Against the backdrop of the brain drain-brain gain debate, this thesis explores certain facets of the return migration phenomenon. Drawing on several theories, the decision to return among high skilled migrants is likely to be influenced by the prospect of using their overseas-acquired knowledge to secure a better livelihood back home. While ample consideration is given to motivations to return, the choice of employer and issues adjusting to the work and social surroundings, the main objective of the research is to understand migrants' transfer of overseas-acquired knowledge upon their return to India. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the topic, the scope of the thesis is focused on returnees working in two organizations in New Delhi—Fortis Escorts Hospital and Research Centre (EHIRC) and Tata Consultancy Services' Government Industry Solutions Unit (GISU). Adopting a mixed methods approach, survey data and case interviews are analyzed to address the core research question: “How and in which ways do returnees transfer their newly acquired knowledge, skills and experiences in employing organizations?” A key hypothesis is that returnees' social ties affect the extent and nature of knowledge transfers and thus confer intended benefits and may lead to unintended consequences for their organizations. The analyses pit McPherson's (2001) principle of homophily in social networks against Granovetter's (1973) weak ties hypothesis to grasp the role of returnees in knowledge transfers within EHIRC and GISU. Results drawn from data collected on returnees, non-migrants and transnationals strongly confirm that social ties—strong, intermediate or weak—affect the transfer of knowledge to stakeholders in their organizations. The contribution of this thesis to the existing body of research is to shed light on both the potential and limitations of returnees as a conduit for transferring knowledge, upgrading skills and relaying insights to non-migrants, teams or units in the workplace.

Archipel des Petites Antilles, la Martinique est une société née de la traite transatlantique, de l’esclavage et du colonialisme français. Cette société créole, liée à sa métropole depuis près de quatre siècles, est devenue un département français en 1946, conférant à ses habitants le statut de citoyen français. Dès lors, l’émigration vers son centre, l’Ile-de-France, s’intensifia peu à peu pour s’institutionnaliser au cours des années 1960 grâce à un organisme d’Etat, le BUMIDOM. La présence antillaise en France est aujourd’hui telle, qu’on parle de la métropole comme d’une « troisième île ». Toutefois, on assiste de nos jours à de nouvelles pratiques de mobilités transatlantiques, plurales et multiformes, dont les migrations de retour font partie intégrante. Les acteurs du retour, les dits « retournés » ou « négropolitains », ont témoigné de plusieurs obstacles à l’heure de réintégrer leur terre d’origine. La présente étude entend démontrer cette tendance à considérer le migrant de retour comme un nouveau type d’ « outsider », soit comme un étranger culturel ; manifestation inédite qui dévoile une autre facette de l’altérité à la Martinique ainsi qu’une nouvelle configuration de sa relation postcoloniale avec la République française. Suite à un terrain ethnographique auprès de ces « retournés », et d’une observation participante auprès de la population locale, cette étude entend soumettre les représentations de l’île et de ses habitants à une analyse qualitative et comprendre comment l’expérience en territoire français transformera le migrant, sa façon d’appartenir à la culture martiniquaise et/ou à la culture française. Nous nous livrons ainsi à un examen des représentations et des pratiques des acteurs du retour pour permettre un éclairage novateur sur les nouvelles allégeances identitaires et les nouveaux déterminants de l’altérité à l’intersection de ces deux espaces à la fois proches et distants. Aussi, nous interrogerons comment le prisme du retour s’articule au cas martiniquais. En effet, le retour acquiert une dimension particulière dans le contexte de ces itinéraires de mobilité de « citoyens de couleur » qui expérimentent souvent un double rejet social et ce, sans même s’être écartés de leurs frontières nationales. / The Lesser Antilles Archipelago Martinique is a society born of the transatlantic slave trade, slavery and French colonialism. This Creole society, tied to its metropolis for nearly four centuries, became a French department in 1946 giving its residents the status of French citizens. As a result, migration to the colonial center, Paris and the metropolitan region (Ile-de-France), intensified gradually to the point of institutionalization in the 1960's, thanks to the state agency BUMIDOM. The Caribbean presence in France is now such that the metropolis is refered to by immigrants as a "third island". However, in the contemporary setting there are new transatlantic mobility practices, plural and multifaceted – an integral part of which are centered around return-migration. The protagonists of return, the so-called "returnees" or "négropolitains" encounter several obstacles upon return to their homeland. This study examines the tendency to consider the returnee as a new type of "outsider" – more precisely, as a cultural foreigner; revealing another facet of otherness in Martinique and a new configuration of its postcolonial relationship with the French Republic. Following ethnographic fieldwork with these "returnees" and with the local population, a qualitative analysis of representations of the island and its inhabitants reveals how their experience in the French territory transforms the migrant and their way of belonging to Martinican and/or French culture. The representations and practices of the returnees are examined, shedding light on the emergence of new allied identities and new determinants of otherness at the intersection of these two areas, at once near and far. Also, we will examine how the prism of return as an object of study, is transposed and reconfigured in the case of Martinique. The return acquires a special dimension for "citizens of color" who often experience social rejection and a double exclusion without stepping outside their national borders.

