International Migration Institute

Guri Tyldum presents his paper 'What migration means: Recognising the diversity of practices embedded in cultures of migration' in Parallel session II(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Building on Douglas Massey's concept of a culture of migration, this article shows how ideas of when and how migration can be appropriate will vary, just like ideas of proper behaviour will differ between regions, at different stages of life and according to, for instance, gender, responsibilities and class. Consequently, migration is rarely perceived to be either good or bad. Instead it is understood as a potential response in particular situations for particular groups. The article shows how approaching migration studies with an awareness of the variation in meanings attached to migration, makes us better equipped to understand why some migrate and others do not. The approach is illustrated through a case study of migration from Western Ukraine.

Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels presents her paper 'American migrants in France, Germany, and the UK' in Parallel session II(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Migration between two countries, or localities within those countries, is usually examined only uni-directionally (although return migration may, often in a context of transnationalism, be taken into account). Examining the less-studied half of such a migration dyad can help us to understand more clearly the ways in which migration feedback processes function. This paper considers the case of Americans in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, three key receiving countries for American migrants (estimated at 2.2 to 6.8 million worldwide), and will examine the role of networks and interactions, broadly defined, which have played a role in leading these Americans to migrate. To do so, it will draw on 115 semi-structured in-depth interviews carried out in London, Paris and Berlin in 2011, as well as up

Anju Paul presents her paper 'Migrant negotiations/negotiating migration: A gendered variation on the new economics of labour migration' in Parallel session II(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 The new economics of labor migration theory has been frequently criticized for ignoring the gendered social norms and inequitable intra-household power distribution that make it difficult for prospective independent female labor migrants to leave their homes to work overseas. And yet increasing numbers of independent women labor migrants leave countries in the Global South every year. Interviews with 142 Filipina migrant domestic workers located in Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Canada, and the United States, reveal that prospective female migrants initially develop an individual-level aspiration to migrate and then have to negotiate with family members to secure these relatives' support for their migration decision. They win their family's approval by agent

Liudmila Kopecka presents her paper 'Children go first! Family strategies and educational migration' in Parallel session II(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Recent developments in migration studies have shown that is very important to pay attention to how migration decisions are taken collectively. Families and kin group play a significant role in the process of migration and influence individual’s behaviour. However, there have been only a few studies, which focus on family strategies and migration for educational purposes. This paper attempts to show what kind of role does family play in student migration from Russia to the Czech Republic and what kind of transnational strategies and migration projects do have parents, sending their children abroad. The field research for this article was conducted in a few cities in Russia and in Prague, in the Czech Republic, involving in-depth interviews with student migrants and their parents.

Jennifer Wu presents her paper 'Respondent-driven sampling as a recruitment method' co-authored by Rojan Ezzati, in Parallel session II(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS) is a peer-to-peer sampling method similar to snowball sampling, but with a mathematical model that weights the sample to compensate for biases in such recruitment. In this paper we focus on the recruitment side of the method, describing how we used RDS in our data collection among Brazilian and Ukrainian migrants residing in Oslo, Norway. The peer-to-peer recruitment approach of RDS helped us succeed in reaching our target sample size in the Ukrainian case, but not the Brazilian. In this paper we explore possible reasons for this. First, our two cases demonstrate that the target population size is not determinative of the failure or success of RDS, as the Brazilian and Ukrainian populations in Norway are roughly the same size. Nor does it appear that the so

Miriam Rehm presents her paper 'Migration feedback effects in networks: An agent-based model' co-authored with Asjad Naqvi, in Parallel session II(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper develops a computational network model of migration. The importance of ties between family members and friends in migration has been long recognised by other social sciences and is increasingly confirmed by econometric studies. The paper presents a micro simulation of an economy in which the heterogeneous population moves between three locations, a rural and urban location of origin, and the destination. The key elements in (return) migration decisions are network feedback effects and income opportunities. The simulations generate stable patterns and detailed information on distributions, which reproduce available data for the geographical population distribution, wealth, and remittances. The model generates the clustering of migrants both at the origin and at the des

