The Catholic School in the Context of Growing Migration into Europe

Author(s): Elżbieta Osewska / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

In the last years, the intensified migration mostly of people from Africa and Asia altered the situation in Europe. The growing awareness of the importance of respect for human rights and the recognition of the equal value of all people of whatever ethnic origin, cultural or religious tradition, forced the European governments to adjust the institutional services to a new kind of cultural and religious diversity, but Europeans do not want to give up the economic, political, social, ethnic, cultural and religious harmony. Due to the impact of migration, many national curricula are being changed and transformed. But it is also necessary to examine how cultural and religious diversity in Europe is intertwined in school pedagogy. What are the relationships between European and multicultural values and/or between multicultural and Christian values? What is the response of educational institutions to the new political, social, cultural and religious situation in Europe especially based on huge migration influx? What are the possible conflicts between the dynamics of a changing culture on the one hand and the ambitions of the Catholic schools in 21-st century? The author of this text raises a few important questions connected with migration and education in Europe for further reflection.

Priepustnosť hraníc a jej priestorový model

Author(s): MÁRIA ČESALOVÁ / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 1/2018

In the age of economic liberalisation and integration of states, the role and definition of border is changing. What used to be a barrier in the past, is now weakening and becoming more permeable. While permeable borders mean heightened ease of interaction between states, they can also have some negative effects such as terrorism and illegal immigration. The aim of this article is to analyse the use of geographical information system (GIS) for creating spatial models of border permeability, which may help to solve the issues mentioned above.

ПРЕНАСЕЛЕНОСТ: ПРИЧИНИ, ЕФЕКТИ И РЕШЕНИЯ

Author(s): Ivo Tsekov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/2017

Defined as an undesirable state where the number of an existing human population exceeds the absorption capacity of the Earth, overpopulation belongs to the so-called non-traditional threats to international security that give the appearance of the current security environment. Managing demographic crises is crucial because they directly threaten security at national, regional and international levels. An analytical article would benefit a wide range of security specialists, academics, students and people interested in international law and international relations.

Türk Kökenli Göçmenlerin Kimlik Yönelimi

Author(s): Cengiz Kanık / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 1/2018

It was migrated from Turkey to European countries mainly Germany since 1960 for business purposes. The Turkish-origin immigrants, who planned to work for a short period time and return their country. But after ‘family reunification’ became a permanent in Europe. Today five million Turkish immigrants live in Europe. Today, the next Turkish generations who born in Europe are far more advenced the firs generation in terms of education and economics. This is also an important influence on their identity. So it can be said that three identites have developed in Germany. These are; hybrid identity, diasporic identity and ‘Euro islam’ ‘European Muslim’ identity. İn this article, the formation of identity, the types of identity and three identities that came up in Europe are sought to be examined.

Four voices of refugee solidarity along the Balkan Route: An exploratory pilot study on motivations for mobilisation

Author(s): Nicholas Parent / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2018

Scathing critiques of the European response to what has been widely called a ‘refugee crisis’ are not in short supply. However, as many activist mobilisations and solidarities emerged along the Balkan Route, this is only one facet of the European response to forced migration. Having interviewed four migration activists from four countries along this route – Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary – this exploratory pilot study sought to investigate possible motivational factors for mobilisation in light of the fact that the participants had no prior experience in activism nor interest in the politics of migration prior to the European migration crisis. Through content analysis of interview transcripts, two factors emerged as having potential implications for mobilisation: media coverage and visibility of refugees. Hence, theories about the media effect and intergroup contact are used to explicate the findings. Possible future research avenues are proposed.

Rethinking Mobilities: Solidarity and Migrant Struggles Beyond Narratives of Crisis

Author(s): Celine Cantat / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2016

Recent mobilities towards Europe have been framed through a discourse of crisis. This discourse presents migratory movements as illegitimate and exceptional, and calls for the deployment of emergency measures in order to restore putative order and normality. In this article, I propose to think of mobilities beyond crisis. First, I challenge the notion that Europe is experiencing a migrant crisis by relocating recent mobilities in a larger history of confrontation between sovereign power and movement. Second, I draw on ethnographic fieldwork conducted with refugees and solidarity activists in order to bring to the fore wider histories of autonomous migrant struggles against Europe’s borders and to uncover alternative accounts of identity and subjectivity that are being enacted within ‘Europe’. Last, I examine the discourse of Mediterranean Solidarity mobilised by migrants and activists and assess the way in which it disrupts the dominant European geography of borders. This investigation allows us to perceive and assess existing forms of political and ethical community that transcend the citizen/non-citizen dichotomy and open up the possibilities of non-territorial imagination of identity and belonging.

