Experiencing Ruptures in Migration. The Ordinary and Unexpected Journeys of Global Migrants
Experiencing Ruptures in Migration. The Ordinary and Unexpected Journeys of Global Migrants
Contributor(s): Delphine Mercier (Editor), Víctor Zúñiga (Editor), Kamel Doraï (Editor), Mustapha El Miri (Editor), Michel Peraldi (Editor)
Subject(s): Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Migration Series; Agency; asylum seekers; borders; California; challenges; Chinese migrants; France; high skilled; Iraq; irregular migration; Lebanon; Mexico; migratory experiences; Morocco; Syria; young migrants; youth;
Summary/Abstract: This book aims to portray migratory experiences, documented in the form of biographical narratives. We are interested in the dynamic aspect of migration, which effectively becomes a complex trajectory, made up of stages, returns, and circulations and no longer simply, as in the industrial era, a bipolar exile (there and here). In these complex and dynamic movements, many trajectories become bifurcations, by which we mean shifting fates. In these stories we found paths, events, and bifurcations, all combined together, in terms of biographical construction based on accumulated experiences. These narratives are both very banal and very unusual journeys, portraying a new international human globalization. They are simultaneously stories of barriers to be crossed in chaotic situations interspersed with peaceful events in quiet contexts. These journeys reveal not only the weight of migration policies, but also the certification policies implemented and developed by various countries.This book presents itineraries, social logics of mobility; the routes become the analysts. If statistics record regularities, the personal approach captures specificities that produce meaning and contribute to a reinterpretation of current forms of mobility.
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-1-80135-023-5
- Page Count: 223
- Publication Year: 2021
- Language: English
Chinese Migrant Women Creating Meaningful Lives Despite Vulnerable Statuses
Chinese Migrant Women Creating Meaningful Lives Despite Vulnerable Statuses
(Chinese Migrant Women Creating Meaningful Lives Despite Vulnerable Statuses)
- Author(s):Hélène Le Bail
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Gender Studies, Migration Studies
- Page Range:13-29
- No. of Pages:17
- Keywords:Chinese Migrant Women; Chinese; migrant; women;
- Summary/Abstract:In 2012, it had been nearly twenty years since Ma Li had come to Japan through a marriage arranged by a matchmaking agency. She had divorced six years earlier, but she still lived in the same village as her former husband: “Only the strongest women stayed in the region; the others have left. It takes a strong woman to travel that far to get married.” In 2015, eight years after she left for France, Wang Hong returned to China for the first time to see her mother and her son. “I am 54 years old. My mother is 86. Thanks to her, I am strong. For my family in China, I have been successful. In addition, I succeeded alone, without any support.”
- Price: 4.50 €
Conflict and Migration From Iraq: Building A Life in Exile Amid The Twists And Turns Of A Dramatic History
Conflict and Migration From Iraq: Building A Life in Exile Amid The Twists And Turns Of A Dramatic History
(Conflict and Migration From Iraq: Building A Life in Exile Amid The Twists And Turns Of A Dramatic History)
- Author(s):Cyril Roussel
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Peace and Conflict Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:31-45
- No. of Pages:15
- Keywords:Conflict; migration; Iraq; dramatic history; Middle; political; East; Europe; North America; Australia; Islamic Revolution; Saddam Hussein; Kurd; identity; political activist; political;
- Summary/Abstract:Migration from the Middle East has not always received as much media coverage as in recent years (2015–2016). Yet a continuous flow of emigration towards Europe, North America, and Australia essentially began in the 1970s and 1980s. It mostly involved urban elites leaving countries led by regimes that were repressive towards them, like in Iran after the Islamic Revolution, Turkey after the military dictatorship, or Iraq in the time of Saddam Hussein. Opponents to these regimes became political refugees, some of whom formed the embryos of future diasporas in the West. Here we have chosen to present one of them, who was threatened as a Kurd (a group persecuted in the Middle East following their fight for the recognition of their identity) and at the same time as a political activist and member of the Communist Party.
