CEEOL - Advanced Search

Recent Immigration from the Republic of Moldova and Arab Countries to Romania. A Stakeholders’ Perspective on Local Integration

Author(s): Monica Roman,Ioana Manafi,Laura Muresan,Elena-Maria Prada / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2023

Keywords: Migration; stakeholders; asylum seekers; local integration;

Romania, a net emigration country, has witnessed a significant increase in immigration over the last decade. The objective of this paper is to highlight the facilitators and barriers to local integration faced by recent immigrants to Romania, as expressed by relevant stakeholders. Their often neglected views hold particular relevance for improving the well-being and integration of migrants in Romania. We focus on young immigrants from the Republic of Moldova and from Arab countries, relying on the data from 13 interviews conducted in 2021 with various stakeholders. The results of the paper reveal different integration mechanisms for the two groups. Some barriers are similar, being mainly related to document validation and lack of family support. Other factors act differently for the two groups of migrants. For Moldovan youth, language and cultural familiarity facilitate their access to the labour market and education, whereas asylum seekers from Arab countries need longer for achieving local integration.

More...

Language-learning difficulties and their influence on the Turkish-speaking migrant’s integration process in Belgium

Author(s): Emel Kılıç / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2023

Keywords: Integration; learning language; newcomers; intercultural communication; adult education;

Language learning is a challenge for those who have recently immigrated to a foreign country (henceforth newcomers), especially for adult newcomers. Here, we have adopted a holistic approach and asked Turkish migrants to share their perspectives regarding the integration process. For this, we interviewed 59 Turkish-speaking newcomers from a (mixed) social integration course, whom we had subdivided into six focus groups. We also conducted in-depth interviews with 14 experienced migrants who then shared their experiences, expectations, problems and ambitions. The focus group interviews show us that offering opportunities to learn a foreign language along with dialogues with local people, in an informal setting, gives newcomers a feeling of independence (empowerment) and helps reduce their cultural angst. In this regard, intercultural communication with locals plays a key role in newcomers’ cultural and social integration. With this, the individual perspectives and expectations analysed in this study have provided novel insights for shaping the formal and informal integration process.

More...

Reflecting the Smartphone’s (Imagined) Affordances in Refugee’s Journeys

Author(s): Claudia Lintner / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2023

Keywords: Imagined affordances; smartphones; refugees; temporalities;

The paper fosters the extent to which imagined affordances of smartphones help refugees to create meaning and thus maintaining a linearity/ continuity between their present, their past and their expected future. In doing so, the article is based on a social constructionist approach that expand the social construction of reality to include the digital level by reinforcing the necessity to rethink the implications of the digital for its basic concept of the social. In doing so, the article shed light to the importance of smartphones to construct or/and maintain a linearity between refugee’s past, their present and their future. Accordingly the results show, maintaining meaningful relations in the digital space and thus attributing meaning to their past and to their future helps refugees to bear the difficulties of the present. Smartphone thus offers new forms of agency to refugees during their experience of flight in constructing their mediated reality of meaningful relations connecting different temporalities.

More...

Internal Migration Patterns of National and Foreign Population in Italy. A Local Spatial Comparative Approach

Author(s): Alessio Buonomo,Rosa Gatti,Federico Benassi / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2023

Keywords: Internal migration; spatial demography; foreigners; nationals; local analysis;

A local spatial comparative approach to study internal migration of national and foreign population in Italy is proposed in the paper. Univariate and bivariate local analysis of spatial autocorrelation of internal migration rates of the two populations is conducted. Results are mapped and crossed with municipalities typologies identified by the Degree of Urbanization (Degurba) classification. The local scale of analysis allows to appreciate specific patterns of internal migrations normally ignored. Specifically, a dual spatial regime emerges between geographical patterns of internal migration of nationals and foreigners in terms of urban-rural divide and level of spatial polarization.

More...

