Paper short abstract:

Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Portugal and China, this paper explores Chinese migrant's modernity aspirations and "eating bitterness" experiences. It argues that initial suffering experiences are crucial to the emergence of migrants as moral persons before their community and family.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the motivations behind the movements of Chinese migrants from China to Portugal. It argues that Wenzhou migratory projects - focused on making money (zhuan qian) - are a result of modernity aspirations and desires for material modernization articulated with core Chinese values such as filial piety, which is so fundamental in the regulation of relationships between individuals in the family (Rodrigues 2018). However this road to wealth and social recognition - Chinese migrants idea of 'good life' (Gardner 2015) - is mediated by experiences of "eating bitterness" (chiku). The paper analyzes the importance of this initial period of migration in the achievement of the objectives of migration and argues that experiences of suffering and privation, together with mixed sentiments of injustice and gratefulness, optimism and dismay, are common among migrants during this time. The period is also crucial to the emergence of migrants as moral persons that will later assure them a position in Chinese ethnic business networks in Lisbon and in Europe. The paper will also consider cases of people that remain at the margins of success and modernity. The evidence used in this paper is part of a larger PhD research project on Chinese migration based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Lisbon (Portugal) with a two months fieldtrip to Wenzhou (China) (a total of 21 months during 2008-2010).

Paper short abstract:

This paper builds on the notion of doubt as theorized by Pelkmans (2013) to make sense of Egyptian parents' pursuits of a better future for their children in Amsterdam thus deepening the recently emerging understanding of migration as a quest for the good life.

Paper long abstract:

This paper builds on the notion of doubt (Pelkmans, 2013) to make sense of Egyptian parents' pursuits of a better future for their children in Amsterdam, thus contributing to the recently emerging understanding of migration as a quest for the good life. Doubt, as Pelkmans notes, not only points to ontological and epistemological questions of 'what is' and 'what is true', but also, and sometimes more pressingly, to the pragmatic question of 'what to do' (p. 2). Doubt is 'an active state of mind … directed at a questioned object' (p. 3), 'not the opposite of believe' but instead 'implicated in it', and sometimes 'a facilitator of action by triggering a need for resolution' (p. 4). For the Egyptian parents in Amsterdam among whom I conducted over a year of fieldwork, the questioned object was the good future of their children which they believed to be in reach but also feared to be at risk. For these parents, how to secure a better future is indeed a more urgent question than what actually defines a good life. And so, although the notion of a good life informed life changing decisions - e.g. to return the children to Egypt or keep them in Amsterdam - it also remained an abstract longing. By introducing the notion of doubt, this paper thus theorizes the good life as a notion to believe in and act upon, but never be fully convinced of allowing it to become a driving force behind many migration projects.

Paper short abstract:

The paper describes and analyses how the ideas of 'good life' of Bulgarian-born Turks, who migrated enmass to Turkey in 1989 under political pressure, have been changing under the impact of political, economic, religious and other factors, as well as from generation to generation.

Paper long abstract:

There were two major reasons for the mass exodus of Bulgarian-born Turks to Turkey in 1989 - to escape from the assimilation policy of the Bulgarian communist authorities and to enjoy the fruits of an allegedly flourishing market economy. Those motives were what shaped the migrants' opinions of good life at the time. In the following years, the economic factor had become dominant. It was coupled with the strive for social prestige (through education, professional and economic achievements) and shadowed by nostalgic memories of what they left behind. Re-settlers' efforts to make their dreams of good life come true had often been faced with the disapproval of their immediate neighbors in Turkey and, sometimes, of their relatives in Bulgaria. Meanwhile, the leading trends in official Turkish politics had again brought forward the role of the political factor as a condition or impediment for achieving an individual's ideal of good life.

The paper discusses how the ideas of good life of 1989 re-settlers from Bulgaria to Turkey have been changing under the impact of political, economic, religious and other factors, focusing on local and individual level, as well as on some generational variations.

Paper short abstract:

The article provides an analysis of a recurrent narrative among the children of Spanish migrants in Catalonia that contrasts the 'good life' in their communities of origin with the 'tough life' in Barcelona, taking into account the memory of migration and views of redistributive justice.