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From Family Dispersion to Asylum-Seeking: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon and Syria
From Family Dispersion to Asylum-Seeking: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon and Syria
(From Family Dispersion to Asylum-Seeking: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon and Syria)
- Author(s):Kamel Doraï
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Family and social welfare, Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:47-59
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:Family; Asylum; Palestinian; Refugees; Lebanon; Syria;
- Summary/Abstract:In 2011, when the Syrian crisis began, many families gradually left Syria to seek asylum in neighboring countries. Palestinian refugees in Syria were gradually been caught up in the conflict and some of them were forced into exile. While most neighboring countries closed their borders very rapidly to this group of refugees, Lebanon adopted a more flexible approach (Doraï & Al Husseini, 2013). More than 50,000 Syrian Palestinians have found asylum in Lebanon. The geography of this exile is singular. Lebanon is one of the countries in the region where the legal status of Palestinians is most precarious. More than half of the Palestinians in Lebanon still live in one of 12 refugee camps, where socio-economic conditions are very difficult. This polarization of Palestinian migration from Syria to these areas may, however, be explained by the historical ties between Palestinian refugees in both countries (Doraï, 2015). Forced migration related to the current conflict in Syria is based on forms of mobility developed since the 1948 exodus (Nakbain Arabic).
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A Left-Behind Child From El Alto Protection Strategies and Redefinition of Kinship Ties for The Children of Migrant Women in Bolivia
A Left-Behind Child From El Alto Protection Strategies and Redefinition of Kinship Ties for The Children of Migrant Women in Bolivia
(A Left-Behind Child From El Alto Protection Strategies and Redefinition of Kinship Ties for The Children of Migrant Women in Bolivia)
- Author(s):Robin Cavagnoud
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:63-75
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:Child; el alto; protection strategies; kinship ties; children; migrant women; Bolivia;
- Summary/Abstract:Daniel is a 16-year-old teenager living in El Alto, Bolivia. He has no siblings and never met his father. For the past 10 years, his mother has lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she moved to work in a sewing factory. After her departure, Daniel moved to his grandmother’s home, where his aunt, uncle and cousins also live. Following the death of his grandmother, Daniel’s maternal aunt became his guardian, responsible for caring for him and raising him. Daniel is a left-behind child. Like many other children in Bolivia, he did not travel with his parents, in this case his mother, when she decided to emigrate. She preferred to entrust this care to his grandmother, then his aunt, two female members of her own family. Most of the leftbehind children in Bolivia are the children of migrant mothers who have moved mainly to Argentina and Spain, and these parents have often experienced marital breakdown. Their unique individual situation raises questions that are at the intersection of blended families, protection strategies, redefinition of kinship ties, and the journey to autonomy in adolescence.
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Journey to the Ordinary “Integration” of an Undocumented Moroccan Migrant in France
Journey to the Ordinary “Integration” of an Undocumented Moroccan Migrant in France
(Journey to the Ordinary “Integration” of an Undocumented Moroccan Migrant in France)
- Author(s):Mustapha El Miri
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:77-93
- No. of Pages:17
- Keywords:Journey; ordinary; integration; Moroccan; migrant; France;
- Summary/Abstract:In answer to the question: “How would you describe your experience, since you left Morocco, stowed away in the hold of a fishing boat, and all the way to your present situation in France?” Réda replies, without hesitation: 1It’s been quite normal. I’m like everyone else. I have a family, children, a house, a job. Everything’s OK […] It’s true, I’ve been lucky, sometimes it’s been hard, but the result has been positive and I’m happy that things are all right. The only thing I’d say about my life is that you mustn’t be afraid to work, and then after that things run smoothly […] My life is quite ordinary, I feel OK […] I think this is what most people want: just to have an ordinary life.
