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Gendered Motivations for Return Migrations to Bolivia From Spain
Abstract
The aim of this article is to analyze the motivations for return migrations to Bolivia from Spain in a context of economic crisis. From the analysis of in-depth interviews with men and women in the areas of Cochabamba and La Paz, the decision to return home is proven to be embedded within relational gender dynamics. It is argued that the latter is the reflection of a patriarchal ideology that makes the difference when it comes to participation of both sexes in the economic and reproductive responsibilities taking place within the home in the societies of origin.
... En segundo lugar, a pesar del precario desarrollo de la información útil para estudiar la migración de retorno, y relacionado a que se trata de un fenómeno que necesariamente es precedido por un evento migratorio, la literatura ha mostrado que el retorno de migrantes es conceptualmente más diverso, heterogéneo y hasta más complejo que la propia migración inicial, dificultando las teorizaciones sobre el tema. Un ejemplo de ello es la constatación de una mayor presencia de motivaciones no económicas en las decisiones de retorno, asociada a consideraciones de orden emocional (Constant, 2020;Erdal, 2014;Carling y Collins, 2017;Martínez Buján, 2015). Por otro lado, la errónea conceptualización de la reintegración de la población retornada como el proceso de "volver a casa", supone desconocer que, de forma similar a la integración de poblaciones inmigradas, aunque con sus especificidades, la reintegración es un proceso que requiere tiempo y que a veces resulta fallido, resultando en reemigraciones (Kuschminder, 2017). ...
... Si bien varios trabajos académicos han estudiado diversas facetas de la reciente ola de retornos de migrantes latinoamericanos procedentes de España, los trabajos que han buscado investigar las motivaciones del retorno o las experiencias de reintegración al país de origen han estado enfocados en contextos de retorno como Argentina (Cassain, 2016;Cerrutti y Maguid, 2016;Cerrutti et al., 2018;Rivero, 2019), Ecuador (López de Lera y Pérez Caramés, 2015; Herrera y Pérez ; Vega Solís y Martínez-Buján, 2016;Mercier et al., 2016;Cabezas, 2017;Herrera y Moncayo, 2019), Bolivia (Martínez Buján, 2015; Vega Solís y Martínez-Buján, 2016; Parella y Petroff, 2019a y 2019b) y Colombia (Castro, 2016). A nivel nacional, los únicos estudios que han indagado, aunque sea de forma parcial, en las experiencias de reintegración de las personas retornadas a Uruguay son de corte cualitativo, habiendo considerado o bien migrantes de retorno procedentes de los más diversos países de acogida (MIDES, 2012;Filardo 2012), o incorporado a Estados Unidos como contexto de procedencia, además de a España (Koolhaas et al., 2019). ...
... La evidencia recogida también reafirma la plausibilidad de los enfoques que adhieren a la incipiente literatura que, sobre todo a partir de metodologías cualitativas, postula la importancia de las dimensiones emocionales en las decisiones que los migrantes toman sobre sus vidas y sus trayectorias de movilidad, conjugadas con las consideraciones racionales (Erdal, 2014;Carling y Collins, 2017;Martínez Buján, 2015). Asociado a esto, los resultados avalan la idea que las razones del retorno están menos ligadas a aspectos económicos y más a aspectos familiares que la primera migración (Gmelch, 1980;King, 2000;Yueya, 2014;Constant, 2020;Rivera Sánchez, 2015;Parella y Petroff, 2019a;Rivero, 2019), aún en contextos económicos del país de acogida y de origen excepcionalmente inversos a los que dieron origen a los flujos migratorios, pautados por el grave deterioro de las condiciones de empleo en España y por condiciones extraordinariamente favorables en Uruguay. ...
Esta tesis examina los procesos de retorno y reintegración de personas uruguayas con experiencia migratoria en España, el principal país de acogida y de procedencia de los flujos de emigración y retorno de población uruguaya en el siglo XXI. En el marco de una perspectiva teórica-metodológica que combina un abordaje multidimensional y procesual de la reintegración con técnicas cualitativas y cuantitativas, se analizan las diferentes etapas del proceso migratorio con el propósito de analizar los factores asociados a la diversidad de experiencias de retorno y reintegración. Luego de una descripción con base en estadísticas oficiales de la evolución de los flujos de emigración y retorno entre Uruguay y España en las últimas dos décadas, a partir de 37 historias de vida de personas retornadas se da cuenta del proceso de salida, asentamiento e integración en el país ibérico, así como de las motivaciones del retorno y la capacidad de agencia individual asociada a dicha decisión. La tesis concluye con respectivos capítulos de análisis del proceso de reintegración a Uruguay, primero mediante un análisis cuantitativo multivariado de la relación de la condición de migrante de retorno procedente de España con el acceso al empleo y la (re)inserción laboral en ausencia de subempleo y sobrecalificación (ECH 2012-2017), y seguidamente examinando la valoración de las experiencias de reintegración realizadas por las personas entrevistadas.
Los resultados abonan la crítica a la perspectiva utilitaria de las políticas de retorno implementadas por los países de origen y sugieren la necesidad de diseñar políticas pensadas desde abordajes más holísticos que apuntalen los procesos de reintegración psicosocial, además de profundizar las iniciativas para fortalecer la reintegración económica de las poblaciones retornadas.
... En suma, la literatura internacional ha mostrado que el retorno de migrantes es, desde el punto de vista conceptual, más diverso, heterogéneo y hasta más complejo que la propia migración inicial, lo que dificulta las teorizaciones sobre el tema. Ejemplo de ello es la constatación de una mayor presencia de motivaciones no económicas en las decisiones de retorno, asociada a consideraciones de orden emocional (Carling y Collins, 2017;Constant, 2020;Erdal, 2014;Martínez Buján, 2015). ...
