The unwritten 'Laws of Migration': Reflections on inequalities, aspirations and 'cultures of migration' (original) (raw)
Related papers
Anthropological Summary of Migration Romanian Mobility, Between Studies and Reality
Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai: Geographia, 2016
Anthropological Summary of Migration Romanian Mobility, between Studies and Reality. The anthropological analysis of the Romanian migration to foreign countries, thus also to Italy, appears as very useful for going deeper into this phenomenon bordered, till now, only within the transnational model. The present work integrates it showing the social and economic advantages of the phenomenon. This is, in fact, outlined from the perspective of the exchange of resources and opportunities between the two protagonists: the offer of the Romanian immigrant, characterized by a cultural system and values similar to those from the Italian past; the question of an Italian society completely changed, that has not yet succeeded to deprive itself of its cultural and traditional aspects.
Understanding Romanians' cross-border mobility in Europe: movers, stayers and returnees
Everyday Europe: Social Transnationalism in an Unsettled Continent, 2019
Barbulescu, R. I Ciornei, A. Varela. 2019. 'Understanding Romanians' cross-border mobility in Europe: movers, stayers and returnees In Everyday Europe: Social Transnationalism in an Unsettled Continent. Editors: Recchi E, Favell A, Apaydin F, Braun M, Cunningham N, Díez Medrano J, Duru D, Hanquinet L, Pötzschke S, Reimer D, Salamońska J, Savage M, Solgaard Jensen J. 195-224. Policy Press, Bristol 13 Feb 2019
Migration is a complex process and phenomenon with a multi-dimensional and multi-motivational feature, which generated and continues to generate a series of challenges, costs and social benefits that need to be managed by each country facing this issue, according to the national and local social scale in the current context of globalization. European Union had been focusing mainly on a philosophy of no visas for work and travel for citizens thus dealing with different specific situations about migration: violence, racism, abuse of all sorts, being forced often, to adopt different positions and policies over time. In the 20th and 21st century, Europeans hadn’t been strangers of the social, economic and politic changes, but the globalization challenges have imposed lately a new way of intra-European reconstruction, of a new balanced, prosperous capitalist democracy.
Journal of Identity and Migration …
who acted as a key speaker of the session, focused her presentation on the importance of legal instruments, methods and institutions managing the Romanian labor migration abroad. She pointed out that, in the Romanian case, the main instruments for managing labor force emigration are bilateral agreements between the Romanian Government and the Governments of other states. In addition, Andreescu highlighted the benefits of public institutions' involvement in promoting and supervising legal migration. According to the present legislation in Romania, the Department for Labor Abroad, along with other competent institutions, promotes the protection and safety measures regarding the rights and freedoms of the Romanian citizens working abroad, as well as the prevention of any form of abuse. Moreover, as a result of setting up the institutional and legal framework concerning migration, there is an increased number of Romanians preferring to work legally abroad, usually with a contract, intermediated by the Romanian public institutions, which provides for certain rights and protection. Furthermore, the discussions in this roundtable brought to light a significant issue in dealing with labor migration, namely the availability of reliable statistics. Most participants acknowledged that the task of gathering information on transnational mobility is a challenging one. Andreescu pointed out that building up and centralizing a valid database on migration is difficult, as for instance Romanians use multiple channels (i.e. official contracts, private agencies and personal relations) to get a job abroad. However, most of the Romanian workers, around 48%, obtain a contract abroad on the basis of bilateral agreements, while only 10% are recruited by private work agencies. According to the data gathered by the Department for Labor Abroad from various official sources, there is an estimate of 1.3 million Romanians working abroad legally. Nevertheless, Andreescu claims that there is no reliable information on Romanians abroad having an illegal status. Similar statistical data limitations were reported by participants from other countries too. In order to better grasp the spread of migration phenomenon, Mr. Vasile Ciocan from the University of Oradea, Romania, suggested that one should distinguish between classic migrations (permanent) and circulatory migrations (temporary). He illustrated the usefulness of conceptualizing migration differentially by pointing out that Romanian labor migration falls under the circulatory migration pattern and it seems quite unlikely that one could properly understand the real number of Romanians working abroad if one uses only the conceptual tools of classic or permanent migration. In subsequent discussions, different methodological designs for studying migration were proposed. Thus, some participants suggested that macro-statistical approaches should be complemented by micro-studies concerning immigrants and their integration on the labor market. For instance, Ms. Romana Cucuruzan, researcher in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, stressed that beyond numbers there are persons whose life matter. Hence, she believes that several important questions
Community Based Migration Strategies of Young Romanians
2012
The paper will focus on temporary migration for work of young Romanians as a phenomenon that involves a significant part of society and creates consistent effects on the community of origin. This study explores the recent widespread culture of emigration, the motivations for leaving and returning, the values and behavioral changes as a result of “living” migration. The qualitative research methodology includes in-depth interviews, focus groups and case studies, taking as subjects, young migrants and families in Romania and the main destination countries and relevant actors in the host communities. The results indicate a complex picture of migration with the individual, the family, the household and the origin and destination communities as multi-acting factors in this phenomenon.