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Children Circulating Between The United States and Mexico
Children Circulating Between The United States and Mexico
(Children Circulating Between The United States and Mexico)
- Author(s):Víctor Zúñiga, Betsabé Román-González
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:95-113
- No. of Pages:19
- Keywords:Children; United States; Mexico; migrant;
- Summary/Abstract:Based on multi-site, long-term, ongoing research into the migratory trajectories of international migrant children living in Mexico, this chapter will describe and analyze the stories of three children who arrived from the United States to the state of Morelos, Mexico in 2012. Beto was born in Morelos, Mexico, while Flor and Lulu were born in the United States (Oregon and Arkansas, respectively). Beto moved to the United States when he was 2 years old. Flor was 10 and Lulu was 12 when they moved to Mexico. Beto and Lulu still live in Mexico, while Flor returned to Oregon two years ago.
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Life While Waiting: Experiencing the Asylum Application in France
Life While Waiting: Experiencing the Asylum Application in France
(Life While Waiting: Experiencing the Asylum Application in France)
- Author(s):Carolina Kobelinsky
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:117-129
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:Asylum; France; Palestine; Edona; Gazmadh;
- Summary/Abstract:It is half past ten. Edona and Gazmadh Bashe finish their coffee and sit around the small round table, next to the bed that was already made. Gazmadh goes downstairs to the first floor where the social workers’ offices are to look for his mail. He then goes to the ground floor, at the entrance of the reception center for asylum-seekers (CADA), where smokers sometimes gather. He meets Omar, a neighbor from his hallway, and a “Russian from the fourth floor” whose name hedoesn’t know. They talk about the weather, go out to smoke, have two cigarettes.They say hello to those who come in, to those who go out. Edona, on the other hand, goes to wash the cups in the shared kitchen. I go with her. There is already a lady there preparing lunch. Back in the room, Edona turns on the television,mutes it, takes out a small French dictionary and a paperback she borrowed from the municipal library. She systematically looks up the definitions of all the words she doesn’t know, asks me them “to make sure,” and then writes them down on a blue notepad. Gazmadh comes back. Edona asks him if there was any mail.“No” he replies. He turns the sound on the TV back on and stretches out on the bed. Edona continues to read. I leave. […]
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A Family Resemblance: Migration, Work and Loyalty
A Family Resemblance: Migration, Work and Loyalty
(A Family Resemblance: Migration, Work and Loyalty)
- Author(s):Frédéric Décosse
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Social Sciences, Economy, Literary Texts, Psychology, Essay|Book Review |Scientific Life, General Reference Works, Geography, Regional studies, Library and Information Science, Sociology
- Page Range:131-145
- No. of Pages:15
- Keywords:Family Resemblance; migration; work loyalty; Ayoub; Malika Amrani; Morocco; Tunisia
- Summary/Abstract:Ayoub and Malika Amrani are husband and wife, former farm workerswho, for many years, came to France on OMI contracts to do seasonal work for a farmer in the Bouches-du-Rhône area. In the early 1970s, the young woman’s father and uncle, fellahs2from the Moroccan Prerif who had emigrated to the city, found a contract in the city of Grans, on the Crau plain, and gradually “sponsored” the next generation of migrants. In 1990, when Malika was recruited to join them, there were about ten family members already working on the farm. Though she was formally employed as a farm worker, she actually worked as a “servant” for the farmer and his family. Against the advice of her employer, who wanted nothing to distract her from her work, she got married and held a big wedding in Fez, to which her employer was invited. Ayoub, her husband, was recruited to work in the orchards. As a newlywed, Malika had more and more trouble accepting the abuse and bullying her parents had endured until then. She became increasingly opposed to her employer. 2000 marked a breaking point, when Ayoub fell from an apple tree and was seriously injured. His pelvis was fractured. Their employer was reluctant to report it as a work-related accident. The couple stood up to him, and the following year, none of the family’s contracts were renewed. It was a form of retaliation. It was a collective punishment, as if to remind the migrants that they were bound to their employer by the same duty of loyalty. This incident would have lasting consequences on Malika’s relationship with her family, who accused her of being selfish. In the meantime, Malika became a prominent figure in the movement to defend seasonal migrants’ rights, almost in spite of herself. Her story was the subject of several articles in the media and was taken up by the Collectif de défense des travailleurs agricoles saisonniers (Collective for the Defense of Seasonal Agricultural Workers) (CODETRAS).