... La evidencia reafirma la plausibilidad de los enfoques que adhieren a la incipiente literatura que, sobre todo a partir de metodologías cualitativas, postula la importancia de las dimensiones emocionales en las decisiones que los migrantes toman sobre sus vidas y sus trayectorias de movilidad, conjugadas con las consideraciones racionales(Carling y Collins, 2017;Erdal, 2014;Martínez Buján, 2015). Relacionado con esto, los resultados avalan que las razones del retorno están menos ligadas a aspectos económicos y más a aspectos familiares que la primera migración(Constant, 2020;King, 2000;Parella y Petroff, 2019;Rivera Sánchez, 2015;Rivero, 2019;Yueya, 2014), aun en contextos económicos del país de acogida y de origen excepcionalmente inversos a los que dieron origen a los flujos migratorios, pautados por el grave deterioro de las condiciones de empleo en España y por condiciones muy favorables en Uruguay.En estrecha relación con el mosaico de motivaciones descrito, se identifican diferentes niveles de voluntariedad asociados a las decisiones de retorno. ...
Este trabajo contribuye a la literatura que estudia la migración de retorno de latinoamericanos procurando comprender la heterogeneidad de motivaciones para regresar esgrimidas por personas uruguayas retornadas de España. Con base en el análisis de 37 entrevistas semiestructuradas a migrantes de retorno que residieron en el país ibérico, se corrobora el carácter multifacético de las razones para el retorno y la interrelación entre éstas. El análisis confirma que el retorno se encuentra menos ligado a aspectos económicos y más a factores familiares que la primera migración, aun en excepcionales contextos inversos a los que dieron origen a los flujos migratorios, pautados por el grave deterioro de las condiciones de empleo en España y por condiciones extraordinariamente favorables en Uruguay.
... Sin embargo, los factores personales aparecen fuertemente imbricados con las condiciones socioeconómicas, por lo que los determinantes del retorno adquieren una notable heterogeneidad lo que a su vez impacta en una variedad de tipos de retorno. De este modo, los aspectos afectivo-emocionales se conjugan con consideraciones instrumentales y racionales en las decisiones del retorno, complejizando el abordaje sobre los determinantes del retorno (Carling y Collins, 2017;Martínez Buján, 2015;Rivera Sánchez, 2015;Parella y Petroff, 2019). ...
... Her employers were both Saudi Arabian nationals. She worked in Dubai for four (4) years with the salary of $92 dollars. After her contract ended, she then moved to Hongkong where she worked for 20 years. ...
The global movement of people which coincided with the globalization of the market economy resulted into the feminization of overseas migration given the higher demands for female migrant workers from the low-income developing countries such as the Philippines. This has changed the landscape of overseas migration in the country since the 1970s where the bulk of overseas migrant workers were males as triggered by the oil boom in the Middle East (Ducanes, 2015). This paper examines the social dimension of transnational migration as experienced by Filipina overseas migrant returnees by understanding the motivations for temporary overseas migration, the factors associated with return migration, their narratives of transnational migration and their self-assessment of the impact of migration on their well-being. Qualitative interviews were conducted among seven (7) Filipina migrant returnees from Nueva Ecija. Results revealed the interplay of gender, migration and family in relation to push and pull migration. Likewise, the transnational experiences of these migrant returnees demonstrate the resiliency and agency of women in the context of development and transnational migration.
... While research on return migration has flourished in recent years, especially in the context of immigrants in Europe (de Arce & Mahía, 2012;Buján, 2015;Mazzucato, 2008) and the United States (Tezcan, 2018;Viera, 2018;Yu, 2016), many aspects of the return process remain in need of understanding. For instance, we still know very little about how immigrants contemplate the decision to return or not to return to their home country. ...
Even though research on return migration has flourished in the last decade, we still know very little about how immigrants contemplate the decision to return to the homeland. Using multinomial logistic regression, we examined the variables underpinning the return intentions of African immigrants in Canada—specifically, Ghanaians and Somalis in Toronto and Vancouver. Our key independent variables included immigrants’ socioeconomic characteristics, their time‐ and place‐utility factors, their attachments to the homeland, their integration into the Canadian society and their perceived levels of racism in Canada. We found that respondents who were born in Somalia were less likely to have return intentions, compared with those who were born in Ghana. Also, those who lived in Toronto were more likely to have return intentions relative to those who lived in Vancouver. Moreover, those who perceived the level of racism in Canada to be high were more likely to have return intentions.
... This difference could potentially be due to heterogeneity by gender in the multivariate migration intention model. Qualitative research suggests notable gender differences in return migration intentions, related to gender roles in family and society (e.g., Buján 2015). To test this, we re-estimated the model with two weighted sub-samples, one for each gender (82 men and 77 women are in the respective unweighted samples). ...
This study extends the literature on the role of institutional quality in international migration to an under-researched aspect: the intention of international migrants to return to the home country. We examined whether the perception of differences in institutional quality between OECD destination countries and Vietnam and the stated importance attached to such differences influence the intention of Vietnamese migrants to return home. We used data from a web-based survey (N = 159) conducted in 2016. The countries where the respondents resided comprised approximately 90% of the Vietnamese diaspora in the world. We considered six different dimensions of institutional quality. We found, both descriptively and by means of weighted logistic regression analysis, that Vietnamese migrants who perceive a greater difference in institutional quality between the destination country and Vietnam are less likely to report intentions to return. This effect is stronger for those who attach greater importance to institutional quality. However, gender shows notable heterogeneity, with the effects of institutional quality being more robust and closer to the theoretical expectations for men than for women.
