International Migration Institute: Recent Episodes

Oxford University

Podcasts recorded by the International Migration Institute

Dr. Valeria Pulignano gives a presentation for the International Migration Institute Trinity Term 2017 seminar series.

Ibrahim Sirkeci explores integration patterns of English-speaking movers in Turkey and those of Turkish-speaking movers in Britain International migration studies have largely focused on movers from the developing countries, or the South. Nevertheless, about one third of the global human mobility happens within the North and from North to South. Hence there is a need for reconsidering our understanding of global human mobility. Despite the hierarchy in the language used in describing these two categories of movers, there are similarities in causes, mechanisms and lived experiences. In this study, integration patterns of English-speaking movers in Turkey and those of Turkish-speaking movers in Britain have been contrasted. Particular attention has been paid to the perceived discrimination and integration outcomes. Drawing on analyses of census data from both Turkey and the UK, labour force survey data and the findings of a survey conducted from 2014 to 2016, patterns of integration are discussed.

In the context of Ghanaians in the UK, Geraldine Adiku explores how migrant remittance practices are not only from 'developed' to 'developing' country; many are sent in the reverse direction, a fact largely ignored by scholarship on the topic Remittances have acquired considerable significance on the agendas of development establishments, especially the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since the turn of the century. The widespread attention that remittances sent from ‘developed’ to ‘developing’ countries have received has, however, ignored the fact that many remittances are sent in the opposite, or reverse, direction. Such reverse remittances can be conceptualised as transfers, which move from poor migrant origin areas to migrants in wealthy destination areas. This practice has been largely under-represented in what is now an extensive remittance literature. I investigate the other side of transnational economic exchanges between migrants and their relatives. Using a matched sampling methodological approach, I interviewed 70 Ghanaian migrants in the UK and 51 of their relatives in Ghana who come from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. This research finds that transnational economic transactions between migrants and their relatives are driven by their differential access to various forms of capital and their motivation for migration. These factors influence whether a migrant will send remittances or receive reverse remittances instead.

Antony Otieno Ong'ayo presents an alternative approach to the management of migration in the context of EU–Africa migration relations The effects of contemporary migration dynamics within and from Africa to Europe increasingly translate into cross border challenges facing the European Union. The socio-economic and political factors shaped by the processes of globalisation continue to generate different dimensions of migration in Africa. These dynamics have become major policy challenges in the management of migration and leveraging migration of development. Current policy initiatives are informed by top-down approaches that attach different opportunities and restrictions to them through categorisations such as irregular migrants, asylum seekers, failed asylum seekers, illegal migrants, skilled migrants, highly-skilled migrants, second generation and return migrants. However, these approaches do not take into account the agentic responsibility of African migrants and the communities that they have established in the respective destinations countries to manage themselves. Moreover, they fail to address return decisions and constraints to circularity as experienced by African migrants who may consider going back. Drawing on the experience of sub-Saharan African migrants in the Netherlands, this paper presents an alternative approach to the management of migration in the context of EU–Africa migration relations. It starts from the premise that the experiences and leadership of migrant communities in host countries are vital for a bottom-up driven approach to ‘managed migration’. Tapping into diaspora agency, structures of leadership, consultation and decision-making within the African communities provides new approaches to circular migration that translates into a triple-win situation.

Olivette Otele explores how histories of transatlantic slavery impact on contemporary questions of migration Transatlantic slavery is a complex history of encounters between people of African and European descent. It is also a history of migrations, trade and subjugation. In this presentation, I look into the displacement of people from West Africa from the 17th to the 19th centuries. I ultimately aim at understanding how historians measure the impact of transatlantic slavery in Africa and its economic, social and cultural legacies. The presentation will consequently delve into Eltis’ and Lovejoy’s income per capita theories and explore Manning’s loss of workforce simulation model. It will then turn to histories of the territories from which Africans were captured by looking at the relationships amongst French and British traders, colonial administrators and local populations.

Examining the ways in which gender has been used as a category of analysis in the current refugee 'crisis', and whether in effect international organisations, NGOs, and EU governments have really offered any protection to victims of gender violence For many years gender was not taken into account in asylum and refugee policies and legislation. More recently, following pressure from women’s groups, UNHCR, followed by various regional and national authorities, have introduced measures on protection of victims of gender-based violence into their asylum and refugee policies and legislation. However, as the experience of the current refugee 'crisis' illustrates, these policies are not always adequate in guaranteeing real protection to those who may be victims of this type of violence.