Paper long abstract:

Visits to communities of origin have been analysed as highly ambivalent experiences, given their tendency to elicit simultaneous processes of identification and detachment. Supporting the inclusion of 'internal' and 'international' migrations within the same theoretical discourse, this paper focuses on the narrative that emerges among the sons and daughters of those who immigrated to Catalonia from Southern Spain. Their visits to the communities that their parents left behind provide them with an empirical basis for a recurrent narrative that contrasts the 'good life' in their families' communities of origin (viewed as chronically unproductive areas) with the 'tough life' in Barcelona. This contrast tends to be interpreted as the result of an unfair fiscal balance among regions at the expense of taxpayers in productive areas—a view that is met with widespread validation in the context of the independence movement. In addition to its evident material significance in times of crisis, this narrative achieves particular relevance when it is framed within the role of the memory of migration (which is also the memory of urbanization) in the image that those concerned have of their personal and family trajectory. The contrast between the good life in the village of origin and the tough life in the city runs counter to their self-image (based on the modern notion of progress) as descendants of immigrants who left a life of hardship behind and forged a future for their children which is now jeopardized by an unfair fiscal balance among regions.

Paper short abstract:

The paper investigates the conflicting and concurring imaginaries of a "good life" and migration/mobility, in relation to national frameworks, professional and family contexts and life trajectories, as articulated by Polish and Swedish mobile/migrating medical professionals.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, we explore in what ways international mobility and migration could be understood as a search for a good life among already privileged professionals in the medical field. The paper is based on two qualitative studies of Polish physicians who moved to Sweden and Swedish physicians and molecular biologists who had worked in Western or non-Western countries and returned to Sweden. Over 60 in-depth interviews with professionals were subject to narrative analysis.

In the narratives, imaginaries of a "good life" in different national contexts and different life stages are articulated in relation to migration/mobility, return and settling. Imagining "a good life" might incite moving abroad in a quest for skills, proficiency, safety or adventure, or to make the world a better place (a better life for underprivileged others) working for NGOs. But moving might also jeopardise career, resulting in deskilling and loss of status. Moreover, it might have a negative impact on the "good life" of one's partner and family, as family is regarded as basically sedentary. The choice of location is also informed by "imagined geographies" in relation to a good life, as moving abroad might turn out to be a great adventure but even a misfortune; loss of the good life left "home" (e.g. employment, status, a more gender equal partnership, good childcare or social bonds). The interviewees are thus labouring with different context-bound imaginaries of the good life in order to make sense of the decision to move, settle or to return "home".

Paper short abstract:

My paper discusses the experiences of Central Asian labour migrants in the partially recognized Republic of Abkhazia, for whom a process of reassessment of standards of success and of a meaningful life opened up, especially in comparison with their previous migrations experiences in Russia.

Paper long abstract:

Based on fieldwork conducted between 2012-2014 with Central Asian labour migrants in the partially recognised Republic of Abkhazia, this paper investigates the connection between the moral economy of the informal regime of labour migration existing in Abkhazia at that time and the rising of a specific discourse of migration that develops specific understandings of succes and a meaningful life, in what I argue represents a new twist in the post-Soviet space. Informal networks influenced by Abkhazian local tradition of apsuara - an ethical system regulating relations between kin and non-kin, age groups, gender roles, hosts and guests - and the wide support networks of vzaimoposchh/mutual help - which proliferated on the backdrop of the country's post-war unrecognised independence - represented the practices through which labour migrants were integrated into Abkhazian society and economy, in the context of the absence of legal mechanisms for integration. These informal practices twisted the moral economy which migrants have developed during their previous migration experiences in Russia. While monetary gain remains important it loses its central status as the main achievement of migration. Conversely, a leisurely rhythm of the everyday life and experiences of well-being, such as a better climate, a less risk-loaded everyday life than in big Russian cities and easier access to health care and education for migrants' children based on patronage-like personal informal networks migrants get integrated into, feature prominently in migrants' descriptions of their lives in Abkhazia and as reasons for their choices to work there.

Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the Iranian migrant communities in Turkey and engages with the complex relationship among well-being, illicitness and migration in the migratory experience.

Paper long abstract:

The Iranian diaspora has been a long-standing phenomenon since the outbreak of the Islamic revolution. Despite researches on the migration strategies and trajectories of long-distance migration from Iran to West Europe and North America, the everyday dynamics among Iranian migrants merit a closer examination. From an inter-Asian perspective, my research focuses on the Iranian communities in Turkey, Istanbul in particular. I explore the migratory experiences of Iranian people today in relation to the conditions and endeavours to achieve a good life on the move.