... La mujer que migra en muchos casos es cabeza del hogar, al marcharse deja reflejado un vacío inexplicable en casa que piensa llenar al regreso, lo nuevo es confirmar ¡quizás! que al retorno de estas mujeres ecuatorianas en primera instancia no les motivó tanto sus ingresos económicos y los negocios a emprender, sino venir a inundar esa esfera vacía que llevaron en su corazón por un buen tiempo, el mismo que se comprueba cuando en los resultados se encontró que desean estar junto a su familia con la particularidad que la mayoría de estas mujeres tenían un estado civil de divorciadas, aspecto que no deja de ser un dato de peculiaridad pues sus hijos estaban con cuidadoras y en algunos hogares probablemente el padre no está; sentimientos que pueden llegar a ser similares a los de la muestra analizada en sus investigaciones por: Recaño & Jáuregui, (2014) Martínez-Buján, (2015); Resino, Jiménez, & Arranz, (2018) al coincidir de que es muy importante para la mujer el bienestar de los hijos, ellos se convierten misteriosamente en una razón fuerte para que su madre retorne a casa, más aún cuando los cuidadores de sus hijos no lograron controlar ciertas situaciones que ayudan a la formación integral de los mismos a lo que se añade que en ciertos hogares papá no está. Este fenómeno nos describe un cambio frente a la teoría neoclásica, demostrando que estas mujeres probablemente vivieron una nueva economía de la migración laboral (NELM) (Cassarino, 2004) en relación a la acumulación de ingresos para beneficio de los suyos, del hogar. ...
Las mujeres ecuatorianas que retornaron son actores fundamentales en la transformación y cambio social del país, sin embargo, algunos estudios realizados en la zona norte y sur del Ecuador hasta ahora son insuficientes en este aspecto. Por tanto, la finalidad de esta investigación consiste en describir una realidad encontrada en relación a los motivos de migración que se correlacionan con los motivos de retorno de estas mujeres, la familia y su implicación en el emprendimiento y planes de retorno previstos para su regreso. En esta investigación se utilizó una metodología a modo de «caja de herramientas» y la técnica «bola de nieve», el análisis estadístico y descriptivo, al igual que la encuesta en escala de Likert que reflejan datos contrarios, frente a especulaciones sobre: progreso económico, emprendimiento desde una política pública e integración-familiar en contextos transnacionales.
... Respecto del retorno, hombres y mujeres manifiestan razones diversas. Mientras las mujeres regresan para dar continuidad a su papel como gestoras principales de la unidad doméstica y de las dinámicas que permiten su reproducción social (Martínez, 2015), como el cuidado de los hijos o de adultos mayores, para los hombres, volver a Santa Ana implica dar continuidad a su responsabilidad de proveer al hogar. Así, la decisión de regresar se da por la conjunción de diversos factores cuando los migrantes reflexionan acerca de las condiciones de vida en el lugar de llegada, visualizan el reencuentro con sus familiares o proyectan la vida en el lugar de origen. ...
... However, what mattered was the type of migration experience and the returnees' skill levels and social capital, some of which were acquired in the previous country of residence. While some returnees return because of the economic situation in the receiving countries (Buján 2015), this was generally not the case among the interviewed Armenian returnees. The structural barriers to reintegrationsuch as high levels of unemployment and difficulties in obtaining a jobrelated particularly to the labour-market conditions in Armenia. ...
Return migration has been increasingly gaining prominence in migration research as well as in migration policies across the world. However, in some regions, such as the Caucasus, the phenomenon of return migration is little explored despite its significance for the region. Based on 64 interviews with returnees and key informants together with additional online surveys with Armenian migrants, this study discusses important issues about return and reintegration with policy implications. It covers voluntary returnees as well as the participants of the assisted voluntary return and reintegration programmes and presents the case for a multiplicity of the return migration motivations and experiences which are dependent on the return preparedness and the strategies which the returnees use.
... El bienestar de los hijos es un factor muy común en la decisión de emigrar o retornar (Gregorio, 2002;Parella, 2003;Recaño y Jaúregi (2014). En general, las mujeres entrevistadas que vinieron a España dejando a sus hijos en los lugares de origen nos comentaron, a menudo, que tomarían la decisión de regresar a su país, si percibían que los cuidadores de sus hijos no conseguían controlar bien determinadas situaciones; en esta misma línea encontramos referencias de otros autores (Martínez-Buján, 2015). Un motivo alegado, sobre todo por las mujeres, son los problemas con los hijos cuando llegan a edades adolescentes y jóvenes. ...
Los movimientos migratorios de retorno desde España están sufriendo cambios significativos en la última década. Este trabajo analiza la situación actual tras el llamado boom de los retornos durante los años más duros de la crisis. La metodología utilizada combina el análisis cuantitativo de los datos estadísticos con técnicas cualitativas que ayudan a interpretar las cifras y a indagar en las causas que llevan a los inmigrantes al retorno o, por el contrario, a permanecer en España. El análisis e interpretación de la evolución cambiante de los saldos migratorios exteriores recientes, tanto en los países de destino como en las comunidades autónomas de origen constituyen la aportación principal de la investigación.
... The decision to return is made in accordance with the social norms governing behaviour considered acceptable for men and women (Hofmann, 2014). For example, in her analysis of Bolivian migration in Spain, Martínez-Buján shows how men return in order to initiate a strategy of self-employment, whilst women are primarily motivated by the desire to comply with their role as carers (Martínez -Buján, 2015). In the case of Caribbean women, return is related to the genderisation of kinship and accepted behaviour in the provision of care. ...
This article looks beyond the explanation of returning Ecuadorian migrants in the light of the impact of Spain’s economic crisis, analysing return within the framework of the articulation of mobility and immobility strategies and the social and cultural gendered and inter-generational relations of trans- national households. It addresses the way in which female migration and return are closely linked to women’s role as carers, whilst male return is fre- quently conditioned by crises of masculinity, stem- ming from the loss of their role as ‘breadwinners’. The article concludes that return, must not merely be considered a journey back, but rather as a con- tinuum of mobility, framed by gender ideologies regarding the role of men and women, as well as by inter-generational strategies that are activated within the transnational space. The article is based on the empirical data obtained from a multi-sited eldwork carried out in Spain and Ecuador with Ecuadorian transnational families.