Resilience Embedded in Psychological Capital of Ukrainian Refugees in Poland

Author(s): Izabela Grabowska-Lusińska,Agata Jastrzębowska,Ivanna Kyliushyk / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2023

Keywords: Ukrainian refugees; resilience; psychological capital; East-Central Europe refugee flow;

By this article we want to say that we still know very little about the migration of war refugees from Ukraine as the process has been happening massively before our eyes. This article contributes to the vast literature on refugees. Firstly, it presents a new non-Western perspective because Ukrainian refugees move predominately from Eastern to Central Europe. Secondly, it discusses the resilience of refugees, which we systematically embedded into the general concept of Psychological Capital (PsyCap), and proves it statistically in an interplay with three other components of PsyCap: self-efficacy, optimism and hope. The article also presents arguments for professionals on the ground to build a support on PsyCap resources, not only on trauma to Ukrainian refugees. The article is based on a small-scale exploratory survey of Ukrainian refugees conducted between March-May 2022 and field reflections of the coordinator of the Ukrainian House in Warsaw.

More...

Migrant-Serving Organizations: Supporting U.S. Migrants with Safe Digital Access

Author(s): Afshan Paarlberg / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2023

Keywords: Migrant-serving organizations; digital divide; equity and inclusivity; migrants;

Migrants to the United States face technology, language, legal, cultural, and economic barriers. Without direct voter influence, migrants engage with and depend upon migrant-serving organizations to build identity, address negative scrutiny, overcome obstacles, and acclimate to society. In a growing and shifted digital landscape, migrant-serving organizations are vital to providing digital accessibility amongst migrants. This paper provides a literature review regarding digital accessibility amongst migrants. It offers recommendations for migrant-serving organizations in investigating barriers and program design that support the unique digital needs of migrants.

More...

Thinking with the hands: LEGO® Serious Play® a game-based tool to empower young migrants integrating

Author(s): Birte Nienaber,Agnes Kriszan / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2023

Keywords: Participatory Action Research; Creative exploration methods; Lego Serious Play; Empowerment; Migrants;

In recent years, various low-threshold and often creative methods and tools have been developed, considering the specific requirements of vulnerable persons to explore their identities, experiences, knowledge, opinions and needs. The idea of LEGO® Serious Play® is based on play pedagogy. Playing allows to distance oneself from everyday life by sliding into a world of imaginations, ideas and utopias while concurrently keeping the ties to reality (Heimlich, 2015). LEGO® Serious Play® uses metaphors to enable participants to express playfully their thoughts and ideas. As the building process with Lego bricks is physical and haptic, LEGO® Serious Play® is a low-threshold method to work with vulnerable groups (Cavaliero, 2017).The following article will concentrate on the use of LEGO® Serious Play® as creative exploration method and its possibilities and limitations when used to empower young migrants in vulnerable conditions in the Germany and Luxembourg in the H2020 research project MIMY.

More...

The Contribution of Immigrants to Urban Economies: Exploring Citizens' Opinions in Athens, Greece

Author(s): Maria Vlahadi,Roido Mitoula,Luca Salvati / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2023

Keywords: Immigrants; Urban economy; Integration; Acceptance; Southern Europe;

Migration processes pose important social problems and demand appropriate integration policies. With this perspective in mind, the present study investigates native residents’ opinion on the contribution of immigrants to urban economy in Athens, Greece, using a self-reported questionnaire submitted to a convenience sample of 446 native residents 18+ years old. In spite of the current economic crisis, mixed responses were recorded about the extent Greek government should allow new immigrants to come, live and work in the country. Conversely, citizens’ opinions were rather homogeneous and negative when speaking about the state benefits granted to immigrants. Respondents who believe that, in the near future, a high (and possibly increasing) number of immigrants should be allowed to live, and work in Greece, demonstrated to be fully aware of the importance of integration policies. By contrast, in line with the ‘secular’ role of families permeating the Greek society, married people were more inclined to refuse any policy of immigrants’ integration compared to single people. Future research should emphasize how institutions, national/local policies, and contextual aspects including ethnic networks, social capital, and labor market conditions, may influence immigrant integration in traditional, Mediterranean societies.