À travers l’analyse des mouvements de population entre les îles Amami et la métropole japonaise, dite « Hondo », ce travail examine les processus de (re)définitions identitaires à l’œuvre chez les habitants de ce petit archipel au Sud-Ouest du Japon, ainsi que les effets de ces mouvements sur les représentations de leur territoire. Les divers types de mobilité repérables chez les gens des îles Amami sont intimement liés à l’histoire de la région. Anciennement intégré au royaume des Ryûkyû, puis sous la domination de la province de Satsuma, l’archipel fut placé sous administration américaine après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, avant d’être rétrocédé au Japon en 1953. Cet arrière-plan historique singulier a eu de multiples conséquences, au premier rang desquelles figure une importante migration interne de personnes originaires d’Amami vers les grands centres urbains de la métropole, en particulier dans la région de Hanshin (Kôbe, Amagasaki, Ôsaka). L’attention portée à l’élaboration de différences « culturelles » entre la métropole japonaise et les habitants des îles Amami met en lumière la volonté de construction d’une nation homogène par les gouvernements successifs depuis Meiji. Cette différenciation a donné lieu à un double processus : d’une part, la marginalisation de la population originaire d’Amami à son arrivée en métropole à partir du début du XXe siècle ; d’autre part, des regroupements d’Amamiens au sein de diverses initiatives culturelles (« amicales des anciens », cours de « chants des îles », médias à destination des « minorités »). Un certain nombre d’« évènements » survenus depuis les années 1990 invitent ensuite à s’interroger sur l’actuelle valorisation de l’« identité amamienne ». L’analyse de trajectoires individuelles permet de faire émerger les multiples raisons d’un mouvement de « retour vers » ou de « départ pour » les îles Amami, ainsi que les effets de ces installations. Ce travail révèle ainsi le dynamisme actuel d’Amami, et, par là, permet de saisir les requalifications de cet archipel et de ses habitants, tout comme sa place actuelle à l’intérieur du Japon. / This work focuses on current processes of identity (re)definition among the inhabitants of the Amami Islands, in the context of strong population movements between this small archipelago of southern Japan and the Japanese metropolis called “Hondo”, as well as on the impact of these movements on their views of their territory. The different types of mobility that can be observed among the people of the Amami Islands are deeply enmeshed in the history of the region. Once part of the Ryûkyû kingdom, then under the domination of Satsuma province, the archipelago was placed under U.S.A. administration after World War II, before its restoration to Japan in 1953. This singular historical background has had multiple consequences, not the least of which is the intense internal migration from Amami towards the big urban centers of the metropolis, in particular in the Hanshin region (Kôbe, Amagasaki, Ôsaka). A focus on the making of “cultural” differences between the Japanese metropolis and the inhabitants of the Amami Islands sheds light on the homogenizing nation-building policies that consecutive governments have set up since Meiji. This differentiation has led to a two-way process: on the one hand, the marginalization of the population hailing from Amami at its arrival in the metropolis, beginning in the early twentieth century; on the other hand, the coming together of Amami islanders within cultural programs (“third age groups”, “island songs” classes, medias destined to “minorities”). Several “events” that have taken place since the 1990s then bring our focus onto the current valorization of the “Amami identity”. An analysis of individual trajectories brings forth the multiple reasons behind movements “back to” or “departing from” the Amami Islands, as well as the effects of these relocations. This work thus renders the dynamics of Amami and, as a result, brings the requalification of this archipelago and it’s inhabitants into focus, and sheds light on its current place within Japan.

