Onward migration to and within Europe has recently gained the attention of scholars who have criticized the assumption that international migration consists in a move from the home to a destination country. Most scholars have focused on migrants’ motivations for onward migration, and how onward migrants mobilise their capital to settle in a new destination country. However, little is known about the ways in which migrants negotiate the decision to move to a second destination. Migration scholars have often underscored the significant role of the family or the household as decision-making unit and consider that individuals’ decision to migrate is not always based on factors linked to income maximization. Drawing on empirical material of 61 in-depth interviews with Albanian male construction workers in Italy and Greece, I suggest that although unemployed (or under-employed) male migrants have considered about re-emigration as a practice to cope with crisis, decision to move and settle into a new context is taken by the household. Focusing on migrant construction workers’ considerations about onward mobility and attempts to leave the first destination, I show that onward migration decision may be shaped by family members’ needs, desires and expectations for the future. I argue that factors connected to women’s employment, children’s education, together with lifestyle considerations influence migration decision. Hence, it is possible that onward migration become a response to the crisis undertaken by the male migrants, who leave the family behind, or the desire and attempt to move to a new destination result in the creation of new transnational patterns across Europe. Differences between Albanian immigrants in Italy and Greece are associated to the migration policy in these two countries, as well as the geographic proximity between the first destinations countries and other EU destinations.
Dimitriadis, I. (In corso di stampa). Albanian migrants’ practices of coping with crisis: Considerations and dilemmas about second move from Greece and Italy towards a new destination. Intervento presentato a: 3rd WB-MIGNET Conferece, Zagabria.
Albanian migrants’ practices of coping with crisis: Considerations and dilemmas about second move from Greece and Italy towards a new destination
Dimitriadis, I
In corso di stampa
Abstract
Onward migration to and within Europe has recently gained the attention of scholars who have criticized the assumption that international migration consists in a move from the home to a destination country. Most scholars have focused on migrants’ motivations for onward migration, and how onward migrants mobilise their capital to settle in a new destination country. However, little is known about the ways in which migrants negotiate the decision to move to a second destination. Migration scholars have often underscored the significant role of the family or the household as decision-making unit and consider that individuals’ decision to migrate is not always based on factors linked to income maximization. Drawing on empirical material of 61 in-depth interviews with Albanian male construction workers in Italy and Greece, I suggest that although unemployed (or under-employed) male migrants have considered about re-emigration as a practice to cope with crisis, decision to move and settle into a new context is taken by the household. Focusing on migrant construction workers’ considerations about onward mobility and attempts to leave the first destination, I show that onward migration decision may be shaped by family members’ needs, desires and expectations for the future. I argue that factors connected to women’s employment, children’s education, together with lifestyle considerations influence migration decision. Hence, it is possible that onward migration become a response to the crisis undertaken by the male migrants, who leave the family behind, or the desire and attempt to move to a new destination result in the creation of new transnational patterns across Europe. Differences between Albanian immigrants in Italy and Greece are associated to the migration policy in these two countries, as well as the geographic proximity between the first destinations countries and other EU destinations.
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