More...

Labour Market and Immigration Nexus in V4 countries: Using Panel Data Analysis for the Period of 2000-2020

Author(s): Andrej Přívara,Beata Gavurova,Eva Rievajová,Zuzana Štofková / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2023

Keywords: Labour market; immigration; Visegrad countries;

Immigration and its effects have been a heating topic among V4 countries after the 2014 migration crisis. Hence the current study is interested to study the relationship between unemployment and immigration in the case of V4 countries. Accordingly, it covers 20 years for the period of 2000 to 2021. Using secondary dynamic panel data and applying fixed effect with Driscoll and Kraay standard errors. The result of this paper indicates a positive and significant effect of immigration on unemployment. Policy recommendation includes immigration integration policy and prioritise economic growth, inflation, labour movement free movement within EU and development policies while incorporating immigrant as factor to propel the growth in the labour-intensive industry.

More...

Tribal Migration in Indian Censuses: A Neglected and Litigated Area

Author(s): Avijit Mistri,Sudarshan Singh Sardar / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Tribal Migration; Politics on Migration; Colonial Censuses; SCs and STs; Tribal Majority Districts;

Tribe and caste migration in Indian Censuses did not get proper attention during the colonial as well as post-independence periods. Censuses in the post-independence period have followed a conservative approach to enumerating tribes, castes and religions. The migration data on Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs) have been presented since the 2001 Census, but its scope is limited. The enumeration of inter-state migration of STs is entangled in legislative jargon. When tribes in India have dipped into severe poverty and unemployment, forcefully alienated from forests and hills, confronted development-induced displacement, and migrated by distress driven to the urban centres in distant places in search of jobs. When the demand for independent territory or statehood, such as Nagalim, Zale’n-gam and many others, consolidating the tribal inhabited areas bifurcated into three to four neighbouring states leads to insurgency and mass cross-border movement of ethnic groups. The presumption of ST migration within the jurisdiction of the State/UT of enumeration in the Censuses during the post-independence period is delusive and very irrational. The study provides insight into such limitations of Census data on tribal migration, legislative jargon and politics involved with it. It also discusses the nature of provided data on tribal migration in colonial Censuses and the independence period.

More...

A Crisis Within a Crisis: Working and Living Conditions of Syrian and Palestinian Refugees during the COVID-19 in Jordan

Author(s): Cevdet Acu / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Syrian and Palestinian refugees; COVID-19 crisis; Vulnerability; Gender Inequality; and Jordan;

The COVID-19 pandemic has evolved into one of the most impactful crises of modern time, and most countries have implemented preventive measures such as nationwide lockdowns, closing certain businesses, and quarantine to prevent the spread of the virus. This study explores how the COVID-19 crisis and its preventive measures impact refugees’ welfare in the context of a developing country. The research is based on forty semi-structured interviews with Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Jordan. Research findings indicate that refugees are primarily employed in low-skilled jobs because of legal restrictions, which do not provide decent working conditions and socioeconomic security. Refugees are also mostly housed in high-density settlements with limited access to healthcare, sanitation, hygiene, and water (WASH) facilities. The research findings show that refugees are particularly at risk during the global health crisis due to precarious working and living conditions. This study concludes by providing recommendations on how to respond to future pandemic crises within refugee contexts based on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

More...

Rethinking Privilege: U.S. Americans in Cold War Costa Rica

Author(s): Atalia Shragai / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Privilege migration; lifestyle migration; Costa Rica; North to South migration; counterculture;

Drawing on an historical perspective and a migration studies conceptualization, this article seeks to rethink the concept of privilege and lifestyle migration as it refers to patterns of U.S. immigration to Costa Rica from the end of WWII and up until the late 1970s, several decades before the concept of privilege migration became a buzz word in migration studies, and before Costa Rica itself became a prime destination for privilege migrants. Based on oral histories gathered by the author in 2009 from tens of U.S. American men and women who moved to the country between 1950 and 1980, the article reconsiders the often-automatic link between economic wealth and privilege among immigrants and identifies non-economic manifestations of privilege.