... La decisión de retornar es formulada siguiendo las normas sociales sobre los comportamientos que son aceptables para los hombres y para las mujeres (Hofmann, 2014). Por ejemplo, Martínez-Buján, analizando el caso de la migración boliviana en España, señala cómo los hombres regresan para establecer estrategias de autoempleo, mientras que las mujeres lo hacen, por encima de otras motivaciones, para cumplir con sus funciones como madres (Martínez-Buján, 2015). Para el caso de las mujeres caribeñas, el retorno se relaciona con la generización del parentesco y las normas de cuidado, de manera que no se vincula con cuestiones materiales, sino con el papel de las mujeres en tanto buenas madres o hermanas, tras haber migrado para ser proveedoras de la familia (Olwig, 2012) 2 . ...
This article looks beyond the explanation of returning Ecuadorian migrants in the light of the impact of Spain's economic crisis, analysing return within the framework of the articulation of mobility and immobility strategies and the social and cultural gendered and inter-generational relations of transnational households. It addresses the way in which female migration and return are closely linked to women's role as carers, whilst male return is frequently conditioned by crises of masculinity, stemming from the loss of their role as 'breadwinners'. The article concludes that return, must not merely be considered a journey back, but rather as a continuum of mobility, framed by gender ideologies regarding the role of men and women, as well as by inter-generational strategies that are activated within the transnational space. The article is based on the empirical data obtained from a multi-sited fieldwork carried out in Spain and Ecuador with Ecuadorian transnational families.
... Para algunos de los países -Bolivia (Estado Plurinacional de), el Ecuador y Venezuela (República Bolivariana de)-, la proporción de hogares extensos y múltiples se reduce en el último año observado. Este descenso, y también parte del descenso generalizado de este tipo de hogares, podría estar relacionado con el retorno o la reemigración (Martínez-Buján, 2015), factor que no debemos obviar a la hora de relacionar migración y crisis económica. Cierto es que las bajas padronales de extranjeros con destino al extranjero se mantienen por el momento en niveles bajos, pero los latinoamericanos representan el colectivo continental que más retorna en términos relativos. ...
Household structure often differs between migrant and non-migrant populations. The role played by social networks in easing the settlement process and the potentially stronger intergenerational ties in migrant families have been identi ed as factors explaining this. However, changes in economic conditions can in uence the composition of already- settled immigrants’ households. Using data from the Economically Active Population Survey (EAPS) between 2005 and 2012, we ask how and to what extent Latin American migrants’ propensity to live in extended or multigenerational households increases in an economic recession. The results suggest a trend differentiated by gender and highlight the importance not only of economic conditions but also of life events in explaining the probability of living in complex households.
... Los datos mencionados en torno a las tasas de desempleo y precarización laboral, además del recorte en los servicios, han afectado las trayectorias migratorias en ambos colectivos. No obstante, teniendo en cuenta los motivos que los propios entrevistados mencionan en la toma de decisión no cabe reducirlos a este aspecto de la vida económica (Vega 2014;Martínez-Buján 2015). Tanto en las razones aducidas para regresar como en las estrategias llevadas a cabo para organizar la vuelta a casa, la vulnerabilidad vivida en España o el encauzamiento de nuevos proyectos profesionales en origen se entretejen con dinámicas afectivas y familiares que dotan de una mayor complejidad a los procesos de retorno. ...
RESUMEN Este artículo analiza las motivaciones de las migraciones de retorno de los colectivos ecuatorianos y bolivianos que habiendo residido en España han regresado a sus comunidades de origen durante la etapa de crisis económica iniciada en el año 2008. A partir del análisis de 22 entrevistas en profundidad realizadas en Ecuador y 38 en Bolivia a mujeres, hombres y jóvenes pertenecientes a familias migrantes, se demuestra que este proceso de toma de decisión se incrusta en una dinámica relacional de género. En concreto, se indaga en los elementos afectivos y económicos que influyeron en la decisión de retornar, así como en las estrategias desplegadas para proyectar su reacomodo en origen. Hombres y mujeres ocupan posiciones diferenciales en el entorno familiar, laboral y social, estando sus expectativas construidas de manera generizada. Si bien la migración ha supuesto para las mujeres un mayor poder económico dentro del grupo familiar, su reinserción en el retorno redefine su papel como gestoras principales de la unidad doméstica y de las dinámicas que permiten su reproducción social. Por su parte, los hombres aspiran a reactualizar su papel como proveedores a pesar de su frágil situación laboral al regreso. La movilidad social para ellas se transfiere generacionalmente a través de una fuerte inversión educativa proyectada sobre sus hijas e hijos, mientras que para ellos, ésta se articula en la creación de negocios familiares y su capacidad demostrativa.
Why are some migrants more willing to move back to their homeland than others? Using a mixed methods approach, this article sheds light on the factors contributing to the desire for return migration among first‐generation Croatian migrants ( N = 499). In particular, the current study focuses on the role that migrants' trust in state institutions in both their homeland and current countries of residence plays in their desire to return to the homeland. Quantitative analyses reveal that factors of institutional trust strongly correlate with migrants' willingness to return to Croatia, as do short‐term visits and (dis)satisfaction with their current lives, particularly for those who left Croatia for personal reasons instead of institutional ones. The qualitative results suggest that the pull factors of return migration tend to be personal, while the push factors are largely institutional. In addition, the idea of a “future” for both the returnees (e.g. financial stability) and the country (e.g. political conditions) is the key to migrants' decision‐making about returning.
Migration scholars agree that migration is a highly gendered process. While the literature on this topic is increasing, the knowledge produced remains fragmentary and has not been synthesized systematically yet. This literature review aims at summarizing the current findings of quantitative migration research comparing migration patterns between genders and highlighting gaps and patterns in the literature over time. Following a reproducible and systematic approach, 6032 articles have been scanned and 170 were considered for in‐depth content analysis. The review of the literature revealed that women have a lower propensity than men to realize their migration aspirations conditional on migration intentions. Moreover, many articles analyzing migration flows by gender do not support the common narrative of a feminization of migration. Finally, evidence from the migration literature supports the assumption that migrant women experience a double burden of discrimination in the destination country labor market based on their gender and their migration status. It becomes apparent that gender‐based comparisons between migration outcomes have received the most attention in the literature followed by the comparison of determinants. The stage of the journey received only little attention. This literature review also focuses on the data sources used to produce our knowledge on gender differences in the migration process. Thereby, it stands out that the majority of papers rely on survey data for the analysis. Digital trace data are a promising source for gender‐disaggregated data and can potentially complement the scarce aggregate migration data landscape.
