Paper short abstract:

My paper aims at approaching the core issue of the panel Imaginaries of Migration, analyzing “narratives” of migration I have recorded in the last years, working on the topic. Different imaginaries are associated to migration, being an important trigger of the phenomenon in itself.

Paper long abstract:

My paper aims at approaching the core issue of the panel Imaginaries of Migration, analyzing "narratives" of migration I have recorded in the last years, working on the topic. Different imaginaries are associated to migration, being an important trigger of the phenomenon in itself. In this paper, I attempt to identify and analyze individual imaginaries which play a substantial part in taking the decision to migrate. I am going to approach the dynamics between them and real, sometimes harsh experiences of migration. My intention is to identify those agents that distort and convert the primary frames of imaginaries, using "narratives" of migration as an important analytical source. Personal crises are generated by ruptures between these two layers (imaginary and lived), triggering different ways of responding to them and very complex experiences. I focus on these particular migration histories, documented in the process of doing fieldwork with migrants from Transylvania to UK, Spain and Italy. I also propose an auto-ethnography, being exposed myself to these phenomena. Therefore, my paper attempts to answer partially to the questions :

"How do different actors envision migration, and what do they expect from it¬¬?"

"How do they act on these imaginaries? What is the relation between imaginaries and action?"

"What is the role of social sciences in framing imaginaries of migration?"

Participant observation, semi-structured interviews and life histories are the most applied methods in this research.