social Inclusion, 2022

Roma people are likely Europe's most discriminated and marginalized minority. In the past years, ... more Roma people are likely Europe's most discriminated and marginalized minority. In the past years, increasing attention has been paid to their migration to Western Europe and their limited social mobility in their countries of destination. Our article focuses on the "post-return" experiences of Roma and the changes generated by return migration in their communities of origin, a topic largely neglected so far. We build on recent debates around post-return positionality, asking how adult and old Roma returnees experience return. We thus contribute to the growing literature on return migration and lifecourse that distinguishes between the return migration of children and youth, that of adults, and that of older migrants. Focusing on Roma returnees, we employ an understanding of migration not just as a means of generating resources, but also as a learning process where the Roma population acquires new ideas and a sense of agency and dignity. Informed by long-term fieldwork in ethnically mixed localities in Romania (including participant observation and 76 semi-structured interviews), we inquire into the ethnic relations and negotiations between Roma and non-Roma populations. Migration results in a weakening of the economic dependency of the Roma on the non-Roma. In this new context, which is still marred by ethnic prejudice and inequality, we analysed how local interethnic relations were reshaped by the returned Roma's new consumption practices, new modes of communication, and new claims for equality. While adult Roma tend to demand equality and decent treatment, setting in motion a process of ethnic change, older returned Roma tend to maintain more submissive practices.

LSE Blog, 2022

Many Ukrainians have fled to Romania since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. They have been me... more Many Ukrainians have fled to Romania since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. They have been met with support from volunteers and organisations across the country, while civic action groups have been established to raise funds and send aid to those still in Ukraine. Remus Gabriel Anghel and Ruxandra Trandafoiu argue that the mobilisation of ordinary citizens to help those in need offers a glimpse of the potential of Romanian civil society.

Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics, 2020

The migration of Romanian Germans was one of the most significant ethnic migrations from Romania.... more The migration of Romanian Germans was one of the most significant ethnic migrations from Romania. It was a population movement that was conducted in three distinctive waves: during and in the aftermath of the Second World War, during communism, and in the first two years after 1990. This paper analyzes these migration waves by looking at the political, social and economic causes of this mass migration of ethnic Germans, after hundreds of years of residence on the territory of today's Romania. It discusses the institutional arrangement that made these migratory waves possible, namely the negotiations conducted and the agreements between Romania, East and the West Germany which provided the institutional basis for this migration. Thus, analyzing the evolution of this migration over a longer-term period of time, and detailing institutional arrangements during communism, we aim at providing a nuanced view on how both states of origin and destination influence such politically motivated migratory waves.

Romanian migration is today one of the biggest, complex, and dynamic migration to Western Europe.... more Romanian migration is today one of the biggest, complex, and dynamic migration to
Western Europe. This paper is a comprehensive review of the existing literature that aims
at providing a full picture of this dynamic migratory process and discusses its far-reaching
consequences. It first presents and characterizes the Romanian migration through the
different phases during and after state socialism. The second part of the paper is dedicated
to unfolding the socio-economic effects of the Romanian migration addressing the
remitting behavior and its development over the past years. The issue of return migration
is also addressed stressing that return is not much developed, however it has significant
impacts through the emergence of returnees’ entrepreneurship. Finally we address some of
the consequences of the medical doctors’ migration which is today considered one of the
main migration challenges the country is facing.

Handbook of the International Political Economy of Migration, edited by Leila Simona Talani and Simon McMahon, pp. 234-258