The Real Appearance of the Economic/Political Binary: Claiming Asylum in Bulgaria

Author(s): Raia Apostolova / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2016

The paper examines the distinction between ‘economic’ migrants and ‘genuine refugees’. I argue that the economic/political migrant binary belongs to a particular ideological presupposition which is present in classic economic liberalism. In migratory systems, this ideology construes the ‘economic’ and the ‘political’ vis-à-vis violence and lays the ground for subject differentiation. This logic, furthermore, imposes itself in the migratory system and its empirical reality (e.g. detention and reception centres). The struggles that we witness at borders and detention centres attempt to disintegrate definitions of what constitutes violence. The struggles against the imposed categories take place at two interconnected levels: at the border and in the repositioning of migrants from detention to reception centres. I empirically trace these levels within the practice of the asylum-system in Bulgaria.

Contesting the Dublin Regulation: Refugees’ and Migrants’ Claims to Personhood and Rights in Germany

Author(s): Fazila Bhimji / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2016

This study demonstrates how an EU law, Dublin 111, affects a heterogeneous group of refugees and migrants in Germany who first enter the EU through States such as Italy, Spain, or Hungary. The Dublin regulation allows refugees (with the exception of refugees from Syria) solely to make asylum-claims in the EU country through which they first enter and where they are initially fingerprinted. Therefore, if authorities find asylum-seekers’ fingerprints in the database and can thus confirm that they have been in another EU Member State, then according to the Dublin regulation, they can be deported to the first country. The study illustrates the ways in which many refugees and migrants in Germany negotiate the Dublin law in differentiated ways, which subsequently enables them to claim their rights to personhood and dignity. More specifically, this study interrogates how some refugees are affected by the Dublin legislation and how they negotiate this law. This group of refugees have varied status in Germany – some have claimed asylum, some fear imminent deportations, others have not claimed asylum within Germany, while there are others who are in the process of ‘getting out of Dublin’. The study explores how these refugees with differing positions, status, and background negotiate their stay and personhood in Germany.

Practicing Willkommenskultur: Migration and Solidarity in Germany

Author(s): Ulrike Hamann,Serhat Karakayali / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2016

During the ‘long summer of migration’ (Kasparek and Speer, 2015) a set of collective practices of solidarity with refugees in many European cities became (gradually) coined in public discourse as a ‘culture of welcome’. This article focuses on the volunteers in Germany who created structures out of the first spontaneous practices by building so-called welcome initiatives. Based on empirical research about these initiatives in Germany we share our first reflections about the attitudes toward migration policies, right-wing protests and the notion of integration held by these volunteers in order to illustrate what they think of the society of migration and its potential chances and conflicts.

Tire Nüfus Arşivinde Bulunan Bir Muhacir Mülteci Defteri Örneği

Author(s): Erdal Taşbaş,Necat Çetin / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 2/2018

There have been many causes of international migration. One of these is muhacerat- status of being muhacir. Muhacerat is migration of a person, a family or a society from a country to another country. It is a sort of asylum. It needs to have a link to the country, which is taken refuge in, such as race relations or religious relations. It is a troubled process due to obscurity of happenings met throughout the migration until reaching country of asylum. Besides, uncertainty about where to be settled in the country of asylum, how to be climatic conditions or living conditions there, is a big problem. Certificate of naturalisation is not given immediately and it needs some transitional stages. One of these is muhacir and refugee registers in which their informations are recorded till naturalisation. A sample of these registers has been in the archive of Tire Registry Office in İzmir. It was kept records of muhacirs and refugees coming to Tire till 1940 in this register. It was determined general informations, races and native lands of people and other family members. They were mostly from Yugoslavia and their race were Turks. They were temporarily registered in a neighbourhood and it was written administrative units and houses, where they were principally settled, in the section of thoughts. Photographs of some of them were attached to the pages, on which their informations had been, and it was written their residential addresses. This register was confirmed by judge of the county in 1935. It consists of ninety pages. Its size is 50x70 cm. It was not met with the another book in the same way in the archives of registry or other registry offices.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2015) The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Author(s): Ákos Bocskor,Márton Hunyadi,Dániel Vince / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2017