More...

Psychological Impact of Anti-Asian Violence on Asian Americans under COVID-19 in Rural South Alabama

Author(s): Hosik Min,Roma Hanks,Denise Lewis,Shoon Lio / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: COVID-19; anti-Asian violence; Cambodian; Laotian;

This study analyzed the effect of anti-Asian American violence on Asian Americans’ daily lives because the hate crimes or sentiment was not salient in the early stage of the pandemic in rural Alabama. The survey was conducted from April to May 2020. A total of 234 Laotians and 119 Cambodians participated, and multiple regression models were employed. Two communities demonstrated distinctive sociodemographic characteristics. The younger Cambodians were more concerned about anti-Asian violence, which made sense considering that Cambodians gained new community members through international marriage brides from Cambodia. They were more likely to obtain limited information due to the language barrier and depend on advice from leaders they could trust. These results explained the higher worry about the infection for younger Cambodians, the significant influence of community leaders’ recommendations, and the higher fear by the educated. Laotians showed an overall moderating effect of age. Laotian fifties demonstrated that older adults handled better on the perceived disruption of COVID-19. They utilized various media sources to reduce their worry and help more appropriate damage-avoiding behavior for community members.

More...

Is the Combination of the Nationalities of the Couple Affecting Women’s Fertility Intentions? Insights from Italy

Author(s): Thaís García-Pereiro,Roberta Pace,Anna Paterno,Daniele Spizzichino / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Fertility intentions; type of couple; migrants; selection; adaptation; Italy;

Recently, there has been a rising interest on migrants’ fertility intentions (FIs). However, to the best of our knowledge, none of these studies have investigated the role played by the combination of the nationalities of the couple on women’s short-term intentions of having a(nother) child. This article is aimed at contributing to the existing literature on the subject by filling this gap, testing whether and how women’s FIs differ according to the type of couple (native, mixed and migrant couples) while disentangling the influence of the selection and socialization or adaptation hypotheses. Data drawn from two ISTAT surveys were harmonized and merged for multivariate analyses. Results shown that both individual and couples’ characteristics matter in shaping differences in FIs between foreign women partnered to Italian men and foreign women partnered to foreign men. Simultaneously, the FIs gap between foreign women partnered to Italian men and Italian women partnered to Italian men also decreased, giving support to the adaptation theory. Finally, findings point out to the presence of gradients in the explanatory power of the adaptation hypothesis to differences in FIs across groups of migrant women according to their area of nationality.

More...

Special Dossier: Everyday practices of citizenship and identity among migrant descendants in Italy

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

Keywords: Migrant descendants; citizenship; identity; belonging; Italy;

Special Dossier: Everyday practices of citizenship and identity among migrant descendants in ItalyThis introductory piece makes the case for the need to advance our knowledge about migrant descendants’ lived experiences and practices of citizenship through the example offered by Italy. Debates around citizenship, migrant descendants’ identities and mobilisations have gained centre stage in the country in a period marked by increasing polarisation and racist discourses similar to those at the European level. The effects of these broader developments on the inclusion of migrant descendants require a closer examination of their political agency, which this special issue addresses through a collection of ethnographic studies regarding their identity narratives, everyday practices and acts of citizenship.

More...

Acts of Belonging: Second Generation Youth in South Tyrol, Italy

Author(s): Johanna Mitterhofer / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Citizenship; belonging; second generation; minorities; South Tyrol;

This article studies citizenship beyond its manifestation as a formal legal status, by exploring citizenship as a process shaped by people’s everyday practices and experiences of belonging. Through investigating the daily struggles over belonging and membership of young people with migrant background in the autonomous province of South Tyrol in Northern Italy, this study pays particular attention to the ways in which belonging on the macro scale (the nation, the state) and the micro scale (the village, the city, the region) clash, intersect and interact with each other. By highlighting practices of belonging at the margins of a state by actors considered to be at the margins of the state, this article contributes to scholarly debates that “decentre” citizenship by studying it at, from and for the margins.