For many Iranian people, migration is a process leading to prosperity. Regardless of the possible outcomes, along this process, migration also incurs precarity. In the context of the Iranian people in Turkey, such precarity is often articulated through the illicit status and conducts such as the violation of regulations concerning migrants. On one hand, illicit activities provide Iranian migrants with access to various opportunities which are essential to sustain a good life. On the other hand, illicitness also creates tension between the quotidian life and the illicit liminal stage. Oscillating between the good life and precarity which are at the same time induced by the illicit conducts, the migratory worlds of Iranian migrants are, in this process, constructed and reconfigured. By using an ethnographic research method, I therefore, wish to dismantle the distinct migratory worlds of Iranian migrants in Turkey and shed light on the complex relationship among well-being, illicitness and migration.

Paper short abstract:

Young Africans, who move away from their home country with ideas about a good life abroad, are not simply migrating to have a better life for themselves alone; their migration cannot be seen separately from their urge to improve the economic situation in their home place and their wish to return.

Paper long abstract:

Since the 2000s, increasing numbers of young Africans travel to Malaysia as students. For many, however, the attainment of higher education is not all they have to achieve. They arrive with high expectations, happy to have escaped frustrating conditions at home, ready work for a better life and their return. However, as labour policies are more than complicated for them in Malaysia, they quickly realize that there are only few options to sustain their livelihood and achieve their objectives. Some become informal brokers who offer various kinds of services mostly for fellow Africans and play important roles as go-betweens, intermediaries and facilitators in a wide range of social activities and transversal networks. Others surrender to the idea of gaining money quickly and begin risky informal or illegal activities. Based on ethnographic field research, this paper examines such high expectations and harsh realities at the example of young Cameroonians and Nigerians who have travelled to Malaysia, due to the neoliberal policies that have reduced employment opportunities as civil servants in their home countries and complicate their becoming a respected person in society. This paper argues, that those young Africans who move away from their home places with ideas of a better life elsewhere, are not simply migrating to have a better life for themselves alone, but because of social pressure to contribute to the well-being of their families at home. This moral obligation is felt in the most far-away places and characterizes the ambivalent migration experience of these young people.

Paper short abstract:

Saving is a means to achieve an improved living condition in future and is therefore strongly connected to fantasies about the future. The paper wants to show how rotating savings associations of Ethiopians are connected to fantasies about the future and how these fantasies are related to migration.

Paper long abstract:

Saving is a means to step further and achieve an improved living condition. As money is saved for some future action, it is strongly connected to fantasies about the future. Using the example of rotating savings associations of Ethiopians, I want to show how these associations are connected to fantasies about the future of their participants and how these fantasies again are related to migration.

In Ethiopia saving in a rotating savings association might be a first stepping stone to accumulate the money needed to go abroad. The meetings of the associations are at the same time a possibility to exchange knowledge and fantasies about the planned migration.

In the Ethiopian diaspora, on the other hand, where the same associations exist, participating is strongly connected with the wish to keep ties to the motherland. The regular meetings of the associations are going beyond the obvious purpose to accumulate money. Meetings with fellow Ethiopians offer the opportunity to discuss shared problems and interests and parts of the savings may be used for charity projects in Ethiopia.

While at meetings in Ethiopia participants fantasies about migrating abroad, at the meetings in the Ethiopian diaspora fantasies center on a future remigration.

Paper short abstract:

Using ethnographic data, my paper looks at how individuals of Ghanaian and Somali background in the Netherlands pursue their aspirations for a "good life" and well-being. This paper shows how individuals deal with the imbalances in pursuing good life by using novel and experimental ways.

Paper long abstract:

The notion of well-being is a relatively new concept but very synonymous to having a 'good life'. There seems to be opposing views on what migrants particularly from Africa count for a good life and how to achieve it. Using ethnographic data, my paper looks at how individuals of Ghanaian and Somali background in the Netherlands pursue their aspirations for a "good life" and well-being.

I argue that for a better understanding of individual migrant's notions of well-being and their visions of a good life there is the need to understand the wider social expectations and norms that may influence the choices and decisions individuals make regarding their well-being and "good life".The notions of well-being and "good life" among most of my respondents centered on nonmaterial values such as social status, family reunion, dealing with stigmatization (example around issues of infertility, homosexuality and sex work), dignity and respect, education but also material values of wealth and social security.

Findings from this paper suggest that migrants struggle to balance between their individual aspirations and opportunities to pursue their well-being and "good life". The imbalance and balance comes about as a result of different or similar values and morals adopted through their migration history or expected from friends, peers, families abroad and 'home", the Dutch state and their religious belongings. This paper shows how individuals deal with such imbalances by using novel and experimental ways such as secrecy and leaving/ joining/rejoining certain groups (church and societal organizations).