This paper explores the role of migrants' family dynamics over the life cycle on their decisions to return focusing on three dimensions: relationship status, children and intergenerational solidarities. It brings a unique contribution to migration studies by investigating whether these mechanisms differ for male and female migrants. Combining two surveys (Migration Family Ageing and Trajectories and Origins) collected in the origin and destination regions, we study return behaviours of migrants born in the French Overseas departments (DOM) moving from metropolitan France back to their DOM of birth. Contrasting with traditional research which tends to restrict the analysis of family considerations to female migrants, our findings show that family experiences affect return migrations for both men and women, yet in different ways. While partnering, breaking‐up and having children affect the returns of both men and women, only female migrants are more likely to return when their parent(s) live in the DOM. This could draw back to a gendered distribution of family roles and responsibilities, but also to gendered networks with stronger ties between female migrants and their parents.
Migration ist kein Ausnahmezustand, sondern eine existenzielle Grunderfahrung der Menschheit. Sie prägt gegenwärtige Gesellschaften, indem sie etablierte Ordnungen herausfordert, transnationale Räume jenseits nationaler Hegemonien schafft, neue Ökonomien stiftet, urbane und kommunale Lebensweisen beeinflusst sowie Ungleichheit und Prekarität lokal und global sichtbar macht. Migrationsforschung als Gesellschaftsforschung verengt den Fokus nicht auf »die Migrant*innen«, sondern untersucht Bedingungen fürs Zusammenleben und die Lebensgestaltung zwischen Ethnisierung und Pluralisierung, Diskriminierung und Ermächtigung, Teilung und Teilhabe. Das Jahrbuch Migration und Gesellschaft wendet das Prisma der Erzählung immer wieder neu. Die Ausgabe 2021/2022 setzt den Schwerpunkt auf das Thema »Familie«.
This study uses the example of Mexican return migrants to contribute to the ongoing scholarly dialogue about reintegration. The paper looks at how migrants experience living in the USA and how their return and post-return experiences influence their reintegration in two locations, one rural (Huaquechula, in the state of Puebla) and one urban (Mexico City). Data collection consisted of 60 in-depth interviews, 30 in each site. Participants were mostly young to middle-aged adults, 35 out of 60 being male. Additionally, key documents such as government policies were analysed in a bid to understand the geopolitics of mobility as well as governments’ policies and practices regarding return. From the analysis, I confirm that return migrants identify (i) the type of return, (ii) the place of return—including economic opportunities and social programmes available—and (iii) the sociocultural environment as key aspects that influence their reintegration process. The analysis concludes that whilst, at times, return can be leveraged to serve specific geopolitical goals, it is also necessary to advocate and develop a robust, comprehensive national reintegration policy, especially for an adequate infrastructure to implement it. Policies should therefore offer sustained instrumental (material assistance), informative (advice and guidance) and psychosocial support throughout return migrants’ lengthy process of reintegration.
This paper sheds new light on return migration from Australia to the UK in the latter nineteenth century. It uses data from shipping records, and from a random sample of the 23,000 Australian‐born in the 1911 Census of England and Wales. Based on these sources, it estimates some 20% of migrants to Australia returned: higher among the wealthy, but still 12% of semi‐ and unskilled working class migrants returned. There was a preponderance of women among returnees. From that, and other evidence such as the geographic spread of returnees across England, the paper argues that social networks played critical roles in decisions to return.
On the basis of data collected by the RETTRANS survey (2011–2012) on Bolivian migrants living in Spain, this article aims to identify the influence of the 2008 economic crisis on the determinants marking the migrants’ return intention. In this regard, there is a need to incorporate the concept of double embeddedness based on migrants’ social networks (meso level), the way migration is imbricated in persons’ lives (micro level); and how, at a macro level, economic and social transformations of different contexts affect these decisions. The article highlights that unexpected changes in living conditions trigger a reconfiguration of these mixed factors that condition return intentions. Resumen En base a los datos procedentes de la encuesta RETTRANS (2011–2012) sobre los migrantes bolivianos residentes en España, este artículo analiza la influencia del impacto de la crisis económica en los factores que explican la intención de retorno. En este sentido, se discute la necesidad de incorporar el concepto de “doble imbricación”, basado en las redes sociales de los migrantes (nivel meso), la forma en la que la migración se imbrica en las vidas de las personas (nivel micro); y cómo afectan, a nivel macro-estructural, las transformaciones económicas y sociales de los contextos estas decisiones.
I think I’ve done here enough of what I had to do and that’s time for me to return, because I don’t see the situation improving, I see that each time it’s worse, I’ve been offered to work as live-in carer for a miserable wage, honestly it both saddens me and makes me laugh when they tell you. And that’s like this everywhere, so that’s the current situation, it’s difficult. It’s very complicated for people working as carers honestly. So I plan on staying until the end of the year and return home. I’m not sure I will but I plan on going back. (Mayra, 52, Ecuador, Madrid)
El objetivo central de este trabajo es analizar la experiencia de reinserción social de los migrantes retornados a su localidad de origen, para identificar las dificultades/facilidades que enfrentan al retomar sus relaciones afectivas, de amistad y de vecindad y de trabajo en los espacios sociales próximos. A través de entrevistas en profundidad se elaboran trayectorias migratorias con episodios narrativos de la vivencia de los migrantes de la región central de México. A partir de los hallazgos se apunta a la discusión teórico-metodológica sobre el post-retorno y la complejidad de las movilidades contemporáneas.
