“A Productive Asset for the Country:” Refugees, the League of Nations, and the Greco-Turkish Exchange, 1924-1930

“A Productive Asset for the Country:” Refugees, the League of Nations, and the Greco-Turkish Exchange, 1924-1930

Author(s): E. Kyle Romero / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Refugees; Resettlement; Greco-Turkish Exchange; League of Nations; Henry Morgenthau;

In 1924, the League of Nations authorized a special commission to resettle the hundreds of thousands of refugees created by the Greco-Turkish War. The Refugee Settlement Commission (RSC) would be responsible for rehousing Greek refugees expelled from former Ottoman territories and resettling them in Greece. The RSC had a unique commission. In an attempt to effect a “permanent solution” to ethnic violence in the lands of the former Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations had helped broker the Treaty of Lausanne between the warring nations of Greece and Turkey that ended the conflict and authorized each nation to denaturalize and expel any Greeks in Turkey and any Turks in Greece, over one and a half million civilians in total from both countries. With the League's approval, the RSC carried out the task of resettling hundreds of thousands of refugees who had been created by international accord, forced out of their ancestral homelands, and expelled to Greece with the vague promise of citizenship, housing, and welfare. This paper follows how the Refugee Settlement Commission, a supranational organization created and legitimized by the League of Nations, sought to enact their visions of modernity and civilization through the resettlement of these refugees.

“Foreign Worker” Perspectives between German Trade Unions and Turkish Worker Organisations after the Recruitment Ban: Evidence from the Migrant Activism in Frankfurt

“Foreign Worker” Perspectives between German Trade Unions and Turkish Worker Organisations after the Recruitment Ban: Evidence from the Migrant Activism in Frankfurt

Author(s): Caner Tekin / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Migrant Activism in Frankfurt; Migrant Organisations; Migration Policy of Trade Unions; Recruitment Ban; Family Migration;

With the foreign worker recruitment ban in Federal Germany on 23 November 1973, the public featured one of the most controversial debates on how long the former guest workers would stay, and whether Federal Germany was a country of immigration. Between German trade unions and foreign workers these questions also remained contested during the 1970s. This paper looks into these contestations and explores conceptions of the former “guest workers” represented by the German trade unions and migrant organisations from the recruitment stop (1973) until the decade’s end. It discusses activities by Turkish worker organisations in Frankfurt, which were led by union functionaries and had charters promoting unionism, and compares them with the programmatic positions of the German Trade Union Confederation from the same timeframe. Although the period featured disagreements on the above questions, migrant activism at the local level suggests growing cooperation between trade unions and migrant groups as well as emerging agreements on the common migration issues, most importantly the foreign workers’ return option, their family migration and voting rights in German local elections.

German-Jewish Scholars in Turkish Exile: From the Winter of Despair under Nazism to the Spring of Hope in Turkish Academia

German-Jewish Scholars in Turkish Exile: From the Winter of Despair under Nazism to the Spring of Hope in Turkish Academia

Author(s): Filiz Künüroğlu,Ali Sina Önder / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Skilled migration; acculturation theory; emigrant scientists; Nazi era; Jewish community; university reform;

This paper documents the migration experiences of German-Jewish scholars who fled from the Nazi regime and sought refuge in Turkey in 1930s. Reflecting on the historical narratives originating from the memoirs of renowned scientists, their relatives, or their Turkish colleagues –e.g., a 1986 interview with renowned economist Fritz Neumark, memoirs of Klaus Eckstein --son of famous pediatrician and public health expert Albert Eckstein-- and narratives of colleagues of influential chemist Fritz Arndt, we analyze the dynamics of forced migration processes of German-Jewish scholars, which is a highly qualified and influential immigrant group, to scrutinize the factors affecting their psychosocial adaptation processes in Turkey. The method of qualitative document analysis is used and deductive approach is adopted. Results reveal that premigration expectations, perceived cultural distance, language, intergroup relations and children-related issues were the main themes affecting the adaptation of German-Jewish scholars. Results are discussed drawing on the acculturation theory.