In this seminar I will examine the current 'crisis' from a gendered perspective, to discuss the ways in which gender has been used as a category of analysis, and to analyse whether in effect international organisations, NGOs, and EU governments have really offered any protection to victims of gender-violence. Moreover, I will discuss the ways in which the use of categories of 'vulnerability' may not in fact offer real protection to these refugees, but may instead act to fix categories of 'gender' and create dichotomies between male and female refugees which are not helpful to understanding the real experiences and needs of refugees.

Lisa Åkesson unsettles the image of migrants’ border crossing as solely taking place in South–North direction by looking at the contemporary postcolonial Portuguese labour migration to Angola Global discourses as well as migration regimes often build on and reinforce the image of migrants’ border crossing as solely taking place in South–North direction. This paper unsettles this idea by looking at the contemporary postcolonial Portuguese labour migration to Angola. In particular it focuses on the Portuguese migrants’ relation to the Angolan party-state, and the ensuing (re-) articulation of Portuguese and Angolan postcolonial identities.

The paper demonstrates that while the most influential Portuguese are closely allied with the Angolan political elite, other Portuguese migrants are in a vulnerable position in relation to the Angolan party-state, and many struggle to secure immigration documents. The vulnerability of the non-elite Portuguese brings about feelings of postcolonial score-setting among some Angolans. These feelings are still a part of the colonial legacy, but they also reflect a new turn in Angolan-Portuguese relations. Thus, in difference to most studies with a postcolonial perspective this paper does not take the continuance of the colonial as a starting point; rather it probes the limit of the colonial.

Vicki Squire examines similarities and differences in practices of ‘governing migration through death’ across the US–Mexico (Sonoran) and in the EU–North African (Mediterranean) contexts Border deaths have become an established feature of contemporary migratory politics in both Europe and the US. This article examines similarities and differences in practices of ‘governing migration through death’ across the US–Mexico (Sonoran) and in the EU–North African (Mediterranean) contexts. Instead of taking a conventional comparative analysis of two distinct sites, I draw on critical scholarship in the field of border studies in order to examine biopolitical, thanatopolitical and necropolitical dynamics of bordering that cross contexts. I argue that these operations of power converge in both European and US bordering practices, specifically through a form of biophysical violence that operates directly on the biological functions of migrating bodies.

I further suggest that the establishment of this violence represents a crisis of modern humanism, which becomes implicated in the toleration of such violence through processes of denial, displacement, rejection and compensation. By focusing in particular on the ways that the treatment of the dead functions as a means of compensating for (yet not redressing) biophysical violence, I highlight the deficiencies of contemporary practices of identification and burial, and raise questions about the limitations of contestations that emphasise dignity only to perpetuate a hierarchy of ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy’ lives. In so doing, I conclude by suggesting that contemporary ‘migration crises’ are better understood in terms of the crisis of modern humanism, grounded in Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian traditions, which can no longer deny its implication in practices of governing migration through death.

Bishawjit Mallick investigates how coastal communities in Bangladesh perceive, react and adapt to a cyclone disaster, and what role migration and non-migration play in recovering devastated livelihoods Climatologists predict an increase in the frequency and intensity of cyclone disasters in tropical regions, particularly in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, effects of weather and climate events on societies might depend not only on the type and strength of the hazards, but also on the livelihood conditions of those affected. Accordingly, this presentation considers the following research questions: (a) How do coastal communities in Bangladesh perceive, react and adapt to a cyclone disaster, and why do they act so? (b) Which role do migration and non-migration play in recovering devastated livelihoods, and which lessons can be learned here for future adaptation planning?

To answer these questions, I employ a mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) approach of empirical investigation. Based on a structured questionnaire, face-to-face interviews with 1555 households from 45 cyclone-affected communities have been conducted. Expert interviews and focus group discussions were also conducted to fill the information gaps that were not covered and/or collected in the household survey. Results show that (i) external interventions (relief and rehabilitation supports to the cyclone victims) are politicised and networked locally, which intensifies the process of social marginalisation, inhibits population displacements and destabilises the societal structure; (ii) the existing planning practices are a symbol of power exercises in the decision-making process of planning; (iii) the practices of seasonal labour migration and switching to another occupation are the best alternatives in order to stay behind instead of permanently migrating to a sub-standard slum environment in a city.