El presente artículo tiene como objetivo analizar el valor social del trabajo (remunerado y no remunerado) de migrantes que regresan a su lugar de origen luego de vivir y trabajar temporalmente en Estados Unidos, para aportar elementos acerca de cómo se establecen jerarquías en las relaciones sociales con base en la asignación de tareas y el prestigio de estas. Para ello se retoman los testimonios (obtenidos mediante entrevistas en profundidad) de personas que migraron al país vecino y regresaron a su lugar de origen por múltiples motivos. La argumentación se basa en una comparación sistemática entre aquí y allá como referentes imprescindibles en los estudios de poblaciones móviles para examinar los cambios y continuidades que estos actores narran en su experiencia de vida. Esta contrastación se produce por las diferencias del entorno social y cultural en que viven, lo cual deviene en ajustes de acuerdo con los mandatos que operan en determinado momento histórico.
Return migration warrants special attention as a growing trend in our current globalized environment wherein migration can no longer be assumed to be a one-way journey. As studies of return migration are burgeoning, this article argues for the salience of taking socially constructed ideas of gender as a central analytical factor in order to understand the complexities of human movement. It is imperative to take up gender both as a category of analysis and as a means to expand our theoretical understanding of migration. The process of return migration is overshadowed by gendered ideologies both in the home and in the host nation, as migrants leave and return to gendered societies. Through a review of recent literature, this paper will argue the multifaceted benefits of incorporating a gendered perspective in return migration research.
RESUMEN: A partir de un trabajo de campo etnográfico multisituado entre Bolivia y España, este artículo analiza cómo se reconfiguran los vínculos familiares que mujeres migrantes de mediana edad mantienen en un contexto de migración transnacional. La migración transnacional genera emociones ambivalentes tanto entre quienes se van como entre quienes se quedan. Las personas entrevistadas manifiestan repetidamente sentimientos contradictorios de culpa, orgullo, tristeza y satisfacción que se entremezclan con significativos silencios, demandas y expectativas. En esta ocasión, el principal objetivo es visibilizar la fuerte carga emocional que impregna las relaciones familiares en la distancia, y ejemplificar cómo la dimensión emocional se articula con otras variables como son las responsabilidades de cuidados, el ciclo familiar, las construcciones de género o las relaciones intergeneracionales. Palabras clave: Familias transnacionales, emociones, cuidados, migración transnacional, reflexividad. Title: Between nodes and knots: emotional ambivalence in transnational migration. An ethnographic approach to emotions in transnational family relations between Bolivia and Spain.
ABSTRACT: Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Bolivia and Spain, this article explores the reconfiguration of family relations maintained by middle-aged migrant women in a context of transnational migration. Indeed, transnational migration triggers contradictory feelings for those leaving and for those who stay behind. The individuals interviewed repeatedly express mixed feelings of guilt, pride, sadness and satisfaction, often interwoven with meaningful silences, demands, and expectations. In this particular instance, the aim is to visibilize the emotional dimension inherent in family relations at a distance to demonstrate how migration is also affected by the weight of care responsibilities, the family life course, gender roles, or intergenerational relations.
RESUMEN: A partir de un trabajo de campo etnográfico multisituado entre Bolivia y España, este artículo analiza cómo se reconfiguran los vínculos familiares que mujeres migrantes de mediana edad mantienen en un contexto de migración transnacional. La migración transnacional genera emociones ambivalentes tanto entre quienes se van como entre quienes se quedan. Las personas entrevistadas manifiestan repetidamente sentimientos contradictorios de culpa, orgullo, tristeza y satisfacción que se entremezclan con significativos silencios, demandas y expectativas. En esta ocasión, el principal objetivo es visibilizar la fuerte carga emocional que impregna las relaciones familiares en la distancia, y ejemplificar cómo la dimensión emocional se articula con otras variables como son las responsabilidades de cuidados, el ciclo familiar, las construcciones de género o las relaciones intergeneracionales. Palabras clave: Familias transnacionales, emociones, cuidados, migración transnacional, reflexividad. Title: Between nodes and knots: emotional ambivalence in transnational migration. An ethnographic approach to emotions in transnational family relations between Bolivia and Spain.
ABSTRACT: Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Bolivia and Spain, this article explores the reconfiguration of family relations maintained by middle-aged migrant women in a context of transnational migration. Indeed, transnational migration triggers contradictory feelings for those leaving and for those who stay behind. The individuals interviewed repeatedly express mixed feelings of guilt, pride, sadness and satisfaction, often interwoven with meaningful silences, demands, and expectations. In this particular instance, the aim is to visibilize the emotional dimension inherent in family relations at a distance to demonstrate how migration is also affected by the weight of care responsibilities, the family life course, gender roles, or intergenerational relations.
This paper explores the characteristics of and transformations that Spanish domestic service has undergone in the since 2000. The paper also analyzes the domestic service’s contribution to the Spanish economy since the beginning of the country’s economic crisis. Relying on quantitative analysis of the domestic work data from the Active Population Survey, the most relevant changes identified are the increase of its demand and the consolidation of migrants workers in it. The paper also looks at the tasks carried out in the households of employers. The recent conversion of the domestic services in a nonprofessional care sector seems to mitigate the burden of personal care work that Spanish families aim to provide to their older relatives. This transformation of domestic work into care work has changed some traditional features of this occupation: the outcomes of qualitative data show changes in the intensification of the tasks carried out, a tendency to higher male workers, a reappearance of live-in workers, and key modifications in the relationship between employer families and employees. Finally, this paper incorporates a short assessment of Real Royal Decree 1620/2011 (which regulates domestic service) and Law 39/2006 (Law on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for Dependent Persons) to analyze which is the legal space delegate to the labor category related with the non-professional caregivers in private homes.
This introductory article de nes the concept of transnationalism, provides a typology of this heterogeneous set of activities, and reviews some of the pitfalls in establishing and validating the topic as a novel research eld. A set of guidelines to orient research in this eld is presented and justi ed. Instances of immigrant political and economic transnationalism have existe d in the past. We review some of the most prominent examples, but point to the distinct features that make the contemporary emergence of these activities across multiple national borders worthy of attention. The contents of this Special Issue and their bearing on the present understanding of this phenomenon and its practical implications are summarized .