From Religious to Ethnic Minorities: The Cultural and Social Integration of Pomaks into Post-Ottoman Turkey

From Religious to Ethnic Minorities: The Cultural and Social Integration of Pomaks into Post-Ottoman Turkey

Author(s): Gözde Emen-Gökatalay / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Pomaks; Turkey; Integration; Immigrants; Turkishness;

This article traces the cultural and social integration of Pomaks into post-Ottoman Turkey and the controversy over their ‘Turkishness’. Current scholarship on early republican nationalism is particularly interested in the importance of the imperial legacy in nation-building in the early republic period. Scholars discuss that the Ottoman legacy of the millet system was vital to the formation of Turkish identity because the republican elites continued to accept Muslim immigrants from the Balkans due to their Islamic background. A closer analysis of primary sources with a focus on Pomak-speaking immigrants, however, reveals not only the challenges that their cultural assimilation posed for the government but also competing versions of Turkishness within intellectual and political circles. This article argues for a complex understanding of relations between immigration and nationalism, which shows that the public acceptance of Pomaks as Turks depended on domestic factors, such as linguistic nationalism and security concerns.

Two Sides of the Same Coin? Contrasting Narratives of Bosnian-Muslims Migration to Turkey in Late 19th and Early 20th Century

Two Sides of the Same Coin? Contrasting Narratives of Bosnian-Muslims Migration to Turkey in Late 19th and Early 20th Century

Author(s): Omer Merzić / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Migration; nostalgia; Ottoman Empire; Bosnia; financial;

The decline of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th century caused numerous consequences for the region of South-eastern Europe, most notably the mass migrations of Muslims from the European regions of the Ottoman Empire to Anatolia. In Bosnia, thousands of local Muslims feeling intra-state, but also external pressure by the non-Muslim population, left their homeland to find a safer refuge. Recognizing limited scholarly attention which was given to the sphere of the lived experiences of the migrant trajectories, this paper aims to give a portrayal of the reality regarding the nostalgia and financial everyday life of Muslims from Bosnia at the turn of the century in the Ottoman Empire. To this end, it predominantly through a narrative analysis of two letters sent by Bosnian Muslims who migrated to the Anatolian town of Durgut. The oddity of these letters is in two heavily conflicting views on the lived experience of migration. The first one embarked on a highly nostalgic, sceptical, and pro-return perception reflecting on a specific “othering” of Bosnian Muslims in Turkey. In contrast, the other one, which was sent as a response to the first one, portrays a joyous assemblage of numerous benefits of migration to Durgut, mainly through the prism of economic benefits of migration to Durgut. However, to comprehend these pro and contra migration narratives, it is necessary to lay out the socio-cultural background of both Bosnia and Anatolian Ottoman Empire in that period. By providing an additional layer of the socio-cultural mosaic that coloured the ambiguous Bosnia-Turkey relations in the period this paper showcases multiple competing and opposing public narratives. In addition, the paper incorporates private correspondence of the Nametak family, in order to give another private layer in the understanding of these events and deliver a more resonant understanding of the broader context that encompassing Bosnian migrations to Turkey. This migration had a strong political, religious, and economic aspects and all of them had more or less an equal barring on the emigration process this paper mainly focuses on the economic aspects on the migration of Bosnian-Muslims to the Ottoman Empire. The paper is also oriented towards two published letters and numerous private letters.