Theorizing Migration Across Europe: Perspectives, Concepts, and Mthodologies
With the focus on the post-2004 mobility of Polish citizens, in this article we discuss two interrelated questions; namely, what are the most productive ways to theorize contemporary Polish migration, and what are the most fruitful methodologies aimed at understanding Polish migration and Poles on the move? In the first part of this article we unpack three inter- related theoretical frameworks: ‘liquid migration,’ ‘regimes of mobility,’ and ‘transnationalism.’ The methodological discus- sion in the second part of the article focuses mainly on outlining and contextualizing the most common approaches to migration phenomena. by critically introducing quantitative and qualitative methodologies, we explore and indicate the advantages of the ethnographic perspective and the merits and predicaments of research engagement in multiple sites.
The nexus of motivation–experience in the migration process of young Romanians
Population Space and Place, 2017
This paper presents and explains the migration motivations and behaviour of young (age 16–35 years) Romanians. The originality of the paper lies in conceptualising the experiences and motivations of migration as a variable nexus during the migration process; that is, as a complex web of relations between motivations and types of migration experiences. A descriptive analysis introduces types of motivations for the first migration and for returning home. Dissatisfaction and opportunities in different spheres of life (job, education, family and friendship networks, and lifestyles) are the key variables explaining the dynamics within the nexus. This is contextualised by factors related to the individual, community, region, and country, in a multilevel perspective. The relationship between previous structures and the current migration motivations of Romanian youth are also addressed via a comparative European-level analysis. The first hypothesis, about the lifestyle motivations of Romanian students, is not supported by the data. The second hypothesis, about similarities between Romanian youth and youth from Latvia and Slovakia, is consistent with the findings. The third hypothesis, on the similarity between Romanian youth and the youth from countries of simultaneous emigration and immigration (Spain, Italy, Ireland) is partially supported only in the case of Italy. The paper draws on both quantitative survey data and semi-structured interviews.
ROMANIAN MIGRATION FIELDS ON THE MOVE
This is a presentation on the dynamics of the Romanian migration fields by county origins and country destinations, stream social composition, and consequences of migration experience at local level. Survey data on migration motivation are analysed in a cross-country comparative perspective. Implications for possible strategies for migration and development are specified .
The Migration Process of the Romanian Youth: A European Comparative Approach
2017
What are the social roots of the migration process for the Romanian youth of today? This is the key question of the analysis. ”Today” means here the period after the global recession of 2008-2011/2012. The Romanian youth is considered in a multiple comparisons approach. First of all, it is compared to the youth from eight other UE countries (Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Latvia and Slovakia), using data from a large survey interviewing at the end of 2015 about 30 thousands persons of 16 to 35 years old (YMOBILITY H2020 project - http://www.ymobility.eu/ ) The migration process is addressed as a sequence of territorial mobility actions starting with first emigration/immigration and continuing with first return migration, circular migration and intention to leave (combined or not with previous migration experiences). The roots of the process are identified by typologies and causal (prediction) analysis. We are using typologies of young migrants/stayers and typologies of motivation for migration. The motivation during the migration process is reconstructed in a four-dimensional space of job, personal communities (family and friends), human capital and lifestyle. These four dimensions combine in different ways for different stages of migration to generate types of migration motivations. Lifestyle motivations are, usually, associated with job, personal problems and personal networks. The whole analysis of this topic is developed in the theoretical framework of the nexus motivation-experience in the migration process and the concept of community of migration practices. Romanian youth through the lances of this methodology proved to be closer to Latvian and Slovakian youth on some dimensions and on Irish youth on the basis of other criteria that are detailed in the presentation. Why lifestyle motivation is of high intensity for some segments of the Romanian youth? How to explain the fact that significant segments of youth from poor and rich countries are highly motivated by lifestyle in their migration? These are examples of questions that are fully addressed by the presentation.