Ana Paula Figueiredo presents her paper 'Should I stay or should I go? The role of relationships in the decision to migrate, stay, or return' in Parallel session I(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Despite an estimated number of over 200.000 Brazilians in London, there is no comprehensive research on their experience in the capital. This paper explores the various factors that affect the choice by Brazilians to migrate to and stay in London or to return to Brazil. Based on eighty interviews with Brazilians in London and eight months fieldwork with Brazilians women who work as cleaners in London, this research explores the importance of loving relationships on the decision making process of Brazilian migrants in London. The combination quantitative and qualitative methods of research made it possible to uncover how the break up of a long term relationship, death of a loved one, new love found on the internet or simply the hope to find love have more influe

Katherine Botterill presents her paper 'Flexible ethnography for practice stories of migration' co-authored by Karen O'Reiilly and Rob Stone in Parallel session I(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 In contemporary migration research, the dynamics of migration systems and the processes that sustain them have been explained through a narrow focus on origin and destination. Increasingly, however, scholars recognise the importance of historical, social and cultural conditions of movement, institutional frameworks and interactions, individual agency and everyday practices in their analysis of migration patterns and processes. Any focus on a single aspect of the above leads to calls for more attention to other aspects. We argue that structural and agentic processes are always and continually interlinked through the practice of daily life and that the goal should be to tell practice stories of migration (O’Reilly 2012), using practice theory as a meta-theoretical

Eleonora Castagnone and Sorana Toma presents their paper 'A life-course perspective on mobility trajectories and migrant networks' in Parallel session I(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 International migration is still mainly analysed as a one-time, one-way movement from an origin country A to a permanent destination B. Yet migration trajectories are often more complex, as migrants may travel through and successively settle in several countries, or engage in circular mobility. However, the factors that shape individuals' migration trajectories remain little known. In particular, secondary intra-European migration is still an under-researched area, despite the fact that qualitative studies suggest that secondary movements have become a common mobility strategy (Schapendonk 2010; Paul 2012) increasingly adopted in times of crisis (Sacchetto & Vianello, 2012; Cingolani & Ricucci, 2013). Taking Senegalese migration flows as a case study, this paper characteri

Tom Kleinepier presents his paper 'Life paths of migrants', co-authored by Helga de Valk and Ruben van Gaalen in Parallel session I(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Polish migration to the Netherlands has increased substantially over the past decade and is one of the main origins of migrants settling in the country nowadays. Nevertheless, still little is known on how migration affects the lives of these migrants in the family domain and what decisions are made by these migrants. In this study, we use register data from Statistics Netherlands to examine to what extent migration affects the timing (“when”) and sequencing (“in what order”) of family-life transitions. The majority of studies on family-life transitions of migrants exclusively focus on one transition only, which is unfortunate as different events in the life course are not separate experiences but are linked to one another. Therefore, we apply a more holistic approach by using sequence analysis

Rianne Dekker presents her paper 'Online feedback in migration systems', co-authored by Godfried Engbersen in Parallel session I(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Online media allow for transnational communication in migration systems that does not only directly affect non-migrants who are embedded in migration networks, but also possibly affects a broader community as a channel of indirect feedback. This paper studies the effect of transnational exchange of information via online media on migration processes. We take a migration systems approach and consider both the information sending-perspective of migrants in destination countries as well as the information consuming-perspective of non-migrants in popular origin localities of migration in Western Europe. Our results show that online media have become rather important channels of communication. Online feedback sending and -receiving behavior can be explained by personal characteristics as well as migra