Abstract Hansson, Magnus (2011): What New or Supplementary Answers can the Life Story Approach provide within the Field of Return Migration and Entrepreneurship? A Case Study of Ghanaian Returnees. Human Geography, Advanced level, Master thesis for Master Exam in Human Geography, 15 ECTS Supervisor: Bo Malmberg Language: English Short summary Researchers have claimed that return migrants from developing countries have great potential to influence the development process in terms of economic growth and poverty lessening. The primary aim of this thesis is, to provide new or additional information regarding why some Ghanaian returnees fail to set up a micro, small or medium enterprise while some others succeed. The secondary aim is to explain which capital gained abroad is of significant importance for Ghanaian return migrants’ success in setting up a business. For carrying out the research purposes, life story interviews with Ghanaian returnees who are running a business have been carried out in Ghana. Interviews with experts within the field of migration have been carried out as well as a literature review of the topic. Theories related to return migration reviewed in this thesis are, New economics of labour migration and the Structural approach, Transnationalism and the Social network theory, the Human capital theory and the Financial capital theory. The results showed that explanations for outcomes of returnees’ entrepreneurial activities are very complex and can be explained by many variables. Findings from the field research shows that social as well as human capital is more important than financial capital for Ghanaian returnees when setting up a business.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe išanalizuoti teoriniai jaunimo emigraciją sąlygojantys veiksniai ir, remiantis empiriniu emigravusio jaunimo tyrimu, įvertinta veiksnių įtaka Lietuvos jaunimo emigracijos motyvacijai bei jaunimo grįžtamosios migracijos nuostatoms. Pirmojoje darbo dalyje išnagrinėtos migracijos reiškinį aiškinančios teorijos, išskirti migracijos modeliai bei pagrindiniai tarptautinę migraciją bei emigraciją lemiantys veiksniai. Antrojoje darbo dalyje, remiantis moksline literatūra, išnagrinėti ir apibendrinti jaunimo, kaip išskirtinės socialinės bei amžiaus grupės, ypatumai; remiantis statistiniais duomenimis, įvertintas jaunimo emigracijos iš Lietuvos mastas; atlikta ekonominės, politinės, socialinės, psichologinės, užimtumo, mokymosi bei kitos jaunimo situacijos Lietuvoje analizė bei įvertinta jos įtaka jaunimo emigracijai, Europos Sąjungos ir Lietuvos jaunimo ir migracijos politikos kontekste. Trečiojoje darbo dalyje pateikti atlikto emigravusio jaunimo emigracijos motyvacijos ir grįžtamosios migracijos nuostatų empirinio tyrimo rezultatai. Rezultatų analizės metu išryškinti jaunimo emigracijos motyvai ir, remiantis emigravusio jaunimo patirtimi, įvertinti teorinėje dalyje išnagrinėtų migracijos veiksnių įtaka jaunimo emigracijai iš Lietuvos bei grįžtamosios migracijos nuostatoms. / The Master’s paper provides analysis of theoretical pre-requisites of youth emigration and assessment of impact of the pre-requisites upon the reasoning of Liethuanian youth emigration and attitudes of return migration, which is performed upon the date collected during empirical research of youth emigrants. The first part of the paper examines theories that explain the phenomenon of migration, provides models of migration and basic factors causing international migration and emigration. The second part of the MA paper provides analysis and summary of characteristics of the youth (a special social and age group), which is based on scientific literature; assessment of a scope of youth migration from Lithuania, which is made on the grounds of statistical data; analysis of economic, political, social, psychological, employment, training and other youth situations in Lithuania and assessment of the said factors upon youth emigration in the context of the EU and Lithuanian youth policy. The third part of the MA paper defines the results of performed empirical research of youth emigration motivation and attitudes for return migration. The survey analysis emphasizes motives of youth emigration and, on the grounds o experience of youth-emigrants, assesses impact of the factors that are examined in the theoretical part upon youth migration from Lithuania and decisions of return migration.

Tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti Lietuvoje ir užsienyje gyvenančių darbuotojų pasitenkinimo darbu ir ketinimo išeiti iš darbo sąsajas. Tyrime dalyvavo 258 darbuotojai. Jo metu buvo apklausti 125 tiriamieji, neturėję emigracijos patirties, 82 grįžę iš emigracijos ir 51 dirbantis emigracijoje. Dėl imties specifiškumo tyrimas susidėjo iš kelių etapų, kurių metu duomenys buvo renkami su kitomis studentėmis ir Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Bendrosios ir Teorinės psichologijos katedrų mokslininkais. Dalis anketų buvo pateiktos atspausdintos, o kita dalis įdėtos į internetą. Klausimynus tiriamieji pildė savarankiškai jiems patogiu laiku. Atlikus tyrimą buvo gauti rezultatai, kad emigracijoje dirbantys darbuotojai yra labiau patenkinti savo darbu nei Lietuvoje dirbantys darbuotojai, o grįžę iš migracijos darbuotojai yra mažiau patenkinti savo darbu, palyginti su darbuotojais, neturėjusiais migracijos patirties. Pasitenkinimas darbo aspektais skiriasi trijose migracijos patirties grupėse (emigracijoje dirbančių, iš migracijos grįžusių ir niekada nemigravusių darbuotojų). Emigracijoje dirbančių, iš migracijos grįžusių ir niekada nemigravusių darbuotojų ketinimas išeiti iš darbo yra susijęs su skirtingais pasitenkinimo darbu aspektais. Emigracijoje dirbančių darbuotojų ketinimas išeiti iš darbo yra susijęs su pasitenkinimu darbo užmokesčiu, karjera, privilegijomis, motyvavimu, darbo pobūdžiu, o Lietuvoje dirbančių darbuotojų – su pasitenkinimu atlyginimu, karjera, vadovavimu, privilegijomis... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of this research is to evaluate the relationship between job satisfaction and intention to leave job, including employees who work in Lithuania and abroad. 258 employees took part in the research. During it 125 people who did not have emigration experience, 82 people who came back to Lithuania (repatriates) and 51 who are still working abroad (expatriate) were questioned. Due to the specificity of extend, the research was carried out in a several stages. During them the data was collected together with other students as well as scholars of Vytautas Magnus University and General and Theoretical Psychology Departments. One part of the questionnaires was given printed, and the other part was put in the internet. Questionnaires were filled by people independently and at their convenient time. The following are results of this research. Expatriates are more satisfied with their job comparing to employees in Lithuania while repatriates are less satisfied with their job comparing with people who did not emigrated. Satisfaction with job aspects differs in all three groups which have different migration experience (expatriates, repatriates and who have never emigrated). The intention to leave job of expatriates, repatriates and who have never emigrated is related to different aspects of job satisfaction. The expatriates’ intention to leave job is related to satisfaction with pay, promotion, fringe benefits, contingent rewards and the nature of the job while the intention to... [to full text]

During the migration season in 2013 a study on spawning migrating salmon and the effect of water flow on the behavior was conducted of the salmon at the Forshaga hydropower station in the River Klarälven. The River Klarälven with its nine hydropower plants on the Swedish side, constituting migration obstacles for the migrating salmon. Fortum Generation AB has together with the County Administrative Board restored a salmon trap at the lowermost hydropower station in Forshaga, aiming at making it possible for the salmon to swim into the trap, and thereafter be transported by truck past the power plants and then continue their journey to the spawning grounds on their own. Unfortunately, it is believed that the trap does not work as well as it should. In this study, I focused on salmon position in relation to water flow and if the number of salmon that swam into the fish trap differed between salmon with previous experience of the trap (experienced) and salmon without experience (unexperienced). My results showed that there were significantly more inexperienced salmon that entered the trap than experienced salmon. The salmon, regardless of experience, chose a position where the flow was highest. To increase catches of salmon in the fish trap I suggest that one use more attraction water and keep the trap open more hours. My results should be of interest to managers as the trap efficiency has never been evaluated, and no earlier studies about the effect of salmon experience on trap efficiency exist. / Vandringssäsongen 2013 genomfördes en studie på lekvandrande lax och hur vattenflödet påverkade laxens beteende vid Forshaga kraftstation i Klarälven. Klarälven med dess 9 vattenkraftverk på den svenska sidan utgör vandringshinder för den lekvandrande laxen. Fortum har tillsammans med Länsstyrelsen renoverat en laxfälla i det mest nedströms liggande kraftverket i Forshaga. Syftet med fällan är att laxen ska simma in i fällan till en uppsamlingsbassäng och därefter köras med lastbil förbi kraftverken, för att därefter fortsätta vandringen på egen hand. Fiskfällans effektivitet är ifrågasatt och man vet inte hur effektiv den är. I denna studie fokuserade jag på laxens ståndplats i relation till varifrån det huvudsakliga flödet kom, samt om antalet laxar som simmar in i fiskfällan skiljde sig mellan lax med tidigare erfarenhet av fällan (erfaren) och lax utan erfarenhet av fällan (oerfaren). Mina resultat visade att det var signifikant fler oerfarna laxar än erfarna laxar som simmade in i fällan. Laxen, oavsett erfarenhet, valde ståndplats där flödet var som högst. För att öka fångsterna av lax i fiskfällan skulle mer lockvatten och fler timmar då fällan är öppen kunna bidra med mer fångst. Denna studie borde vara av intresse för inblandade aktörer i laxens förvaltning eftersom fällans effektivitet aldrig utvärderats tidigare, och dessutom har man inte studerat om tidigare erfarenhet av en fälla påverkar laxen.