Negotiated and Involuntary Return: COVID-19 Pandemic and Return Migration of Bangladeshi Temporary Labour Migrant Men

Negotiated and Involuntary Return: COVID-19 Pandemic and Return Migration of Bangladeshi Temporary Labour Migrant Men

Author(s): Md. Mohaiminul Islam / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: COVID-19; nationalisation; social protection; return migration; Bangladesh;

This paper investigates return migration of Bangladeshi temporary labour migrant men in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on a case study of Bangladeshi migrants, who are mostly occupied in low and semi-skilled labour-intensive markets in the Middle East and the Southeast Asian countries, this paper assesses the relational aspect between pandemic and return. It discusses the underlying reasons of pandemic induced return which is based on a fieldwork, conducted in 2021, with the Bangladeshi returnee migrants. It argues that migrant receiving states' exploitative policies–burgeoning labour market nationalisation and lack of social and legal protection mechanisms–are the overriding reasons of return, rather than the pandemic. Whilst the pandemic intensified these existing exclusionary policies, this paper depicts how the migrants conform to the policies of migrant receiving states through rigid visa regime, heightened labour market immobility, retrenchment, and wage theft, which resulted in return migration.

The Imagined Immigration and the Criminal Immigrant: Expanding the Catalog of Immigrant-Related Ignorance

The Imagined Immigration and the Criminal Immigrant: Expanding the Catalog of Immigrant-Related Ignorance

Author(s): Daniel Herda,Amshula Divadkar / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: Misperceptions; Anti-Immigrant Sentiment; Crime; Welfare; Population Innumeracy;

Whether it be about population size, origin, or legal status, what ordinary citizens imagine about immigrants is often incorrect. Furthermore, these misperceptions predict greater dislike of foreigners. But, if one considers all the facts that people could get wrong, researchers have likely only scratched the surface. To advance toward a more complete catalog of misperceptions, the current study focuses on one commonly held stereotype: immigrants’ propensity for crime. Using original data from a sample of college students, we examine the crime perception alongside nine established components of the imagined immigration, comparing their extent and consequences for a hypothetical anti-immigrant policy. Findings indicate that misperception levels vary across the ten factual questions considered. Many mistakes are consequential, but the criminal stereotype is the most damaging. It constitutes an important missing component in imagined immigration studies. The findings present implications for anti-immigrant sentiment research and for developing a more accurately informed population.

Immigrant Integration in Europe: Subjective Well-Being Perspective.

Immigrant Integration in Europe: Subjective Well-Being Perspective.

Author(s): Kamber Güler / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Review of: Immigrant Integration in Europe: Subjective Well-Being Perspective. Paparusso, Angela, Cham: Springer, (2021, ISBN: 978-3-030-78504-8).

The Politics of Migration: A Function of Discursive Rights, Integration, and Justice

The Politics of Migration: A Function of Discursive Rights, Integration, and Justice

Author(s): Philip Onguny / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: The Politics of Migration; politics; migration; function; discursive rights, integration; justice;

Review of: Demanding Rights: Europe’s Supranational Courts and the Dilemma of Migrant Vulnerability. By Moritz Baumgärtel. Cambridge University Press, 2019. 206pp. ISBN 9781108677837 Justice for People on the Move: Migration in Challenging Times. By Gillian Brock. Cambridge University Press, 2020. 256pp. ISBN 9781108774581 Transitional Justice and Forced Migrations: Critical Perspectives from the Global South. Edited by Nergis Canefe. Cambridge University Press, 2019. 330pp. ISBN 9781108380072 Migration and Integration: The Case for Liberalism Without Borders. By Tom Fraser. Cambridge University Press, 2020. 272pp. ISBN 9781108757997 The Perpetual Immigrant and the Limits of Athenian Democracy. By Demetra Kasimis. Cambridge University Press, 2018. 206pp. ISBN: 978110728057

Migrant and Satisfied? The Ethnic Gap in Job Satisfaction in the Italian Labor Market

Migrant and Satisfied? The Ethnic Gap in Job Satisfaction in the Italian Labor Market

Author(s): Giorgio Piccitto,Maurizio Avola / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Migration; job satisfaction; ethnic gap; labor market;