INTRODUCTION The growing pace of globalization, accompanied by major transformations in countri... more INTRODUCTION
The growing pace of globalization, accompanied by major transformations in countries of origin and significant economic changes in the industrialized countries, has resulted in ever-growing migratory dynamics around the world. Migration is a global phenomenon which touches every country in the world as sending, transit or receiving countries. Remittances represent one of the most consistent outcomes of migration. Through remittances, migrants transfer funds, information, ideas and practices. Remittances link societies of origin and destination by multiple processes of mobility and exchange. Migrant remittances are transfers that are conducted by migrants between countries of origin and destination, consisting of monetary and non-monetary transfers. Monetary transfers are primarily financial in nature, although they can include in-kind transfers; non-monetary flows are primarily social remittances which include ideas, values and modes of action. Whereas capital flows are transfers of money within corporations for the purpose of investment and research and development, remittances are flows of money between a migrant and their family or community in the origin country. Migrant remittances represent migrants’ continuous involvements in their places and communities of origin. Different from capital flows and foreign direct investment (FDI), which are usually sent formally, financial remittances may be transferred by using both formal and informal channels. In some cases, informal transfers account for a large part of financial remittances. Remittances are valuable resources for the economy of many developing countries and are often higher than the levels of foreign investment, in a number of cases representing a substantial portion of the gross domestic product (GDP). They have therefore a high political relevance, as the level of remittances is several times higher than the level of overseas development aid (ODA) provided by developed to developing countries. Remittances and migrants thus became major players in the relationships between developed and developing countries. The research on remittances is a hugely debated topic today, with contributions coming from around the world.
This chapter mainly focuses on findings from former socialist countries that have experienced international migration mostly in the past 25 years. It first assesses the importance of financial remittances today, representing one of the main avenues of capital flows towards poorer countries. It follows with the analysis of the use and impact of financial remittances: use by households and its effects on poverty and inequality, and on individual occupational choices. At the macro level also, debates evolve around the positive or negative role of financial remittances1 on growth and country competitiveness. The chapter then analyses the types and the effects of social remittances. It discusses the new ideas that migrants transfer to communities of origin, such as notions of wealth and consumption, the practices associated with business and management that they import back home, and the social norms associated with gender relations. Here we use examples from different case studies around the world. The chapter thus discusses the main debates surrounding the financial and social remittances.

Do the current changes of both geographical and symbolic boundaries lead to the emergence of a wo... more Do the current changes of both geographical and symbolic boundaries lead to the emergence of a world society? How do transnational migration, communication and worldwide economic and political networks manifest themselves in globalised modernity? This book presents innovative contributions to transnationalisation research and world society theory based on empirical studies from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. Practicable methodologies complete theoretical inquiries and provide examples of applied research, which also might be used in teaching.

Population, Space and Place, Apr 9, 2015

In recent years, an increasing number of scholars have started to analyse the effects of migratio... more In recent years, an increasing number of scholars have started to analyse the effects of migration in societies of emigration. This scholarship often depicts migration as a powerful process generating ‘levelled’ processes of diffusion of money, goods, ideas, and values, ultimately changing entire communities and regions of origin. The paper diverges from this view and argues for a differentialist approach in researching processes of migration and social change. I substantiate this claim by analysing patterns of migration and social change in a multi-ethnic community in Romania that consists of Hungarians, Romanians, and Roma. The research fieldwork consisted of qualitative interviews and participant observation.

By using a perspective inspired by the literature on critical social capital and mechanisms of migration, I show that local social differentiation profoundly affects not only the development of migration but also the relationship between migration and social change. As I unfold in the paper, social closure based on ethnic and class/group membership had a strong effect on the ways in which Hungarians, Roma, and Romanians migrated towards Hungary, Italy, and Germany, as well as on the economic niches they occupied in countries of destination. The enrichment of some Roma and the new social position they gained reveals that migrant localities are contested social spaces where migrants' new social statuses and the ideas and values they bring back with them are weighted and negotiated against local values and systems of classification.

Mondi Migranti http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/sommario.asp?IDRivista=149, Dec 2014

This paper discusses researchers’ positionality in multi-sided ethnography of migration. It argue... more This paper discusses researchers’ positionality in multi-sided ethnography of migration. It argues that insider researchers may use multiple strategies to access the field: they may also have different visible and invisible positions. Access to the field may greatly vary in respect to these positions, time available, and the research location - at home or abroad. The research was conducted with a group of Romanian irregular migrants in Milan, by a Romanian researcher. The researcher had multiple roles: invisible migrant, migrant sociologist, friend of a friend and friend of a relative. While visible strategies in Milan posed serious limitations to accessing the field, invisible ones were more successful. Besides, the use of trust relations through gatekeepers, here friends and relatives, were the most successful strategies. Time and space played also an important role during the fieldwork. Abroad migrants had not had enough time at disposal in contrast to the situation at home during their summer vacations. Location was even more important. Abroad irregular migrants tended to be untrustworthy. In contrast to the situation at home, where they were open to research inquiries.