Andrew Geddes & Peter Scholten (2016) The Politics of Migration and Immigration in Europe. 2nd edition. Los Angeles; London; New Delhi; Singapore; Washington DC; Melbourne: SAGE. 270 pages

Author(s): András Éger / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2017

Republic of Macedonia – A Timeless Migration Mosaic

Author(s): Biljana Apostolovska Toshevska,Mirjanka Madjevikj,Marija Ljakoska,Svemir Gorin,Igor Radevski,Olgica Dimitrovska / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

This paper has the intention to depict the spatial and temporal dimensions of international migration in Macedonia. The observations are based on historical documents, from archive data and published papers all the way to contemporary records and data on immigration and emigration, as well as on interviews with Macedonian citizens who live abroad. Emigration and immigration are reviewed in two periods: first, from the earliest settlements in the area of today’s Republic of Macedonia until its independence in 1991, and second, the period from proclaiming its independence until today. Only the major migration flows that left their mark in the spatial, economic, social and cultural organization of the country are presented in the paper. Migration flows in the period of the Ottoman Empire, which have had great influence on the current demographic composition of the population of Macedonia, are given emphasis. However, an overview is also provided for other immigration flows towards Macedonia throughout history until today. A part of the paper refers to recent history and emigration after 1964, as well as to the emigration of Macedonian citizens in the period after 1991. Although estimates have been made, the question of exactly how many Macedonian citizens live outside their home country remains unanswered. At the same time, the paper touches upon an interesting topic of intensive foreigner immigration flows towards Macedonia in the period after its independence, especially from Albania, Turkey and Kosovo. Contrary to the immigration flows of foreigners, the emigration flows of Macedonian citizens are highlighted. Therefore, the positive net migration in the country is due to the immigration of foreigners with temporary and extended stay. At the same time, Macedonia is a part of the Balkan migrants’ route for the migrants from Asian and African countries.

Precarious Work? Migrants’ Narratives of Coping with Working Conditions in the Danish Labour Market

Author(s): Doris Pljevaljcic Simkunas,Trine Lund Thomsen / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

This article deals with migrants’ experiences of precarious working conditions in the cleaning and construction industries in the Danish labour market as seen from their perspective. The experiences are retained through biographical narrative interviews with migrant workers from Central and Eastern Europe and are used to gain an understanding of the concrete strategies they apply when coping with their short-term contracts, demanding working hours, risk of unemployment and other insecurities. Migrants’ experiences of precarity and insecurity in their work is confirmed, to some degree, in numerous research studies. However, the resistance and strategies expressed by the migrant workers in their narratives show that they have also developed specific ways to cope with this precarity. The article contributes to a new understanding of migrants’ responses to precarity in which they engage their social and cultural resources to cope with the labour market conditions they face in Denmark.

Russian Migrant Journalists in Ukraine After the EuroMaidan: From ‘Middling Transnationals’ to ‘Voluntary Exiles’?

Author(s): Darya Malyutina / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

Numerous Russian media professionals have moved to Ukraine in the last decade. These migrants can be seen as contemporary mobile, highly skilled, transnationally connected professionals who made a lifestyle choice by relocating to Ukraine. However, after the EuroMaidan, their move has also become increasingly political. Drawing upon a series of interviews with Russian media professionals living and working in Ukraine – and addressing their social relationships, professional practices and thoughts on return migration – I analyse the ways in which the lifestyles of these ‘middling transnationals’ can be affected by the political tensions between host and home countries. This paper draws upon the idea of transnational ties being not necessarily durable and supportive but, rather, flexible and multi-directional. I argue that the annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict in Donbas have altered migrants’ cross-border connections with Russia; however, instead of tying them to a place and excluding them from global networks, it might also push them towards inhabiting multiple transnational spaces. These observations highlight the political dimension of ‘middling transnationalism’ which is usually not considered in migration scholarship.