Job satisfaction is a desirable outcome both at the organizational and at the individual level. Anyway, little is known about the gap between natives’ and migrants’ job satisfaction, which represents a critical issue in the light of the increasing presence of foreigner workers in the Western labor markets. In order to shed light on this issue, we estimate a number of OLS models to quantify sex-specific natives’ and migrants’ job satisfaction, by exploiting a particularly detailed Italian source of data (the Survey of Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens). We find that being a migrant is not associated per se with any premium or penalty in job satisfaction. When we control for the different socio-demographic features and job characteristics of natives and migrants, it turns out that migrants are more satisfied than natives. Hence, it emerges in Italy a job satisfaction paradox based on the worker’s migratory status.

An Unnoted Effect of a Social Welfare Transfers Program on Unskilled Migration

An Unnoted Effect of a Social Welfare Transfers Program on Unskilled Migration

Author(s): Łukasz Byra / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Social welfare transfers program; Skill choice; Wage for unskilled work; Undocumented migration; Eligibility for welfare programs;

We consider a link between a country’s social welfare transfers program, SWTP, and the attractiveness of migration to the country by unskilled workers. The existing literature maintains that a SWTP attracts unskilled migrants, and explicitly or implicitly that excluding unskilled migrants from the SWTP neutralizes the effect of the program on unskilled migration. We reason differently. Even when unskilled migrants are excluded from a SWTP, for example because they are undocumented, the program still affects the said attractiveness, and it does so negatively. The explanation for that is that the program encourages native workers to choose unskilled work: for example, the program provides a cushion against unemployment, which otherwise could be guarded against by skill upgrading. The consequent increased supply of native unskilled workers translates into a lower wage for unskilled work. As a result, the lure of unskilled migration is dimmed. In sum then: in the presence of a SWTP there will be less unskilled migration than in the absence of an SWTP, even when unskilled migrants are excluded from the program. We conclude that the optimal SWTP involves less income redistribution when the relationship between the SWTP and unskilled migration is taken into account than when it is not.

International Migration and Integration: Turkish Immigrants in Poland

International Migration and Integration: Turkish Immigrants in Poland

Author(s): Gizem Karaköse,Filiz Goktuna Yaylaci / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Turkish Immigrants; Integration; Poland; International Migration; Identity;

This paper focuses on Turkish immigrants' social and system integration processes in Poland along the parameters such as identity, host society policies, communication with the host society, and ethnicity. The research was planned according to the qualitative methodology based on interviews and participant observation in Warsaw, Gdansk, Bydgoszcz, Torun, Poznan and Wroclaw between October 2020 and August 2021. According to the obtained data during the research process, Turkish immigrants in Poland enjoy social and system integration. On the one hand, the identity perceptions of Turkish immigrants in Poland have affected communication, which has an important role as well as in the social and system integration process. But on the other hand, while Turkish immigrants are loyal to their ethnic identity, they have moved away from the perception of ethnicity. Turkish immigrants spend more of their free time with the host society members, use the host society's language in daily life, and find a place for themselves in social spaces.

Return Migrants and Economic Re-integration in Rural West Bengal, India

Return Migrants and Economic Re-integration in Rural West Bengal, India

Author(s): Pranamita Banerjee,Bhaswati Das / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Return migration; economic re-integration; skill development; occupation; socio-economic background;

Return migration is relatively understudied. Return migrants are “the persons who are returning to their country of citizenship after having been international migrants in another country (both long-term and short-term migration) and who are intended to stay in their own country at least for a period of one year” (UNSD, 1998). We aim to understand how return migrants from different socio-economic backgrounds re-integrate into the economy of their society of origin. The study is based on a survey carried out in West Bengal, India. A drastic change has been noticed in the economic activities of the return migrants. At the destination, about 6 percent of the migrants used to work as causal labourers, which reduced to 2 percent after the return. Similarly, a rise ie self-employment was clearly visible among the return migrants. Re-integration after their return was a major challenge for these returnees. Less than 3 percent of returnees could use the skills gained abroad. It was evident that the standard of living among the return migrants was higher when they were working at the destination compared to the present situation at their place of origin, even when they are doing the same job.