Antoine Pécoud (University of Paris 13) critically analyses the reports produced by international organisations on migration, shedding light on the way these actors frame migration and develop their recommendations on how it should be governed Migration has become, since the nineties, the subject of growing international discussion and cooperation. International organisations and the international community have taken a number of initiatives to better ‘manage’ migration and make it the object of ‘global governance’ mechanisms. This implies a specific intellectual and political construction of migration as a global issue that would deserve international attention. This calls for critically analysing the reports produced by international organisations on migration, and for shedding light on the way these actors frame migration and develop their recommendations on how it should be governed. In contrast to the dominant representations in many receiving countries, international migration narratives develop a positive appreciation of migration, viewed as a normal feature of a globalising world and as a central element in development strategies. But this optimism comes along a depolitisation of migration that obscures the contribution of international actors to contemporary political debates.

Paolo Cuttitta looks at how different humanitarian non-state actors (from large-scale international organisations to small local NGOs) operate in different spaces of the delocalised EU border Non-state actors have become increasingly important players within the European–North African migration and border regime. Paolo Cuttitta's research looks at how different humanitarian non-state actors (from large-scale international organisations to small local NGOs) operate in different spaces (international waters as well as North African countries of transit/origin such as Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) of the delocalised EU border. The question is whether and in how far their activities can be considered as part of the processes of denationalisation and/or depoliticisation of the border; in how far these actors are just supporting states in their delocalised migration and border policies and in how far they are pushing forward their own agendas instead. Can attempts to repoliticise the border generate processes of counter-delocalisation?

Mouhoub el Mouhoud considers the effects of emigration on poverty and inequality by drawing on an original survey conducted in Algeria This presentation considers the effects of emigration on poverty and inequality by drawing on an original survey conducted in Algeria. It is the first household survey in Algeria that specifically addresses the issues of migration and remittances and provides the information necessary to evaluate their impacts on poverty and inequality. Furthermore, unlike many household surveys, this survey also collects information on pensions (a very important income source) received in the country of origin based on overseas work for returning migrants. It focuses on two regions (Kabylia and Tlemcen) which differ in terms of diaspora organisation, migration history and regional insertion. Semiparametric descriptive analysis is complemented by a parametric model, which allows for the estimation of counterfactual household income and the calculation of the impact of migration on the distribution of income across households.

The main findings are that remittances, including foreign pensions, do not significantly change the Gini coefficient in either region. However, the simulations suggest that migration has reduced poverty by nearly 16 percentage points (40 per cent), with the effect in Kabylia (Idjeur) being twice as large as Tlemcen (Nedroma) insofar as concerns extreme poverty. Foreign transfers, especially foreign pensions, have a strong positive impact on very poor families in Idjeur but much less in Nedroma, where poor families suffer from a ‘double loss’ due to the fact that that their migrants do not provide local income nor do they send much money home. This difference between the two regions may be explained by the fact that communities in Kabylia are more structured, and that Kabyle emigrant communities overseas replicate these structures, reinforcing strong social norms in favour of remitting behaviour. Finally, this article presents results consistent with the finding in the literature showing an inverse U-shaped relationship between past migration and inequality, but suggests a nuanced interpretation due to the inequality-inducing effects of foreign pensions.

Hillel Rapoport (Paris School of Economics) looks at theories of migrants' social remittances in a historical context relating to fertility in 19th century France France experienced a demographic transition earlier than richer and more educated countries. This presentation offers a novel explanation for this puzzle that emphasises the diffusion of culture and information through internal migration. It tests how migration affected fertility by building a decennial bilateral migration matrix between French regions for 1861–1911. The identification strategy uses exogenous variation in transportation costs resulting from the construction of railways. The results suggest the convergence towards low birth rates can be explained by the diffusion of low-fertility norms by migrants, especially by migrants to and from Paris.

