Jenny Jems | University of Sussex (original) (raw)

Papers by Jenny Jems

Human Geography, 2016

It is very clear – as many journalists covering the unfolding migration and refugee crisis have p... more It is very clear – as many journalists covering the unfolding migration and refugee crisis have pointed out – that geography lies at the heart of the events taking place in Europe and the Mediterranean. It is a story of borders and routes, of distance and proximity, and of location and accessibility. The role of (re-) bordering has been fundamental in states’ attempts to ‘manage’ and ‘control’ the refugee and migrant flows and, in this respect, we observe a return to the more traditional practices of bordering – physical barriers and personnel-heavy security controls – rather than the previous processes of ‘externalizing’ and ‘internalizing’ border management. In the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans the external border of the European ‘fortress’ has been prised open, whilst the free-movement ethos of the Schengen area has been compromized by EU states’ reactions to the large-scale movement of migrants and refugees and recent acts of terrorism. In this introductory paper we brin...

There are abundant literatures on linkages between migration, remittances and development, betwee... more There are abundant literatures on linkages between migration, remittances and development, between gender and migration, and between gender and development. The missing link in this set of overlapping literatures is gender and remittances. Thus far, some studies have tried to determine whether female migrants are 'better' remitters than men: results are mixed. But this is not the right question. It is more important to explore how gender relations shape the sending, receipt and utilisation of remittances; and how, in turn, the remittance process reshapes gender relations. This paper takes the case of recent Albanian migration to neighbouring Greece-one of post-communist Europe's largest cross-border migrations-to illustrate how the patriarchal nature of the sending society, Albania, fundamentally shapes both the gendered pattern of migration and its equally gendered corollary, remittances. Based on questionnaire survey (n=350) and in-depth interview (n=45) data from fieldwork in rural southeast Albania and the Greek city of Thessaloniki, it is shown that the male-structured process of migration hardly allows women to remit, even when they are earning in Greece. Typologies of household-to-household remittances are developed. Interview data reveals that migration to Greece, and its attendant remittance flows, does give, within limits, increased agency to women within both the migrant and residual households, but things are on the whole slow to change.

Globalisation, Societies and Education, 2011

Mairead (2011) Reproducing advantage: the perspective of English school leavers on studying abroa... more Mairead (2011) Reproducing advantage: the perspective of English school leavers on studying abroad. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9 (2). pp. 161-181.

change, 1992

Page 1. 1 University of Sussex Sussex Centre for Migration Research Internal and International Mi... more Page 1. 1 University of Sussex Sussex Centre for Migration Research Internal and International Migration: Bridging the Theoretical Divide Working Paper No 52 Russell King, Ronald Skeldon and Julie Vullnetari Sussex Centre for Migration Research, University of Sussex ...

... Item Type: Book. Official URL: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/publications. Additional Information: ... more ... Item Type: Book. Official URL: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/publications. Additional Information: © 2003 Russell King, Nicola Mai and Mirela Dalipaj. Library of Congress subject classification: H Social Sciences &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; HM Sociology. Sets: Departments &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; Sociology. ...

Population, Space and Place, 2014

This paper focuses on the so-called 'zero generation': the parents of first-generation migrants w... more This paper focuses on the so-called 'zero generation': the parents of first-generation migrants who are initially left behind in the migrant country of origin and who may subsequently follow their children in migration or engage in transnational back-and-forth mobility. We challenge the prevailing optic on the left-behind older generation which sees them as dependent and in need of care, and stress instead their active participation both in migration and in the administration of care and support to their children and grandchildren. Drawing on interviews with mainly zero-generation Albanians, but also some first-generation migrants, in various geographical contexts-Albania, Italy, Greece and the UK-we trace their evolving patterns of mobility, intergenerational care, wellbeing and loneliness both in Albania and abroad. In telling the often-overlooked story of the zero generation, we highlight both their vulnerability and agency in different circumstances and at different times, shaped by family composition and the ageing process.

Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 2009

Studies in Higher Education, 2013

This paper reports on research into the ways that schools and colleges engage in university appli... more This paper reports on research into the ways that schools and colleges engage in university application processes. Questionnaire and interview data were collected from a sample of independent and state schools/colleges in two geographical areas in England: 1400 Year 13 students from 18 schools or colleges were surveyed and 15 in-depth interviews were carried out with school/college-based teachers or advisors on HE application procedures. The analysis presented in this paper compares independent and state schools with respect to: the types of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that students applied for; the way the process of HE application was managed in their schools; and how their teacher advisors explained and managed the HE application processes and outcomes for the students in their schools. We associate specific patterns of university choice with the institutional conditions within which they took place. Informed by Bourdieu's relational sociology, our discussion focuses on how schools in the two sectors mobilise different forms of capital in the competitive processes of university application. We also use the notion of doxa to explore how these micro-institutional processes and teacher advice relate to observed differences between state and independent sector students' HE destinations. KEYWORDS higher education; school-leavers; independent and state schools; doxa; capital. BACKGROUND Over the last few decades, supported by government policy, higher education in the UK has moved from elite to mass provision. The widening participation agenda has worked towards the target of getting 40% rising to 50% of school-leavers into higher education, at degree or sub-degree level (DfES, 2003). Efforts have specifically aimed at increasing the proportion of students from backgrounds that traditionally had not considered entering HE. This has stimulated growth in HE student numbers, accompanied by increased numbers of HEIs and a broadened curriculum to include vocational courses (Reay et al., 2005). In the longer term, sustained growth of the sector is anticipated in response to the demand for graduate-level qualifications in the workforce. Following the Education and Skills Act of 2008, pupils entering secondary education from September 2009 will be the first cohort to remain in education or training until they are 18 (DCFS, 2008). In both 2009 and 2010, the policy push to encourage HE enrolment has resulted in the demand for university places exceeding supply (Curtis, 2009; BBC, 2010a). Alongside the commitments to growth and widening participation (WP), the last Labour government introduced tuition fees. This produced potentially contradictory effects in which fees act to impede the transition into higher education of the very same students that WP seek to include. By 2006/7 the participation in HE of those aged 17 to 30 reached 40%, well short of government's 50% target and with much lower participation of lower socioeconomic groups (Findlay et al., 2010). More recently, changes in the economic and political climate, including the economic downturn and a change of government, have brought issues of the funding and operation of the HE sector into the limelight. The Browne Report (2010) reflected the dual aspirations of growth in the sector alongside increased student fees. Its recommendations prescribed reduced state support to the HE sector, removal of a cap to fees, availability of student bursaries, and mechanisms to recoup and deal with student debt accrued while attending HE. Subsequently, the government has implemented proposals to allow universities to charge student fees of up to £6,000 per annum, increasing to £9,000 if certain other intake criteria are met. When the White Paper was issued in early 2011, student demonstrations to protest against fees were seen across the country, some breaking into violence (Taylor et al., 2010). Although the effects of the increased HE fees and related conditions on universities are just beginning to emerge they are not yet known, it is highly likely that the risks of lifelong debt and unemployment will impact unevenly on who goes to university as well as the university and course they apply for (Elliot-Major, 2010). Within the changing national dynamics described above, questions about university access have constantly highlighted equity concerns which have particular significance in a country with low levels of social mobility (Blanden et al., 2008). There are ongoing concerns about how opportunities for university are distributed and more specifically about the inclusion of students from a broad range of social-class groups in more elite universities. In the face of widening participation in HE, the question about which types of university (Oxford or Cambridge; Russell Group; Pre-1992; Post-1992) students from different socioeconomic status (SES) groups apply for remains an important aspect of the equality debate. Indeed WP, as specified in the Browne Report (2010), is an intake condition for universities intending to charge the new higher fee levels. With Gorard et al. (1999) pointing to multiple determinants of HE participation rooted in family, locality and history, the persistence of social-class patterns has generated substantial research interest (Archer, 2003; Pugsley, 2003). Much recent analysis has referred to the work of Bourdieu (1984; 1986) and Bourdieu and Passeron (1997), which uses the interdependent constructs of capital, habitus and field to highlight the significance of education to social reproduction and the protection of class privilege. The interaction of these three central constructs have been used variously to explain and link the instantiation

Sociology of Development, 2016

Young, tertiary-educated emigrants see themselves, and are seen by their home country's gover... more Young, tertiary-educated emigrants see themselves, and are seen by their home country's government, as agents of economic and social change, especially if they can be incentivized to return home. In this paper we examine the barriers that prevent this positive impact from being fully realized, taking the case of Latvia, formerly part of the Soviet Union but since 2004 a member state of the European Union. We build our analysis on data from an online questionnaire (N = 307) and from narrative interviews (N = 30) with foreign-educated Latvian students and graduates. In moving beyond remittances, we examine knowledge transfer to the home country as a form of “social remittance” and break down knowledge into two types—that which can be transferred fully and that which can be transferred only partially. We find that students and graduates do indeed see themselves as agents of change in their home country, but that the changes they want to make, and the broader imaginaries of developm...

Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 2013

For post-Yugoslav countries, however, the migration data need to be interpreted with caution: hig... more For post-Yugoslav countries, however, the migration data need to be interpreted with caution: high rates of emigration from BiH and Macedonia and high numbers of migrants from Croatia and Slovenia reflect a history of internal migration which the events of the 1990s and the break-up of Yugoslavia turned into 'international' migration. The relatively high number of immigrants in Moldova and Ukraine is largely made up of Russians who moved there before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The other figure to draw attention to is the large stock of immigrants in Greece-1.1 million or one in ten of the population of Greece-which numerically corresponds closely to the stock of emigrants from Greece, 1.2 million, deriving from an earlier postwar history of emigration from Greece to Germany, North America and Australia. A final way of measuring the scale and relative impact of migration is through remittance flows, the last element on Table 1. The data show that the economic weight of remittances is especially strong in Albania, BiH, Moldova and Serbia, accounting for between 10 and 21% of Gross National Income. Comparison of these measuring poverty or gender inequality-see UNDP (2009, 208) for a useful chart of these variations. However, the basic HDI remains the standard and most widely used measure. 5. Although concerns over likely 'excessive' migration resulted in multi-year 'transition periods' before free movement for work became fully operational in the case of the 'southern' enlargement in the 1980s (Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986) and the major 'eastern' enlargement in 2004 (the so-called A8 countries) as well as the accession of Bulgaria and Romania (A2 countries) in 2007. 6. However, in the current period of deep financial crisis, Greek emigration, especially of highly educated graduates and professionals, has started again as a response to rising unemployment and falling living standards. The impact of the crisis on immigrants in Greece is examined by Domna Michail in her paper in this issue. 7. See UNDP (2009, 171-2) for the detailed evidence. For example, Albania's overall HDI ranking is 28 places higher than its per capita GDP figure.

International Journal of Environmental Studies, 2011

Ageing and Society, 1999

This article examines the personal outcomes of overseas residence in later life, by analysing som... more This article examines the personal outcomes of overseas residence in later life, by analysing some findings from the first large-scale, comparative study of the retirement of British citizens to southern Europe. Four study areas are compared: Tuscany in Italy, Malta, the Costa del Sol of Spain, and the Algarve region of Portugal. The analysis focuses on the expressed reasons for moving to and residing in the areas, the reported advantages and disadvantages, and the respondents' predictions of whether they would stay or leave in response to adverse and beneficial events. Overall the subjects give very positive reports, but there are considerable differences among the four areas. The associations of individual variation in well-being with both a person's ‘temporal commitment’ to the area and to facets of their social integration are analysed. The onset of severe incapacity, sufficient to prevent the continued running of a home, is the event most likely to cause people to leave...

Comparative Migration Studies, 2013

Set within the growing literature on migration and development, this paper has two interlinked ob... more Set within the growing literature on migration and development, this paper has two interlinked objectives. First, it examines remittances, a key element of the migration-development nexus, from a gendered perspective. Second it does so in a comparative empirical perspective, focusing on remittance behaviour in two contrasting settings, albania and ecuador. both countries have experienced mass emigration in recent decades. research is based on household surveys with remittance receivers in selected rural areas of both countries, supplemented by in-depth interviews with both senders and receivers of remittances. by using the concept of 'remittance dyads'-person-to-person transfers of money and gifts-we examine the gendered mechanics of conveying and managing remittances to see if they have the potential to reshape gender relations in these migrant households. they do, but the effects are limited.

Tourism Geographies, 2000

... Russell King School of European Studies, University of Sussex, UK Anthony Warnes Sheffield In... more ... Russell King School of European Studies, University of Sussex, UK Anthony Warnes Sheffield Institute for Studies of Ageing, University of Sheffield, UK Guy Patterson Department of Sociology, University of Exeter, UK Abstract ...

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2016