Tania Tonhati presents her paper 'Female migration and intergenerational relationships: The use of ICTs by Brazilian migrant women in the UK' in Parallel session I(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This presentation aims to reflect on how the use of ICTs has reshaped the experience of Brazilian pioneer women in the United Kingdom and their relationship with their parents in Brazil. The literature on Brazilian migration argues that the second wave, initiated in the mid-90s onwards, was the period when women began to leave the country in search for employment, study and career improvement (Assis 2007, Padilla 2007). This paper argues that in the case of the United Kingdom, the migration of Brazilian women had also begun in the 1980s. Thus, Brazilian women moving to the UK should not be seen as followers of male migrants. They were active in the construction of the network effect. Therefore, I present that Brazilian female migration should be seen as a wide p

Maren Borkert presents her paper 'Worldwide@home: transnational networks in the Digital Age' in Parallel session I(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 In the almost 20 years of existence transnational studies have focused on a variety of topics and social phenomena (Faist 2000, Levitt 1998, Levitt & Glick-Schiller 2004, Pries 1999 and 2010, Vertovec 2004). Different perspectives on the nexus between transnationalism and migrants networks have emerged that have, on the one hand, led to the diffusion and rapid establishment of transnationalisation as a genuine field of study and approach. On the other hand, transnational concepts have become catch-all phrases for cross-border ties and have been seen as equivalent to such different processes as globalisation, de-nationalisation, de-materialisation, virtualisation or the ‘liquidation' of social relations. While some might mourn the unspecific use of the term, others add to its uncertainty with claims regarding t

Carolin Fischer presents her paper 'The (changing) role of family among Afghan communities in Britain and Germany' in Parallel session I(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper explores how Afghan families shape migration from Afghanistan and processes of settlement and community formation at European destinations. Social relationships based on family and tribal ties are sources of solidarity and make mutual assistance an imperative. How these attributes of Afghan families are maintained or re-shaped through migration and settlement in western countries has not been explicitly addressed. Focusing on the lives of Afghans in Britain and Germany I examine the reconfiguration of families and agency of family members, taking into account structural conditions enforced in the receiving society. I conducted a series of in-depth interviews with people who left Afghanistan at different stages during the last four decades and now live in Britain or Germany. The

Thomas Geisen presents his paper 'The complexity of migration: life-strategies of migrant family members and families' in Parallel session I(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 In migration research the concepts of network and transnationalism gained new insights on migrants as social actors. Most important was, that decision-making and balancing processes became bound back to the individual and its network-relations. In this course a new emphasis was given to the relevance of the migrant family as an important social actor in migration processes. For transnationalism the family is the most important social unit, which binds individuals together in an intergenerational social context, often over long geographical distances. It seems, that the family has become the most emplematic social form of transnationalism. However, looking at concrete family practices it can be shown, that the family itself is embedded into wider social relations build within the commu

WELFARE SYSTEMS AS EMIGRATION FACTOR: EVIDENCE FROM THE NEW ACCESSION STATES presented by Lucia Kurekova (Central European University, Budapest) Migrants from Central and Eastern Europe have become an inseparable part of the British ethnic mosaic. Eastern European migration attracts a lot of scholarly attention in the UK, however little has been said about the origin country perspective in this debate. What has driven these people to leave in the first place? What are the consequences of their decisions? Not only the costs – depopulation of rural areas in certain localities in Eastern Europe – but also the benefits – low unemployment, skill transfers and modernization projects – of this out-migration are occurring on an unprecedented scale. In this special series of podcasts, three speakers aim to bring these arguments to light, thereby filling the substantial gap in how emigration from Central Eastern Europe has been conceptualised thus far. WELFARE SYSTEMS AS EMIGRATION FACTOR: EVIDENCE FROM THE NEW ACCES

Olivia Sheringham launches her new book.

In this talk, Professor Ian Goldin discusses the themes arising in his book Exceptional People, which looks at the profound advantages that such dynamics will have for countries and migrants the world over. Special Lecture.

Seminar from International Migration Institute.

This special seminar hosted by IMI and presented by Professor David Leblang of the University of Virginia will address the drivers of international migration. David Leblang is the J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance and Chair of the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on broad questions of political economy and he is presently working on a number of projects related to the politics of international migration, the political consequences of the global financial crisis and the causes and consequences of global commodity price volatility.