Presenting his PhD research, Visiting Fellow Guilherme Ortega explores migrant characteristic in Campinas metropolitan area, Brazil The overall aim of this work is to investigate the migratory processes of Campinas Metropolitan Area in Brazil and the flows and sociodemographic characteristics of migrants, in light of the different economic and political contexts through which Brazil has passed since the 1980s. The end of slavery in Brazil in 1888 enabled the creation of a rural labour market and altered the structure of mass consumption, thanks also to the rise of coffee exports. The accumulation of capital that proceeded from this export enabled investment in infrastructure and industry, particularly the textile and cotton industries. The end of slavery also marked the beginning of European immigration, by which those European migrants would later head for the city’s industries. The Brazilian metropolises emerged due to a tendency in countries such as Brazil, which have low investment in production, of concentrating industrial parks in a single region, seeking to take advantage of transportation infrastructure, public services, teaching institutions and an appropriately qualified workforce.

Between 1980 and 1985, thanks to the end of the Brazilian military dictatorship and the external capital inflows there was an intensification of industrial and urban growth in major centres. The cost of transport, land and services increased, and part of the industry was forced to abandon big centres like São Paulo – a process understood as ‘diseconomies of agglomeration’ – which enabled the development of new economies and agglomerations around the city. The processes of economic, social and political transformation provide us with the idea that internal and international migration processes were also influenced and changed, both in relation to flows and, particularly, in relation to the characteristics of these migrants, due to changes in the industrial process and in the labour market. Lastly we must recognise the influence of industrialisation and migration processes in the structuring of space, particularly within the cities of the metropolitan areas in Brazil in which residents lived in differing ways according to their varying financial resources With this in mind, we investigate the importance of migrant destination, i.e. the area in which they live within the metropolitan area, taking into account their sociodemographic characteristics, to explore the dynamics of labour relations.

Joachim Jarreau investigates whether the benefits of migration actually reach the poorest households We study the impact of emigration on income distribution of Egyptian households, using longitudinal data covering 1998–2012. Controlling for selection of migrants and work participation of non-migrants, we find that remittances tend to increase income inequality at origin. However taking into account income earned abroad by migrants, adjusted for PPP differences, yields larger gains from migration and a negative impact on inequality of ‘income per natural’. We study the dependence of this effect with the saving share of migrants’ earnings. Positive selection of migrants tends to make migration inequality-increasing, while low transferability of skills in destination countries, primarily in the Gulf region, has the opposite effect. We argue that a focus on remittances is too restrictive to account for the whole benefits of migration to origin households, when transfer costs are high. We confirm this with household panel regressions showing that migration episodes have a significant and large impact in the medium-term on household permanent income, controlling for pre-departure characteristics. The medium-term benefits from migration have an inequality-reducing effect in particular in rural areas.

Robtel Neajai Pailey interrogates how Liberian citizenship has been constructed across time and space This presentation interrogates whether or not an ‘authentic’ Liberian citizen actually exists based on multi-sited fieldwork conducted between June 2012 and July 2013. Using actor-oriented analysis as my theoretical framework, I examine the interfaces between 202 Liberian respondents – namely, homeland Liberians in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital; Liberian diasporas in London, Washington, Freetown, and Accra; permanent and circular returnees; executive and legislative members of government, including the four sponsors of Liberia’s 2008 proposed dual citizenship bill – showing that their conceptualisations of 'Liberian citizenship' differ according to their lived experiences and social locations, and ultimately influence participation, or lack thereof, in post-war recovery. I argue that contemporary constructions of ‘Liberian citizenship’ transcend the legal definition enshrined in the country’s 1973 Aliens and Nationality Law—moving from passive, identity-based citizenship to more active, practice-based citizenship.

I use inverted commas to encase the term ‘Liberian citizenship’ throughout because it refers to the constantly shifting conceptualisations and practices of citizenship over space and time. Citizenship, in my analysis, is not only a bundle of rights and privileges embedded in constructions of legal, national and cultural identity, but it is also a set of practices and interactions embodied in the life-worlds of respondents in Liberia and across transnational spaces.

Jørgen Carling looks at the politics of the individual and the role of power relations in mobility and immobility This presentation is part of the 2016 IMI Hilary Term seminar series, which seeks to interrogate the relationship between migration, politics and political change. The series offers a wide range of (inter)disciplinary, methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of the processes and outcomes that link migration, emigrants and immigrants with politics and political change.

