1st Edition
Contemporary European Emigration Situating Integration in New Destinations
At a time when European unity is politically challenged by the question of immigration and integration, it is easy to overlook the fact that there are significant numbers of Europeans leaving the continent. Academically, little is known about why Europeans leave the continent, how they chose their destination, and how they experience their migrant life. Drawing on the lived experiences of contemporary European emigrants from a range of different countries, this book sheds light on how global economic, political and social transformations spur new forms of migration and mobility experiences.
Contemporary European Emigration explores how Europeans experience economic, cultural or social integration, and the power relations which play out between them and their hosts. By delving through the lenses of national and racial identity, gender, age, and profession, this book provides enticing insights into how Europeans see themselves in the world.
By shifting our focus to migrants leaving Europe and observing the emerging challenges to European superiority as they play out in the microlevel of people’s everyday lives, this book provides a nuanced understanding of contemporary migration. Researchers within Migration Studies and European Studies will find this book an important addition to the literature.
- Introduction, Brigitte Suter and Lisa Åkesson
- Hybridity and hegemony: The integration of Portuguese migrants in Luanda and Maputo, Lisa Åkesson
- Locally embedded cosmopolitans: Young Europeans crafting their own space in Singapore and Tokyo, Helena Hof
- (Dis)Integrated women: Self-Other representations in the contemporary Italian migration to Morocco, Maria Giovanna Cassa
- Pathways of integration of young French of Maghrebi background in Montreal, Jérémy Mandin
- When Europeans move to Morocco ‘for Love’: Navigating legislative and religious boundaries in a Muslim context, Catherine Therrien
- Unravelling the integration paradox: The uprooting and home-making of Euro-Maghrebi minorities across racial formations, Jaafar Alloul
- Diverse encounters: European migrants’ contact zones in China, Aldina Camenisch and Brigitte Suter
Biography
Brigitte Suter is senior researcher and lecturer in International Migration and Ethnic Relations at the Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare (MIM) at Malmö University in Sweden. She has been researching a wide range of migration-related topics and has profound experience in qualitative, interpretative research methods. Her research interests include (im)mobility, social networks, the transformative potential of migration, ethnography, the mobility of highly skilled migrants in the global economy, as well as the role of norms and values in the field of migration and integration. Her latest publications include ‘Migration as Adventure: Swedish Corporate Families’ Experience of Liminality in Shanghai’, Journal of Transient Migration, 2019.
Lisa Åkesson is Professor in Social Anthropology at the Department of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg. She leads several projects on the recent Portuguese migration to Angola and Mozambique, which focus on postcolonial identities, power relations and transfer of knowledge. In addition, she has carried out research on Cape Verdean migration, exploring transnational families, remittances and relationships, return migration and cultural meanings of migration. She is the author of ‘Postcolonial Portuguese Migration to Angola: Migrants or Masters?’ (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), and she has published in a number of journals, including Ethnos, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Global Networks and Geopolitics.
"This innovative collection turns ‘integration’ on its head through attention to the contemporary migration of Europeans across the world. It analyses underexplored experiences and relationships, from China to Mozambique, and argues that, paradoxically, through decontextualizing the concept of integration, it can be reclaimed. A must read." – Bridget Anderson, Professor of Migration, Mobilities and Citizenship, Director of Migration Mobilities Bristol (MMB), Bristol University
"At a time when international migration generally receives much public and academic attention, European out-migration, especially to non-European countries, has been largely ignored, a gap that Suter (Malmö Univ., Sweden) and Åkesson (Univ. of Gothenberg, Sweden) seek to close with this edited volume. Individual chapters, written mainly by anthropologists, focus on European emigration to countries including Angola and Mozambique, Japan and Singapore, China, Canada, Morocco, and the Persian Gulf states. Contributors explore specific aspects of emigrants’ experiences, including economic, social, and cultural integration into the new milieu; the impact of emigration on national, ethnic, racial, religious, gender, age, and professional identities; and the social, cultural, economic, and political relations that develop between the emigrants and their hosts. Even though national boundaries have been crossed, boundary drawing on other dimensions is a constant preoccupation. Migrations from former colonial powers to former colonies are seen as raising particular issues of hegemony and hybridity. Overall, the case studies explore a wide variety of individual situations that play out in interesting, informative ways, belying the stereotypical image of privileged and consciously insulated expatriates." -M. F. Farrell, emeritus, Ripon College
