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No description available.

No description available.

The movement of labour from the less developed countries of southern Europe and North Africa to the industrial economiesof northern Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, has led to a migrant populationof some 15 million in these countries. Poduguese labour migration to France has been part of this wider movement, and the Portuguese are one of the largest migrant groups, representing over one fifth of the estimated four millionmigrants in France. Ambivalenceas to the migrants' status and future is considerable on the level of policy, in the literature concerning these labour migrations, and among the migrants themselves: the uncertainty is whether the phenomenonis one of settlement and permanent immigration or of temporary migration and ultimately the return of migrants to their countries of origin. Takingthe case of Portuguese migrants in Grenoble, this thesis explores the intentions of Portuguese migrant workers in France to return to Portugal. In part this may be seen as a prior intention, consistent with the migrants' initial plans to benefit from the employment opportunities and better pay abroad, and to earn as much money as possible in a short time, in order to be able to return to Portugal. I describe precedents for this kindof a return migration in Portugal's extensive emigration history. However, this return orientation in migration cannot be seen only as the continuity of a cultural form, or as occurring in France in an ideological vacuum. The intention to return to Portugal, which implies a limited commitment to France, and a reference to Portuguese conditions and values, is fundamental in the migrants' tolerance of generally disadvantageous conditions, particularly of employment, in France, and thereby an aspect of the migrants' continuing usefulness there. The migrants' differentiation from the French workforce is in some respects beneficial to French society, and the migrants' economic, political and social marginality is reinforced and perpetuated on an ideologicallevel, by ltgislation, and in a variety of ways in evtryday pratice. Cultural differences may be cultivated, and there is an involuntary aspect to the migrants' marginality and the return orientation. For these reasons I have stressed tht broader political and economic forces in labour migration as the context which acts on the migrants and within which they must act. Yet for many migrants, the intention to return to Portugal is more than a passive response to their vulnerable postition in French society or a product of the ideology of the dominant society. While we are dealing with a subjective intention to return rather than actual returns, this is a dynamic element of migrant identity and culture in France, full of tensions but with great symbolic importance as well as far-reaching practical implications for their lives and the nature of their participation in French life. This is particularly the case for many of the older generation of migrants aged between 30-50. Their return orientation is often accompaniedby an adherence to what they see as 'Portuguese' values and culture, the forms and expressions of which I consider; it is also associated with the maintenance of social and economio links with Portugal, distinctive savings and consumption patterns, a steady flow of remittances, and by a perception of migration as temporary even after 20 or more years' residence in France. The return orientation is central among many Portuguese migrants in France, not just as a latent desire, but as a system of meaning and a structuring principle in every day life; plans to return not only justify migration in tht long term, but are a priority which is used to organise and give coherence to the migrants' daily strategies and choices. TM maintenance of an alternative value system, an identity, and options aside from those that conditions in France impose on them, gives the migrants a certain autonomy despite the constraints of their situation

In the last few decades Saudi Arabia and Jeddah has experienced a massive flow of undocumented migrants. This phenomenon is particularly interesting in Saudi Arabia because it involves migrants from different continents and countries, offering the opportunity of a cross-sectional analysis of their communities. This thesis will focus in particular on the case of Jeddah as a case study that serves as a representative microcosm for the whole country. For the first time, using a qualitative analysis, a researcher has been able to access some of the undocumented migrant communities living in the city in their own environment and, through face-to-face interviews, to gather their personal narratives about their lives as the “undocumented.” In particular, this research will analyse twelve communities chosen for being the most representative in the city of Jeddah: the African (e.g., Ethiopian, Eritrean, Somali, Sudanese, Chadian, Nigerian, Burkinabe, Ghanaian, and Cameroonian), the Yemeni, and the Filipino and Indonesian ones. Despite sharing the common experience of living as undocumented in the Kingdom, their relationship with the members of their communities, with the other communities and with the Saudi society are as varied as their backgrounds. This study also offers the opportunity of a discussion on the immigration policies adopted by Saudi Arabia and on their failure in tackling the problems of the undocumented migrants on its soil. In this regard, the study ends with recommendations for Saudi policy makers. Due to the sensitivity of the subject, the researcher guaranteed full confidentiality and anonymity to the interviewees from all the communities who accepted to share their experiences with him.

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No description available.

The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) is a transnational labour agreement between Canada, Mexico, and various Caribbean countries that brings thousands of Jamaican migrant workers to Canada each year to work on farms. This thesis explores Jamaican SAWP workers’ experiences of stress in Ontario, and situates these experiences within a system of power and international inequality. When describing their experiences of stress and suffering in Ontario, many Jamaican workers drew analogies between historic and modern slavery under the SAWP. However, stress discourses also inspired workers to emphasise their resilience, and many workers gave equal attention to explaining their inherent strength as “Jamaicans”, which they associate with national independence and the history of slavery. In this way, I suggest stress discourses are sites of flexibility and resilience for Jamaican workers, and this thesis presents the foremost cultural, political, and historical factors that support Jamaican workers’ resilience in Ontario. Moreover, the predominant coping strategies workers employ in Ontario will be explored within the context of their restricted agency under the SAWP. This thesis concludes with a discussion of stress as an expression of subjectivity that is characterised by strength, faith, and the history of slavery. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This study investigates the impact of migration networks on the decision to migrate in Moldova. Using a recent cross-sectional household survey with extensive migration information I am able to disaggregate the migration networks according to kinship and further investigate the impact of different kinds of networks. The results show that migration networks have a significant positive impact on the decision to migrate, whereas the results do not reveal any conclusive evidence that certain kinships have stronger or different influence on the decision to migrate than others. The most influential determinants of migration when it comes to networks are ex-household members who migrated abroad and no longer make part of the household, and other individuals outside the household (i.e. friends, neighbours etc.) who migrated.</p>

This thesis is an ethnographic study of collaborative action and notions of value in San Isidro, an indigenous community of c.90 families in Ecuador’s central highlands. Drawing on Arendt’s theory of action as a mode of human togetherness, it focuses on forms of activity that are both affective (appealing to particular values, principles and practices) and productive (engaging in struggles to reorder social and economic relations). These include communal gatherings, shared work-parties, assemblies, meetings, campaigns and celebrations. Developing work by Lambek and Graeber, the thesis explores how such actions are used to generate different kinds of ethical and material value, the criteria people use to evaluate competing visions of hope and possibility, and the related dynamics of division and cooperation. I argue that such a focus on action and value allows us to build on insights from existing regional literature which tends to interpret indigenous collective action as either predominantly expressive (through cultural revival) or instrumental (in terms of economic and political practice). A core theme that emerges is how localised expressions of what people hold to be vital or desirable interact with coordinated efforts to defend and secure livelihoods. In San Isidro, such efforts contend with a limited land base, ongoing conflicts rooted in histories of dispossession, and widespread patterns of migratory labour (mainly for shift-work in the Amazon-based oil industry). At the same time, many residents participate in collective work to maintain shared infrastructure, protest against land inequalities, and manage areas of the communally-held páramo hills (registering as a ‘comunidad’ as recently as 2009). Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted over fifteen months, I analyse how such collaborative actions are combined with everyday forms of paid and unpaid work, memories of conflict, and a sense of duty toward future generations. Through chapters that focus on shared labour, coordinated campaigns, the legacies of land reform and accounts of labour migration, the thesis also examines how cooperation is fostered within a community that is increasingly diverse in access to resources, income and outlook, and how those involved negotiate the ruptures and tensions that intentional actions entail.