Studia Sociologia, Vol. 57 (2), pp. 9-26, 2012.

Antipode, 2023

International Migration, 2023

Central and Eastern European Migration Review, 2022

Social Inclusion, 2022

LSE Blog, 2022

Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics, 2020

Handbook of the International Political Economy of Migration, edited by Leila Simona Talani and Simon McMahon, pp. 234-258

Population, Space and Place, Apr 9, 2015

Mondi Migranti http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/sommario.asp?IDRivista=149, Dec 2014

Studia Sociologia, Vol. 57 (2), pp. 9-26, 2012.

Studia Sociologia Vol. 57 (2), pp. 3-8, 2012.

Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, Sep 11, 2012

This article investigates the relationship between national integration policy models and their o... more This article investigates the relationship between national integration policy models and their outcomes. To evaluate this relationship in greater depth, I studied two typifying migrant groups: ethnic Germans from Romania who migrated legally to Germany—enjoying extensive rights and citizenship upon arrival—and Romanian migrants who migrated to Italy irregularly. Surprisingly, while Romanians in Italy tended to perceive their migration as successful, ethnic Germans migrating to Germany generally perceived a loss of status. Migrants’ reactions to various models of policies and the differences in their transnational practices provided the basis for my explanation of this puzzle.

A m s t e r d a m U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s Foggy Social Structures

NEC Yearbook 2008-2009, 2010

Research on societal transformations after the collapse of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europ... more Research on societal transformations after the collapse of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe showed the role crossing-border practices played in sustaining the people’s livelihood. During state socialism, Eastern European countries were seen as “large scale prisons” where people’s mobility was very much restricted; international mobility, such as tourism (to Western Europe and North America especially), migration, or even crossing-border practices, were considered detrimental to the “social order” of the totalitarian state (see Horváth 2008). Nevertheless, after the collapse of the communist regimes, international mobility, migration and also informal trade became alternatives to impoverishment and economic risks. In this paper, I explore how different forms of international mobility developed after 1989. My research is carried out in the region of Bukovina (Suceava county – the Northeastern side of Romania bordering Ukraine), where different types of border crossing practices are described. I conclude by arguing that these practices should not be seen only in terms of interaction practices developing between Romania and Ukraine, but also as everyday practices, a sort of „dispositional transnationalism“, including various amounts of petty trade, border crossing practices and weak institutional cooperation.

Revue d'Études Comparatives Est-Ouest

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, May 31, 2008

In this study I analyse the ways in which the EU policy of freedom of movement ‘from above’ influ... more In this study I analyse the ways in which the EU policy of freedom of movement ‘from above’ influences migration and the transnationalism of the Romanian migrants in Milan, Italy. In the dominant US-based literature on transnationalism, ‘from above’ factors influencing migrants’ transnationalism have typically been centred on the role of global capital and/or nation-states’ policies. In Europe, however, EU supranational policies are also a significant factor. In this respect the Romanian case is emblematic. Up to a certain point, Romanians moved irregularly to Italy, but after a few years, due to Romania's accession to the EU, Romanians are free to travel in Europe. This has deeply influenced migration and migrants’ transnationalism. To highlight the differences, comparisons are drawn between transnationalism in Europe and the case of Mexican migration to the United States. In particular, the paper analyses how irregular migration has been developing between a Romanian town and Milan and how a corresponding transnational space has emerged. I analyse the emergence of migrants’ locality in Milan and how the locality of origin is changing under the impact of migrants’ transnational practices. I also indicate how freedom of movement influences all of these.

Südosteuropa. Zeitschrift für Politik und …, Jan 1, 2009

It is our pleasure to announce the organization of a workshop on return migration and social chan... more It is our pleasure to announce the organization of a workshop on return migration and social change. The workshop will be held between 11th and 12nd of November 2016 at the Babeș Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania.