Desde la década de los setenta se ha establecido un nuevo orden mundial basado en una pro-funda restructuración de la economía global, influida por las grandes corporaciones multinacionales, así como por los gobiernos más poderosos del mundo e instituciones internacionales como el Banco Mundial (BM), el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) y la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC). Los defensores del modelo neoliberal sostienen que éste asegura la alta productividad, la máxima eficiencia y, a la larga, la reducción de la pobreza en los países me-nos desarrollados. Empero, la realidad ha sido muy diferente: One of the fundamental elements of neoliberal globalization has been the creation of an integrated, global market with production sites located wherever labor costs are cheaper. This way, workers in less developed countries become part of global value chains controlled by multinational corporations. It has even become routine for scientific innovation to be outsourced from southern countries, where highly qualified work is readily available while patents, productive processes and profits remain in the hands of investors located in northern countries.
Autonomy has often been seen as a precondition for achieving gender equality, yet feminist scholarship has been rather ambivalent towards it. In this article, I explore this ambivalence by drawing on the experiences of migrant women, particularly mothers, focusing on the ways in which they negotiated their mobility with their partners. By analysing women's experiences of migration within a context of multi-sited and longitudinal, itinerant ethnography, I historicise their life accounts and place them within a broader framework of social and economic structural changes. On this basis I explore the concept of autonomy, particularly in relation to the exercise of women's agency within a context of market-oriented neoliberal reforms. I also question the potential of women's autonomy for gender equality and argue that there are at least two reasons for feminist scholars to continue being ambivalent towards autonomy. La autonomía ha sido a menudo una precondición para la adquisición de la igualdad de género, pero el ámbito académico feminista ha sido algo ambivalente hacia ésta. En este artículo analizo esta ambivalencia basándome en las experiencias de las mujeres inmigrantes, particularmente madres, centrándome en las formas en las que ellas negocian su movilidad con sus parejas. Al analizar las experiencias de inmigración de las mujeres en un contexto de una etnografía longitudinal, itinerante y multi-localizada, doy un marco histórico a sus relatos de vida y las ubico en un marco más amplio de cambios estructurales sociales y económicos. A partir de esto, analizo el concepto de autonomía, particularmente en relación al ejercicio de la agencia de las mujeres dentro de un contexto de reformas neoliberales orientadas al mercado. También cuestiono el potencial de la autonomía de las mujeres para alcanzar la igualdad de género y sostengo que existen al menos dos razones para que las investigadoras feministas continúen siendo ambivalentes hacia la autonomía.
The current economic downturn has a significant impact on migrants' lives, including their considerations of return. Massive returns have potentially disastrous consequences for migrants' countries of origin, especially those countries that have become dependent on remittances. Yet, return is the least understood part of the migration process. Based on comparative observations of the same group of migrants following the Argentinean crisis in 2001 and the current economic downturn in Spain, this paper sheds light on how migrants decide about returning to their country of origin during times of crises. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
One-fifth of the Bolivian population lives abroad, and transnational behaviour strongly links their villages with destination communities. In this article we address whether the increasing difficulty of return migration (owing to legal and geographic barriers) results in diminished social and economic remittances to the country of origin. Results from a questionnaire survey of 417 households in the Valle Alto area of Cochabamba Department in 2007 reveal that monetary remittances account for one-half of the income of active migrant families (and one-quarter of income overall), and that transnational cultural ties remain strong. However, after ten years of cumulated time abroad the intention to return to Bolivia drops markedly along with economic and some social remittances. Closer analysis reveals that time abroad reduces these ties through the mediating forces of family members abroad, legal status, and home ownership abroad.
This introductory article defines the concept of transnationalism, provides a typology of this heterogeneous set of activities, and reviews some of the pitfalls in establishing and validating the topic as a novel research field. A set of guidelines to orient research in this field is presented and justified. Instances of immigrant political and economic transnationalism have existed in the past. We review some of the most prominent examples, but point to the distinct features that make the contemporary emergence of these activities across multiple national borders worthy of attention. The contents of this Special Issue and their bearing on the present understanding of this phenomenon and its practical implications are summarized.
Desde un marco histórico, este artículo resume las contribuciones teóricas de los modelos neoclásicos, así como las críticas que se le han hecho, y las contrasta con algunas aportaciones que surgieron durante los años 1970 desde el feminismo de izquierda sobre el concepto de la familia y la unidad doméstica. Este resumen es la base sobre la que se analiza la noción de "conflictos cooperativos" de Sen y su aportación a la teoría de la unidad doméstica y a los modelos de negociación. El argumento básico del artículo es que su aportación fue un paso muy positivo en el sentido de superar los problemas relacionados con otras conceptualizaciones.
This article analyzes how patriarchal gender ideology, economic imperatives, and individual agency influence men's and women's migration decisions in the Republic of Georgia. Research on labor migration demonstrates both the empowering potential of migration for women and the tenacity of patriarchal norms and structures. These contradictory findings can be explained in part by differences in the households of origin of female migrants. Drawing on both a national survey of migration and thirty-four interviews with returned migrants and family members of migrants in two Georgian cities, I argue that women who migrate tend to come from households that are either more inclined to egalitarian beliefs or structured in such a way that women's migration provides the least possible challenge to patriarchal household organization. More traditional households are likely to send a male migrant. Although women's labor migration is becoming increasingly common in Georgia, women, particularly mothers, face practical constraints to migration that men do not, to the extent that some mothers remain home even when migration appears to be economically imperative. Because of the unique aspects of mothers' labor migration, the effects of labor migration on norms may vary widely across different contexts.