Religion and Gender in Migration to and from Central and Eastern Europe – Introductory Reflections

Author(s): Katarzyna Leszczyńska,Sylwia Urbańska,Katarzyna Zielińska / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

Since the beginning of the 1980s, the previously one-dimensional economic approach that was once dominant in migration studies has been critically reviewed and, as a result, migration has become problematised. The incorporation of other dimensions in the analysis of the processes of migration allowed for more complex diagnoses of global inequalities and related socio-cultural phenomena.

Assessing the Significance of Religion in Gender and Migration Studies: New Avenues for Scholarly Inquiry

Author(s): Sylwia Urbańska / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

In this article I discuss the need for more systematic integration of approaches dealing with religious beliefs and practices into the discussion about sources and areas of gender social changes that occur in global migration. Firstly, starting from the discussion about negative representations of religiosity in contemporary debates, I consider from theoretical and methodological perspectives why we should move the religious dimension from the margins more to the centre of analysis. Secondly, basing on an exploratory review of empirical research about intersections of religion and gender in the lives of international migrants, I discuss findings that reveal about religion as a potential mediator in the gendered revolution. I answer how they help to understand the complexities and ambivalences of social changes and identify the areas they concern. I argue that the revolutionary potential that arises at the intersection of migration, gender and religion is not limited to changing gender orders in religious organisations. It is religious beliefs themselves that influence migrants’ everyday lives and challenge the existing gendered contract in lay areas, in work relations, civic and political participation.

Political Power, Religion and Gender: The Case of the Vietnamese in Poland

Author(s): Grażyna Szymańska-Matusiewicz / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

This paper thoroughly examines the gender patterns of religious activity within the Vietnamese – the largest non-European migrant community in Poland. Basing on the result from anthropological fieldwork which I conducted in two pagodas currently operating in the suburbs of Warsaw I analyse this issue in the light of traditional gender patterns of religious life in Vietnam, as well as in the context of the politicisation of spiritual life under communist rule. The results of my research prove that whether a religious institution will become a ‘women’s sphere’ or will remain under the influence of male actors depends to a great extent on its political emplacement and relations with formal institutions of the Vietnamese state.

International Students at the Medical University of Łódź: Adaptation Challenges and Culture Shock Experienced in a Foreign Country

Author(s): Paweł Przyłęcki / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

The paper addresses the issue of culture shock and the challenges met in the process of adaptation to a new culture, as experienced by international students studying in Poland. Until recently, Poland has not been regarded as a very attractive educational market. Poland joining the EU in 2004 contributed to a surge in various types of migrant arriving in the country, including international students. However, for the last few years the number of young people coming to Poland in order to study has been growing steadily. Yet, this growth does not mean that state, local or university authorities have any knowledge of how to resolve possible future conflicts which might and often do arise between overseas students and the society which receives them, or of how to help these students with their everyday problems. This dilemma is the result of a lack of studies regarding this group. Previous studies regarding migrants in Poland were only slightly focused on international students. In spite of the fact that international students are migrants, they differ significantly from other types of migrant – mostly those who are in Poland for economic or political reasons. The aim of the research presented in this article was therefore to carry out an initial exploration of the problems which this group encounters both at university and in society. The research was carried out in two stages with medical students in Łódź. The first stage was a paper-based questionnaire completed by international students studying at the Medical University of Łódź (N=74). The second stage involved three focus-group interviews conducted with some of these students.

Adela Souralova (2015), New Perspectives on Mutual Dependency in Care-Giving

Author(s): Nóra Kovács / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

New Perspectives on Mutual Dependency in Care-Giving is a substantial contribution to the growing body of scholarly literature on the intimate aspects of international migration in East, Southeast and Central Europe. The project upon which Adéla Souralová’s monograph is based represents one of the earliest attempts to show and understand how migration has also impacted family life and childcare regimes in the East Central European region.