The Perceptions of Migration During the Pandemic: What Twitter Data Tell Us?

The Perceptions of Migration During the Pandemic: What Twitter Data Tell Us?

Author(s): Sara Miccoli,Elena Ambrosetti / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Migration; Italy; perceptions; social media; COVID-19;

This paper aims to analyse sentiments and emotions about migration in Italy using Twitter, by comparing the period of COVID-19 pandemic with the previous year. We take Italy as a case study because it has been severely affected by the COVID-19, it is one of the largest recipients of immigrants in Europe and, is among the few countries that implemented an amnesty for irregular migrant workers during the pandemic. We apply a text mining and sentiment analysis to the tweets with hashtags and keywords related to the migration and to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that tweets related to migration express a sense of emergency and also invasion. No major changes occurred in the period of the pandemic in comparison with the previous period. Indeed, both negative and positive sentiments are present in the tweets in both periods, confirming a certain polarization in the public discourse about migration.

A Glimpse into the Minds of Thais: Unveiling the Factors Influencing Thai Local Attitudes towards Myanmar Refugees

A Glimpse into the Minds of Thais: Unveiling the Factors Influencing Thai Local Attitudes towards Myanmar Refugees

Author(s): Watchara Pechdin,Mokbul Morshed Ahmad / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Determinants; local attitudes; refugees; refugee-hosting population; Myanmar;

The attitudes of refugee-hosting populations towards conflict-induced refugees are an important factor to consider when attempting to create an accepting and welcoming environment for refugees. Previous studies on this topic have primarily been conducted in the Global North context, leaving a gap in research in the Global South, especially in Southeast Asia. This study bridges this gap by examining the factors influencing the attitudes of a refugee-hosting population in Chiang Mai province, Thailand toward refugees from Myanmar. Results by a logit model identified the significant factors determining attitudes as age, ethnicity, income, occupation, and total years of contact with the refugees. Even without legal recognition from the government, these factors continue to play a crucial role in shaping Thai local attitudes, particularly in regard to government policies on refugee management, life security/safety, and employment opportunities. When formulating refugee integration plans, these influences must be taken into account.

Future Paths in the Study of Migrant Descendants' Citizenship: Engaging with Critical Literature

Future Paths in the Study of Migrant Descendants' Citizenship: Engaging with Critical Literature

Author(s): Veronica Riniolo,Mari Toivanen / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Migrant descendants; citizenship; methodological nationalism; de-migrantizing approaches; transcultural capital;

This paper discusses how research related to migrant descendants’ citizenship could potentially benefit from recent critical literature towards migration and citizenship. On the one hand, we discuss how such research focusing on the so-called “second generation” and citizenship could draw from conceptualisations that approach citizenship as everyday practices and as lived experience. On the other hand, we reflect on how such research could benefit from calls to de-migrantize migration scholarship. In this paper, we also discuss how such critical approaches allow problematising the research categories, such as “second generation” or “migration background”, and what implications this has in terms of understanding the citizenship among migrant descendants. In the end, we suggest possible paths for future research and theorisation concerning citizenship and migrant descendants.

‘Granted’ and ‘claimed’ spaces of participation: The political activism of young immigrant descendants

‘Granted’ and ‘claimed’ spaces of participation: The political activism of young immigrant descendants

Author(s): Veronica Riniolo / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Young immigrant descendants; political activism; ‘granted’ spaces; ‘claimed’ spaces; participation;