Research Handbook on the Sociology of Migration, 2024

March, 2020. European lockdown. A Romanian care worker in Italy posts an SOS message on Facebook ... more March, 2020. European lockdown. A Romanian care worker in Italy posts an SOS message on Facebook that she has no place to stay after losing her work contract. The message, displaying the vulnerability of temporary workers, went viral. Before the lockdown, a wide array of options were available to migrants aiming to go home, including cheap flights, buses, trains, or microbuses, or occasional travel with other migrants. During the lockdown, as Europe's borders were closing down in an unprecedented manner, many migrants felt unsafe. Hundreds

Europe 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, 2019

In the past three decades Central and Eastern Europe have been one of the main labour force reser... more In the past three decades Central and Eastern Europe have been
one of the main labour force reservoirs for Western Europe. In
sending countries, the consequences of this exodus are increasingly
becoming a cause of concern. Population loss and brain drain affect
the future of these countries not only in economic terms, but also
in relation to the sustainability of social security systems (Masso et
al.2016). When so many people have migrated elsewhere a natural
state response would be to think of ways to attract them back or at
least to minimise further losses. Another alternative, that started
to take shape in the past years, is to allow or support immigration
from other countries. Although this may generate new challenges,
immigration may ultimately be one of the single options these
states have in order to limit the severe population losses that are
already taking place.

Transnational Return and Social Change. Hierarchies, Identities and Ideas, Anthem Press, 2019

The literature on return migration often mentions that returnees reposition themselves towards th... more The literature on return migration often mentions that returnees reposition themselves towards their society of origin. Here, I ask how such repositioning influences their society of origin or feeds into existing processes of social change. While considering social change as returnees' repositioning, I ask how previously deprived people-in this case Roma from deprived settlements in Romania-reposition themselves upon their return towards the prevailing inequality and deprivation in which they had lived. Different types of returnees may have different roles in how social hierarchies may change locally. During this research, I identified four ways in which these returnees repositioned themselves towards the non-Roma: returnees who become challengers of local hierarchy and inequality; boundary-crossers, who are able to cross ethnic divisions; conformers, who reproduce the existing hierarchy; and finally those who exit the local context and remigrate. While discussing these types of repositioning, I draw conclusions on how we can use a broader concept of social change in relation to local stratification and the larger processes of change experienced in a transition society such as Romania. In assessing how the return migration of the poor Roma effects social changes back home, I show how the Roma reposition themselves in their society of origin in terms of class and status. Whereas class is suited to capturing changes in their labour relations as well as relations of exploitation, social status is a concept suited to research their repositioning.

The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity, 2019

In the past 20 years, Romanian migration has grown from small numbers to one of the largest migra... more In the past 20 years, Romanian migration has grown from small numbers to one of the largest migratory flows in Europe. Much of the literature on this topic covers case studies of the labor migration of ethnic Romanians. In the past few years, there has also emerged literature focusing on the migration of the Romanian Roma. As these two broad topics rarely meet, this paper seeks to provide a more comprehensive view of Romanian migration, focusing on migrants’ social identities and putting together studies on the migration of people with different ethnic backgrounds.
Romania is a rather diverse society, with significant ethnic and religious minorities; therefore, we took into account the diversity of ethno-religious identities rather than considering Romanian identity as a homogeneous category. In order to provide a comprehensive view of migration, the paper distinguishes between ethnic migration, where migrants migrate to their kin-states, labor migration of the majority, where migrants use their social capital in order to migrate, and migration of minorities, where migrants belonging to minorities use ties and networks in the same ethnic group. For the first case, the study analyzed the migration of Romanian Germans and Hungarians; for the second, that of ethnic Romanians; and for the third, the migration of Romanian Roma, a migratory flow that has attracted much attention in the past decade. Using this typology, the paper not only provides a more comprehensive and accurate image of migration from Romania but also discusses how identity and ethnicity can be meaningful categories in migration studies.

Northern notes, 2020

Covid-19 is changing diasporas. Romania has a large diaspora in Italy, the European epicentre of ... more Covid-19 is changing diasporas. Romania has a large diaspora in Italy, the European epicentre of the pandemic. Its one million strong diaspora is in perpetual flux between the two countries. Covid is macerating their relationship... here is why.

Social Anthropology, 2023