The series seeks to discuss both how political actors govern migrants’ actions and movements ‘from above’, through policies and resources, and how migrants may shape politics ‘from below’, and can be grassroots ‘agents of change’. Key themes highlighted in this collection of seminars include research on diasporas, transnational engagement, im/migrant politics in origin and receiving countries and political change, and the implications of migration as manifestation of social transformation. The seminar series is organised and coordinated by IMI postdoctoral fellows Dr. Marieke Van Houte and Dr. Ali R. Chaudhary who are currently working on TRANSMIC, a Marie Curie-funded project, which explores the topic of migration, politics and political change.

Laura Morales compares the political party preferences of migrants across Europe The objective of this paper is to study the party preferences of migrants in a comparative perspective. While long considered politically quiescent, recent studies show that migrants participate politically in their settlement countries. While in the US there is a long tradition of studies of ethnic minorities’ party preferences, European scholars have only recently addressed the issue using mainly case studies.

Drawing on prior studies on the voting behavior of migrants and ethnic minorities, we test several hypotheses related to individual and contextual factors explaining the formation and the direction of migrants’ party preferences. Using data from individual surveys conducted in the context of the Localmultidem project (http://www.um.es/localmultidem/) to samples of migrant groups and natives in 7 European cities across 5 different countries (Budapest, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Zurich, and Geneva), our results suggest that individual factors are more important to explain the formation of party preference but that contextual factors affect the difference between migrants and natives in their party choice.

Thomas Faist shows how the 'transnational social question' relates to political conflicts around the inequalities connected to cross-border migration in immigration and emigration contexts On a world scale, distress and social instability are reminiscent of the social inequalities that obtained in a large part of nineteenth-century Europe. At that time the 'social question' was the central subject of extremely volatile political conflicts between the ruling classes and working-class movements. Are we now on the verge of a new social conflict, this time on a cross-border scale, characterised by manifold boundaries – such as those between capital and labour, North and South, developed and underdeveloped or developing countries?

Looking at cross-border migration, this lecture exemplifies crucial mechanisms resulting in the reproduction of old inequalities and the emergence of new inequalities. The lecture shows how the 'transnational social question' relates to political conflicts around the inequalities connected to cross-border migration in immigration and emigration contexts. Among the processes relevant for the understanding of the transnational social question are marketisation, securitisation, and developmentalism.

Simon Turner explores state and nation building in Rwanda since its 1994 genocide Over the past sixty years, Rwanda has experienced massive population displacements due to ethnic tensions, war and genocide. These movements of populations have in turn caused radical transformations of the political landscape in the country. This presentation explores state and nation building in Rwanda since the genocide when the Tutsi diaspora returned in large numbers and created a state that was meant to be radically different to the pre-genocide state. I argue that the returning diaspora sees the country as virgin soil and that the diaspora itself has a great responsibility to develop the country and prevent it ‘sliding back’ into ‘genocide ideologies’. This creates a new political elite of returnees with a strong ideology of top-down developmentalism. Furthermore, I argue that the Rwandan state is performed – and hence made – through regulating populations according to when and where they moved across the borders.

Rainer Baubock explores the citizenship puzzle - citizenship status and its relevance in contemporary democracies In contemporary democracies, the franchise in national elections has been largely separated from territorial residence by extending it to voters residing permanently abroad, but not from citizenship status, which remains a fundamental requirement in all but a few countries, with New Zealand as the most significant exception that confirms the rule. Conversely, the local franchise has been separated from national citizenship requirements in a significant number of (mostly European) states but remains – with only few exceptions – reserved for those who reside in the municipality. These observations can be condensed into a testable hypothesis: The national franchise is separable from territorial residence but not from national citizenship; the local franchise is separable from national citizenship but not from territorial residence. Stated differently, voting rights are increasingly differentiated according to the criteria of residence and citizenship, and there is an interaction between the vertical differentiation of voting rights in multilevel polities and the horizontal differentiation of the franchise in contexts of international migration.

In the first part of the paper we discuss findings from a European and American survey of voting rights and focus on exceptions to the two non-separability claims and examples for resistance against actual separation. Our aim is to show that the exceptions confirm the rule and that resistance against separation can be explained contextually rather than by some inherent features of the democratic franchise in national and local elections. In the second part of the paper, we try to make sense of these observations from the perspective of democratic theory.