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Working in The Maquiladoras, Migrating To Survive and Living Transnationally
Working in The Maquiladoras, Migrating To Survive and Living Transnationally
(Working in The Maquiladoras, Migrating To Survive and Living Transnationally)
- Author(s):Delphine Mercier
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Migration Studies
- Page Range:147-159
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:Working; Maquiladoras; migrating; survive; living; transnationally; Mexico;
- Summary/Abstract:Suzana was 47 years old when I met her. She comes from an Azumbilla village in the state of Puebla, Mexico. Her whole family is still there: her mother, her siblings, her husband, and two of her daughters. She left her village 10 years ago to go to work in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, in the domestic work sector. Before arriving in Mexico, Suzana worked in the maquiladora textile factories1 of Azumbilla. These precarious factories assembled clothes (shorts, trousers, shirts, etc.) for the US army. The factories were set up near2 La Bestia railway line, La Bestia being the freight train that traverses the length of Mexico and transports illegal migrants from Central America or other regions of Mexico. The train passes by very close to Azumbilla. Migration in their village is part of the history of every family; everyone has an episode of migration to the United States in this village. Suzana married very young and had two daughters. Her first husband left her and moved in with the neighbour with whom he had eleven children. Following this traumatic moment in her life as a wife, woman and mother, Suzana decided to work in transnational companies, no doubt hoping to get closer to the United States. She then met someone else while she was still married to her first husband. Her fiancé left for the United States to earn money and to bring her there later. Suzana was pregnant and waited several months without any news. One morning her fiancé's mother told her that she should not waiting any longer, that he will not come back and that he has found another woman there. Suzana lived through her second trauma. She left to go to Mexico (internal migration) where she stayed at her cousins' house. Initially, her daughters stayed in Azumbilla with their grandmother. The eldest had already reached adulthood and joined her mother, and the two youngest stayed in Azumbilla. The second youngest married a local, Oscar who also migrated for two years to build up capital. The youngest daughter stayed in the village in the small house that Suzana managed to build little by little over time. Her youngest daughter was also in a relationship, much too young according to Suzana. Aged 17 years old, her boyfriend almost migrated on a whim while her daughter was expecting a baby. Suzana intervened; she found work for her third son-in-law in the textile maquiladora. Her eldest daughter married a local who found a job in Mexico City. He is a building caretaker; it is better than nothing. This situation highlights a trajectory of precariousness during which migration appears as a possible step, a possible job in the precarious “career”.
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From “Expats” To Migrants: Mano’s Worlds in Marrakesh
From “Expats” To Migrants: Mano’s Worlds in Marrakesh
(From “Expats” To Migrants: Mano’s Worlds in Marrakesh)
- Author(s):Michel Peraldi
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
- Page Range:163-175
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:Expats; migrants; Mano’s Worlds; Marrakesh;
- Summary/Abstract:Mano was one of the first people I met in 2011 in Marrakesh, where I had moved for two years of fieldwork with the aim of conducting research into the history of the city and its urban development against the backdrop of a tourism-based economy (Peraldi, 2018). He immediately told me his story without pouring his heart out too much, then soon kindly and spontaneously offered to help me with my personal and professional paperwork. He came at the right time, as I was looking for a place to live and he worked at a real estate agency; above all, he knew many people in Marrakesh. He quickly found me a property to rent that suited me perfectly, then opened his social calendar to me and brought me with him to parties and dinners hosted by friends, and friends of friends. His world was nothing like that of the European jet-set featured in magazines that has given Marrakesh the reputation as a “place to be.” On the contrary, his was a social world where you met unknown people on the younger side, the vast majority of them French, often newcomers, and far from rich. There were also a few Moroccan men and women, all from the same generation and cultural and professional spheres as their French friends, many sharing a home with a French partner. Finally, many young children would run around among the dancers or fall asleep on the sofa at the end of the evening.