This article – drawing on data collected during 39 semi-structured interviews with young immigrant descendant activists and other institutional and non-institutional stakeholders between 2017 and 2019 – aims to explore the spaces in which young immigrant descendants in Italy voice their concerns, ideas, and claims. Youth activism is conceptualised in terms of ‘granted’ and ‘claimed’ spaces of participation which enables the multiple manifestations of their activism and their relationships with other stakeholders to be captured. The analysis shows that processes of mobilisation from below (‘claimed’ spaces) strongly integrate with processes of top-down activation (‘granted’ spaces). These spaces are experienced by young immigrant descendants’ activists not as alternative ways of participation but as a pragmatic strategy to reach their objectives, both independently and through cooperation with different institutional and civil society stakeholders. Moreover, young immigrant descendant activists do not engage as ‘children of immigrants’: they express their claims first as young people and their activism is not restricted by their migrant origins, especially in those places – ‘claimed' spaces – created and shaped by themselves.

Reflections on ethics, care and online data collection during the pandemic: Researching the impacts of COVID-19 on migrants in Latin America

Reflections on ethics, care and online data collection during the pandemic: Researching the impacts of COVID-19 on migrants in Latin America

Author(s): Marcia Vera Espinoza,Alethia Fernández de la Reguera,Irene Palla,Julieta Bengochea / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Research ethics; online interviews; COVID-19; migration; Latin America;

While most borders in Latin America were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the dynamics of mobility and immobility in the region did not stop. In this extreme context, there was a growing need to understand how the pandemic impacted migrant and refugee populations, as well as the long-lasting effects of measures implemented to mitigate its effects. With many migrants facing exacerbated conditions of vulnerability and with new working modalities affecting all members of society, especially those who were key respondents to protect migrants in the first year of the pandemic, key ethical questions emerged about how, when and where, should research be conducted. This paper reflects on the ethical challenges we faced – such as interviewees' research fatigue, negotiation of access, researcher’s positionality and the strategies to create rapport – and the methodological decisions we made in the context of a regional project (CAMINAR) that conducted online interviews with governmental and non-governmental actors working with migrants between June and August 2020.

Ethical and methodological challenges of conducting research of ‘asylum institutional elites’

Ethical and methodological challenges of conducting research of ‘asylum institutional elites’

Author(s): Natalia Cintra de Oliveira Tavares / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Elite Research; Qualitative Methodology; Autoethnography; Observation-Intervention; Refugee Studies;

Research with elite groups poses a number of challenges for researchers. The study of asylum institutional elites brings even further difficulties, considering the political interests surrounding the topic. This paper considers these difficulties in the context of studying asylum institutional elites in Brazil in the author’s own PhD research, and provides the answers found to overcome some of these challenges. Albeit important, being able to access closed-door meetings, to observe the daily political plays and struggles that reverberate on how refugees are produced, managed, seen and controlled, creates a challenging ethical backdrop to ensure the care responsibility that should underscore any ethical research standards. As such, this paper particularly focuses on how a double role in the field – as a professional and a researcher – can contribute to and enrich institutional research, and how to overcome the methodological and ethical challenges of doing research this way.

Ethics of Care and methodological reflections of reuniting refugee families in Brazil

Ethics of Care and methodological reflections of reuniting refugee families in Brazil

Author(s): Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Ethics of care; family reunification; refugees; Brazil; the Majority World;

Ethical discussions have become key to Refugee Studies. Ethical guidelines on refugee research provide indications on how to conduct ethical research including the principle of doing no-harm. However, it is important to understand how ethics happens in practice (Guillemin and Gillam, 2004) before going to the field, during and after. This paper discusses my experience of “ethics of care in practice” through the process of conducting phenomenological interviews with 20 refugees in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, in 2018. My research adopts the four pillars of care ethics (attentiveness, responsibility, responsiveness, and competence) (White and Tronto, 2004) as a practice that contributes to beyond “doing no-harm” (Mackenzie, McDowell & Pittaway, 2007) in refugee research. My reflection contributes to this literature on “ethics in practice” and refugee studies (Muller-Funk, 2021) and provides a practical reflection on the ethics of care on research involving South-South refugees in a Latin American country.