Archipel des Petites Antilles, la Martinique est une société née de la traite transatlantique, de l’esclavage et du colonialisme français. Cette société créole, liée à sa métropole depuis près de quatre siècles, est devenue un département français en 1946, conférant à ses habitants le statut de citoyen français. Dès lors, l’émigration vers son centre, l’Ile-de-France, s’intensifia peu à peu pour s’institutionnaliser au cours des années 1960 grâce à un organisme d’Etat, le BUMIDOM. La présence antillaise en France est aujourd’hui telle, qu’on parle de la métropole comme d’une « troisième île ». Toutefois, on assiste de nos jours à de nouvelles pratiques de mobilités transatlantiques, plurales et multiformes, dont les migrations de retour font partie intégrante. Les acteurs du retour, les dits « retournés » ou « négropolitains », ont témoigné de plusieurs obstacles à l’heure de réintégrer leur terre d’origine. La présente étude entend démontrer cette tendance à considérer le migrant de retour comme un nouveau type d’ « outsider », soit comme un étranger culturel ; manifestation inédite qui dévoile une autre facette de l’altérité à la Martinique ainsi qu’une nouvelle configuration de sa relation postcoloniale avec la République française. Suite à un terrain ethnographique auprès de ces « retournés », et d’une observation participante auprès de la population locale, cette étude entend soumettre les représentations de l’île et de ses habitants à une analyse qualitative et comprendre comment l’expérience en territoire français transformera le migrant, sa façon d’appartenir à la culture martiniquaise et/ou à la culture française. Nous nous livrons ainsi à un examen des représentations et des pratiques des acteurs du retour pour permettre un éclairage novateur sur les nouvelles allégeances identitaires et les nouveaux déterminants de l’altérité à l’intersection de ces deux espaces à la fois proches et distants. Aussi, nous interrogerons comment le prisme du retour s’articule au cas martiniquais. En effet, le retour acquiert une dimension particulière dans le contexte de ces itinéraires de mobilité de « citoyens de couleur » qui expérimentent souvent un double rejet social et ce, sans même s’être écartés de leurs frontières nationales. / The Lesser Antilles Archipelago Martinique is a society born of the transatlantic slave trade, slavery and French colonialism. This Creole society, tied to its metropolis for nearly four centuries, became a French department in 1946 giving its residents the status of French citizens. As a result, migration to the colonial center, Paris and the metropolitan region (Ile-de-France), intensified gradually to the point of institutionalization in the 1960's, thanks to the state agency BUMIDOM. The Caribbean presence in France is now such that the metropolis is refered to by immigrants as a "third island". However, in the contemporary setting there are new transatlantic mobility practices, plural and multifaceted – an integral part of which are centered around return-migration. The protagonists of return, the so-called "returnees" or "négropolitains" encounter several obstacles upon return to their homeland. This study examines the tendency to consider the returnee as a new type of "outsider" – more precisely, as a cultural foreigner; revealing another facet of otherness in Martinique and a new configuration of its postcolonial relationship with the French Republic. Following ethnographic fieldwork with these "returnees" and with the local population, a qualitative analysis of representations of the island and its inhabitants reveals how their experience in the French territory transforms the migrant and their way of belonging to Martinican and/or French culture. The representations and practices of the returnees are examined, shedding light on the emergence of new allied identities and new determinants of otherness at the intersection of these two areas, at once near and far. Also, we will examine how the prism of return as an object of study, is transposed and reconfigured in the case of Martinique. The return acquires a special dimension for "citizens of color" who often experience social rejection and a double exclusion without stepping outside their national borders.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Les transferts des migrants sont devenus une source importante de financement pour les pays en développement. Le premier objectif de cette thèse est d’expliquer les motivations individuelles à l'origine des transferts. Le second étant de mesurer leur impact sur le bien-être des ménages, évalué par le niveau de la pauvreté monétaire et humaine. Nous trouvons que ces flux réduisent le nombre de ménages pauvres et vulnérables. Ils peuvent également accentuer les inégalités de revenus par rapport à la situation contrefactuelle de non migration. D’après nos résultats, ces transferts influencent positivement la décision des parents de scolariser leurs enfants en particulier s’ils sont de sexe masculin. Le troisième objectif de cette thèse est celui de l’examen de la migration de retour. Nous montrerons le rôle des certains facteurs sociodémographiques et économiques dans la prise de la décision de retour / The remittances have become an important source of finance in developing countries. The main objective of this thesis is to explain the reasons for making remittances. The second issue is to measure their impact on the household's well-being, as evaluated by the monetary and human poverty. We conclude that these flows reduce the number of poor and vulnerable households. They also can have fuelled a rise in income inequality compared to the counterfactual situation of no migration. Our results also indicate that remittances have a positive influence on parents' willingness to continue the schooling of their children especially if they are male. The third objective of this thesis is related to the return migration. We show the role of socio-demographics and economics factors in taking the decision to return