This paper investigates why Afghans in the wider diaspora take action in certain ways. This paper investigates why Afghans in the wider diaspora take action in certain ways. It builds on the analysis of transnational activities and different ‘spheres of engagement’ (Van Hear 2015). With the help of qualitative data obtained through in-depth interviews and participant observation I first explain how informants come to direct their activities towards certain spheres of engagement and how these engagements implicate ideas of change. In a further step I use my findings to discuss the notion of diasporas as agents of change. I show how relational sociology helps to specify the structuring effects of the social context of my informants. In particular, I identify enabling and constraining structures and explore how informants exercise agency and creatively use available resources by taking action in one or several spheres of engagement. The relational approach disentangles the effects and variabilities of multi-layered structures and thus develops a more precise understanding of why people engage with their home countries in certain ways and what forms of agency are involved if people take action.

An ethnographic border regime analysis showing that the governing of migration remains an attempt to control rather than effecting a total control of movement, and that marriage becomes an important strategy for migrants' mobility According to article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 'men and women of full age, without limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family'. This should entail that citizens from so-called 'third countries' married to a citizen of an EU member state also have the right to enter the Schengen area in order to join their partner, regardless of their social background and resources. However, states intend to regulate migration and during the last decade 'marriage migration' has become a specific target of control. One can observe an increasing problematisation and politicisation of 'marriage migration' – especially from Muslim countries – which led to more restrictive policies towards this group of migrants, for example through required language certificates or verifications of genuine marriages.

In order to analyse the struggles around mobility and its control in the context of 'marriage migration', I carried out multi-sited ethnographic research in Morocco and Germany. In the sense of a 'studying through' (Shore/Wright) I conducted interviews in institutions implementing migration policies, followed different state and non-state actors that are part of the border regime and studied the practices of migrants who attempt to use this legal opportunity for migration. This ethnographic border regime analysis (Transit Migration Research Group) shows that the governing of migration remains an attempt to control rather than effecting a total control of movement, and that marriage becomes an important strategy for mobility through which migrants exercise their agency in order to cross borders and realise their aspirations.

Ali Chaudhary and Marieke van Houte introduce the seminar series on migration, politics and political change and their TRANSMIC project, examining the links between migration, citizenship, and migration and development This presentation is part of the 2016 IMI Hilary Term seminar series, which seeks to interrogate the relationship between migration, politics and political change. The series offers a wide range of (inter)disciplinary, methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of the processes and outcomes that link migration, emigrants and immigrants with politics and political change. The series seeks to discuss both how political actors govern migrants’ actions and movements ‘from above’, through policies and resources, and how migrants may shape politics ‘from below’, and can be grassroots ‘agents of change’. Key themes highlighted in this collection of seminars include research on diasporas, transnational engagement, im/migrant politics in origin and receiving countries and political change, and the implications of migration as manifestation of social transformation. The seminar series is organised and coordinated by IMI postdoctoral fellows Dr. Marieke Van Houte and Dr. Ali R. Chaudhary who are currently working on TRANSMIC, a Marie Curie-funded project, which explores the topic of migration, politics and political change.

Looking at the impact of financial remittances on immigrant relatives’ access to healthcare via community-based health insurances For many years, the migration and development literature has looked at the impact of financial remittances on immigrant relatives’ access to healthcare. More recent work on social remittances also examined the circulation of ideas and practices through migration and its impact on behaviour and consumption patterns in the home country. Surprisingly, however, migration scholars have neglected the interactions between remittances and local health systems in countries of origin. This is all the more surprising considering the abundant literature on health and development that has documented numerous non-governmental initiatives to improve access to care in the Global South in recent years. Among those initiatives, community-based health insurances (CBHI) have attracted significant attention. CBHI are voluntary risk-pooling schemes run by not-for-profit organisations; they collect fees among users at the local level and organise access to care with providers. While the growing literature on CBHI is shedding light on the potential of civil society organisations to replace or compensate for weak public health systems, it forgets that – in many parts of the world – access to the necessary capital to join those schemes is still very dependent on emigration of some family members. In other words, for many families worldwide, strategies to access healthcare have become transnational.