Return migration has recently become an important topic of research within the gender and migration literature. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic research carried out in Romania and Italy, this paper focuses on the gendered patterns of return, highlighting the relationship between the motivation to return, family life plans, challenges and individual responses to structural factors that shape the decision to return. Based primarily on participant observation and in-depth interviews with women and men from a Romanian village, the findings suggest competing ways in which men and women resettle in their community. While men transfer large amounts of money and make use of their new skills and their contacts with their Romanian peers in Italy in order to gain their livelihoods in the village, women encounter conditions that are deterrents to such economic transfers. Women tend, therefore, to maintain contact with Italian families as an alternative to their imperfect economic reintegration into the village.
Research on female migrant caregivers has tended to focus upon the emotional and social problems they encounter working abroad, given women's traditional role as caregivers for their own families. This article analyses how Caribbean women who have returned after a period abroad as domestic workers inscribe their migration experiences within the gendered narrative of the good relative who migrates to help the family left behind and therefore deserves social recognition in the community of origin. It argues that this narrative allows the women to both affirm and reinterpret local family and gender roles within the context of migration. This analysis points to the close connection between narrative structures, accounts of migration experiences, and self-presentations and suggests that narratives about family and gender roles not only reflect people's lives, but are also a malleable resource that can be (re)shaped to validate a variety of life-courses.
This contribution examines the dynamics of Ecuadorian international migration in the context of the global financial crisis that began in 2008. Ecuadorian migration has increased steadily over the past fifteen years – as have remittances, the rate of family reunification in destination countries, and migrants’ ownership of assets in both their countries of origin and destination. The current global crisis has affected these dynamics, particularly in Spain, which is one of the main destination countries for Ecuadorian migrants. A preliminary analysis of the impact of the crisis reveals an important decline in immigrant employment, but one that has not translated into a proportional decrease in remittances. Drawing on fieldwork in Spain and Ecuador, this study examines the strategies migrant families employed to cope with the financial crisis.
This article explores ongoing return migration to Somaliland within a gendered perspective and sees it as a distinctly male practice. Whereas many studies of gender and migration focus primarily on women, this article unfolds practices and perceptions of masculinity among Somaliland male return migrants. Somali notions of masculinity, virility and potency have been challenged as a result of the civil war and global dispersal of Somalis. In the article it is argued that return migration from Western countries can be seen as a way of recreating lost images of masculinity and femininity. Male returnees express their masculinity in installing themselves as the potent agents of change and penetration of the purified, feminised and virgin homeland. The article argues that the actual circumcision of the male and the female body, that plays a fundamental role in the establishment of categorically clear and opposed gender categories, is replaced by a symbolic or more abstract circumcision of the diaspora and homeland.
IMI does not have a view as an Institute and does not aim to present one. The views expressed in this document are only those of its independent author.
By analyzing the migration behavior and transnational residential strategies of first-generation, aging migrants from a particular Moroccan sending region, this study contributes to a conceptual critique of migration theories that identify the household as the most relevant decisionmaking unit. It highlights the role of intra-household power inequalities and conflicts in migration decisionmaking as well as the effects of migration decisions for intra-household power relations. Many labor migrants who left Morocco to work in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s did not realize their wish to return but instead ended up reunifying their families at the destination. An increasing proportion adopts a pendulum migration strategy to reconcile their own wish to retain strong ties with Morocco with the reluctance of children and spouses to return. Migrants who unilaterally decided not to reunify their families usually return after their active working life. However, this unilateral decision also blocks legal entry into Europe for their children, which has generated considerable intergenerational tensions.
In the last 15 years, anthropology and other disciplines have begun to treat migration as a system. The article reviews the findings of the growing body of literature on return migration, attempting to synthesise the various typologies of return migrants, reasons for return, adaptation and readjustment of returnees, and the impact of return migration on the migrants' home societies. -J.Sheail
This review culls disparate elements from the theoretical and research literature on human migration to argue for the construction of a theory of migration that simultaneously incorporates multiple levels of analysis within a longitudinal perspective. A detailed review of interconnections among individual behavior, household strategies, community structures, and national political economies indicates that inter-level and inter-temporal dependencies are inherent to the migration process and give it a strong internal momentum. The dynamic interplay between network growth and individual migration labor, migration remittances, and local income distributions all create powerful feedback mechanisms that lead to the cumulative causation of migration. These mechanisms are reinforced and shaped by macrolevel relationships within the larger political economy.
Return migration to Jamaica is associated closely with the existence and nature of the transnational linkages established between migrants and their home country, especially at the level of the household and family. Remittances invariably precede, accompany and follow the actual return of migrants and comprise money as well as a range of consumer goods.
Data on the number of returning migrants to Jamaica have been collected officially only since 1992; other information is derived from field studies. The figures show that the US is the source of most return migrants to Jamaica, with the United Kingdom second.
Likewise, there are few official statistics on remittances, especially of those entering the country through informal channels. Nevertheless, data on the receipt of money through the Bank of Jamaica, indicate that during the 1990s remittances as a percentage of GDP exceeded that of the traditional foreign currency earners of bauxite and sugar.
Growing awareness of the potential of the Jamaican overseas community has led the Government of Jamaica to establish programmes, including The Return of Talent programme, supported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), to encourage the return of nationals.
Different types of return migrants have the potential to make different kinds of contributions to national development – some through their skills, educational and professional experience, others through the financial capital which they transfer for investment or as retirement income. However, the most significant development potential of return lies in the social and economic conditions in Jamaica itself. If confidence levels are high, there will be little difficulty in attracting persons to return and financial transfers and investments will increase. Furthermore, the social and economic environment largely conditions the extent to which skills and talent as well as the financial capital are effectively utilized.
Return migrants exhibit a high tendency for self-employment over waged employment. Using cross-sectional data from Pakistan, the paper explores the determinants of this choice. Retirement from the domestic labor market is not a reason for opting for self-employment. The preference for non-farm self-employment is a two-period process of self-selection. Migrants who expect to switch occupation to non-farm self-employment upon return save more from high transitory overseas income than do their counterparts. Upon return, savings become a significant factor in the choice of self-employment over waged employment. International migration and return have little influence on the choice of farm self-employment. Copyright 1999 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
New trends in Bolivian migratory fields in the face of the crisis
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