Paper short abstract:

The paper examines processes of integration and transnational activities of people who have migrated from the Philippines to Iceland. In my analysis I focus on migrants’ agency as well as structures of inclusion and exclusion.

Paper long abstract:

The prominence of research on transnational relations, multiple identities and anti-essentialist approaches have challenged anthropological research on ethnicity, migration and multicultural society. This occurs in the context of rising politics against multiculturalism in Europe. My analysis focuses on the relationship between individual transnational activities and integration based on research among people who have migrated to Iceland from the Philippines in the last two decades. While working mostly in low paid jobs in Iceland, most of them participate in family life in their countries of origin based on solidarity, obligations and reciprocity. The transnational practises of sending remittances and keeping in touch with family "back home" shape the meanings of both places. The paper will take people's agency and diverse experiences into account as well as the larger structures that limit their activities, such as the changing labour market in Europe that increasingly excludes those coming from outside Europe.