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The Aeronautical Engineer in Flight: Turbulence and The Capacity For Agency Across Borders
The Aeronautical Engineer in Flight: Turbulence and The Capacity For Agency Across Borders
(The Aeronautical Engineer in Flight: Turbulence and The Capacity For Agency Across Borders)
- Author(s):Alfredo Hualde
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Migration Studies, Transport / Logistics
- Page Range:177-191
- No. of Pages:15
- Keywords:Aeronautical Engineer in Flight; turbulence; Capacity For Agency Across Borders; Mexican; United States; American; childhood;
- Summary/Abstract:This paper examines the story of an engineer’s career and life in the aeronautical industry. Our engineer is 55 years old and has three children, all of them grown and successful. He is currently planning his retirement. As a Mexican born on the border with the United States, he’s been familiar with the American way of life since early childhood. Little by little, as his career unfolded, he had to adapt to it completely, experiencing the work customs and the instability of the aeronautical industry first-hand, and repeatedly going through the turmoil of changing jobs. On several occasions, he was forced to start all over again from the ground up.
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Being A Doctor Over Here or Over There Collective Action: The Foundation Of The Capacity For Agency in The Migratory Process?
Being A Doctor Over Here or Over There Collective Action: The Foundation Of The Capacity For Agency in The Migratory Process?
(Being A Doctor Over Here or Over There Collective Action: The Foundation Of The Capacity For Agency in The Migratory Process?)
- Author(s):Ariel Mendez
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Health and medicine and law, Migration Studies
- Page Range:193-208
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:Doctor; collective action; migratory; French Public Health code;
- Summary/Abstract:February 13, 2015. Djamila’s name appeared on the list of practitioners who passed the examination required in articles L. 4111-2-I and L. 4221-12 of the French Public Health code. She was now a doctor and registered with the French National Medical Council. Her husband was so happy that he took a photo of her registration card at the Council and sent it to their friends and family. I met her a few weeks later. During the interview, she took her card out of her wallet: “it’s unbelievable,” she says, “it took me ten years...” And yet, a few years earlier, Djamila who had graduated with a DEMS (Specialized Medical Studies Diploma) from the University of Algiers, was working as a traveling nurse in a private French clinic. As a surgeon, she found the situation unbearable and incredibly humiliating. The other nurses working with her continually reminded her of her lower status. One day, Djamila reacted a little more brutally than usual to a remark that she had heard practically every day. “Are you a doctor in your country? And now you’re a nurse? […] Don’t you prefer being a doctor? Why don’t you go home? You’ll never be a doctor here.” Djamila’s answer to her colleague was quite direct: “The difference between you and me is that you’re a nurse and for you the elevator is stuck on the ground floor. Whereas I can get in the elevator and one day I’ll be on the top floor.” The nurse complained to the management and Djamila was fired from her position as a traveling nurse because of issues with her relations with her colleagues.
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Conclusion: Uncertainty, Anticipated
Conclusion: Uncertainty, Anticipated
(Conclusion: Uncertainty, Anticipated)
- Author(s):Deborah A. Boehm
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Migration Studies
- Page Range:209-213
- No. of Pages:5
- Keywords:Conclusion; uncertainty; anticipated; migration;
- Summary/Abstract:Uncertainty frames nearly every aspect of everyday life, even as daily interactions are perceived and experienced as mundane or routine. Within the context of migration, such unpredictability can seem inevitable as people cross borders or are unable to do so. This collection powerfully shows us how the outcomes and destinations of migration are rarely assured. Here, uncertainty is to be expected: strategies enacted with a particular goal can bring about another outcome, anticipated events may not come to pass, crisis might result in stability, assumed trajectories lead to the unknown.
- Price: 4.50 €