More...

Young people with Tunisian origins living in Italy: A case of transnational lived citizenship?

Author(s): Andrea Calabretta / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Transnationalism; citizenship; everyday life; youth; Italy; Tunisia;

In recent years, the merging of the lived citizenship approach with the transnational perspective has shed a brighter light on the spatiality of everyday citizenship practices. Starting from this premise, the present study investigates whether and how a group of young people, aged between 22 and 28, with Tunisian parentage residing in the province of Modena (Northern Italy) live their citizenship transnationally. It involves questioning what their citizenship practices are, whether their transnational ties translate into lived citizenship, and what are the sites in which these people live their citizenship. The study draws on 14 in-depth interviews collected between 2020 and 2021, offering fresh insights into the role of transnational bonds in shaping the geographies and the contents of citizenship practices among young people with migrant parents. The findings confirm the heuristic validity of merging the transnational perspective with the lived citizenship approach, especially when inquiring into the practices of citizenship among migrants’ descendants.

More...

Italian Citizenship Now! The 5W+1H of Second-Generation Activism

Author(s): Liana M. Daher,Davide Nicolosi / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Association; movement; citizenship law; identity; culture;

The general aim of this article is to give a broad outline of the migrant descendant associations in Italy and the reasons for their protests, with a view to understanding their status in society and the reasons behind their decision to mobilize as a movement. In order to describe the events, behaviour and reasons underlying the movement process, the protests will be examined by borrowing techniques from other practices, such as journalism (the 5Ws+1H model), that will be helpful in describing and preparing the ground for understanding collective actions. Several key features will emerge in this analysis, which offers a broad definition of the movement itself and the articulated network on which it relies on in accordance with the recent social movement theories.

More...

‘How much do we need to know?’ On the Ethical implications of Operational Research in Humanitarian Settings

Author(s): Nuni Jorgensen / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Humanitarism; Operational Research; Témoignage; Ethics;

International Non-governmental Organisations (INGOs) have long conducted operational research (OR), a mode of investigation that follows specific rationale and criteria. In the present work, I draw on my experience of conducting a survey with Central-American migrants in Mexico in the context of a humanitarian organisation to outline some of the particularities of operational research and examine the ethical dilemmas that arise from this modality of investigation. By centring my analysis on a question often posed by colleagues– ‘how much do we need to know?’ - I explore three interrelated topics. First, I look at the process of obtaining consent, reflecting on the organisation’s dual role as both healthcare provider and researcher. Next, I examine how research questions are defined and in relation to whose interests. Lastly, I discuss the definition of survey categories, examining how OR often contributes to framing migrants’ experiences according to pre-determined narratives of victimhood.

More...

Emotional Encounters During Fieldwork: Researching Brazilian Women Migrants as a Brazilian Women Researcher

Author(s): Thais França / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2023

Keywords: Emotions; affection; migration; encounters; reflexivity;

This paper addresses the ethical implications of doing qualitative research among migrant women while being a migrant woman researcher myself. Brennan (2014)’s affective turn shows us how affect (both positive and negative) irradiates powerfully between one subject and another; while Ahmed (2010) reminds us that our affective situation may shape what/how we will feel. Based on experiences and reflections, since my PhD in 2008, on Brazilian migrants’ experiences in Portugal, I borrow Teresa Brennan’s concepts of affect and Sara Ahmed’s notion of emotion to look at how our encounters throughout our fieldwork with migrant women affect our bodies and vice versa. Moving away from the insider/outsider dichotomy, I argue that our knowledge production practice with migrant women is a reciprocal emotional reaction, surrounded by inequality power dynamics, which entails a set of ethical implications when translating these emotional reactions as research outputs.

More...