In this paper, I look at a specific form of CHBI that we call 'transnational health insurance' (THI). These insurance schemes are set up by immigrants in cooperation with a multitude of actors including, on the one hand, health insurance companies and development aid agencies in destination countries and, on the other hand, healthcare providers in origin countries. THIs offer health coverage to a selected number of non-migrant relatives in the home country based on a premium paid directly by immigrants to the insurance company in their country of residence. Analysing the creation and implementation of THIs in the Belgian–Congolese postcolonial context allow me to contribute to pressing debates on the nature of such remittances (Are THIs social or financial remittances, or both?), the drivers of immigrant transnational engagement (What are the motivations of receiving country institutions to get involved in such co-development practices? How do these initiatives reflect and/or transform receiving countries’ health systems? How beneficial are they for emigrants and their relatives?), and its impact on communities in origin countries (Do THIs support or hamper access to public health and the development of local initiatives in countries of origin? How sustainable are those strategies as migration becomes more permanent?)

The data used in this paper were collected during multi-sited fieldwork in Belgium and the DR Congo between January 2012 and August 2013 by the co-author of this paper, Olivier Lizin. Fieldwork included long-term participant observation in one THI in Brussels and Kinshasa (Solidarco) as well as 80 semi-structured interviews. Interviewees belonged to the following categories: Congolese immigrants in Belgium; insurance fund managers in Belgium; THI managers in DR Congo; beneficiaries in DR Congo; and development aid workers.

Case study of hyper-mobile migrants employed on large-scale construction sites in the Netherlands, highlighting the ways these workers express their agency in dealing with a cross-border employment context in which social protection is difficult to access Within the European Union a labour recruitment system exists within which firms use various channels of migration and recruitment to differentiate between terms and conditions of migrant workers, exploiting the blurred boundaries of regulatory frameworks on intra-EU mobility. Though these EU migrant workers are formally not excluded from labour rights, regulations are enacted such that de facto they often are. In particular, migrants who move between EU-member states on a regular basis for work, such as those working in engineering construction, face many irregularities in their employment relations, while hardly experiencing protection from established representation and enforcement authorities.

This presentation discusses a case study of hyper-mobile migrants employed on large-scale construction sites in the Netherlands, and highlights the ways these workers express their agency in dealing with a cross-border employment context in which social protection mechanisms are absent or difficult to access. It is argued that the employment context limits the opportunities for collective organisation (via trade unions for example), and that the workers therefore employ various strategies that rework existing conditions to their advantage. On a broader scale, however, this contributes to the continuation of current labour relations.

The main destinations of migrants are the mega cities and other urban areas, yet governments are ill-prepared to receive this large influx of people and internal migrants are exposed to a new set of risks and vulnerabilities. Internal migration is increasingly rural-urban. The main destinations of migrants are the mega cities and other urban areas, in search of better or more diversified livelihoods, better access to services, or just a better life. Yet governments are ill-prepared to receive this large influx of people and unwilling to penalise employers who disregard labour laws and, as such, internal migrants to urban areas are exposed to a new set of risks and vulnerabilities. These risks include poor working conditions – such as long hours, low pay and an unsafe working environment – exploitation by recruiters, employers and middlemen, low-quality and uncertain housing, lack of sanitation and safe water, irregular or no access to utility services and generally poor access to basic and social protection services.

Despite having a great need for social protection, migrants to urban areas are less likely to have access to social protection, even when not crossing borders. This is both because of lack of entitlement for social protection (e.g. the hukou system in China prevents internal migrants from accessing state benefits) and lack of ‘physical access’. The latter can be determined by lack of knowledge or ability to apply for the programme, bureaucratic obstructions and non-coverage of informal urban areas. While it is important that policy makers concerned about poverty reduction understand the characteristics of these migrant groups, their risks and vulnerabilities, levels of access to services and social protection and barriers that obstruct access, little is known about these issues at present. This literature synthesises the literature on this subject. The focus is on the levels of access to social protection services for internal migrants and on the social protection policy features (design and implementation) that facilitate or act as obstacles to social protection participation and adequate coverage of internal migrant workers.

IMI Visiting Fellow Nauja Kleist presents her research on return migration in the context of restrictive mobility regimes in Europe and Africa, within theories on hope, (im)mobility, social fields, gender, and belonging. Contemporary migration is characterized by a mobility paradox. The increased reach and accessibility of communication, media and transport technologies mean that people in many parts of the world are exposed to visions of the good life elsewhere while restrictive mobility regimes makes access to the global circuits of legal mobility increasingly difficult.

In this paper Nauja argues that hope constitutes a productive analytical framework for studies of migration in the light of this mobility paradox, highlighting potentiality as well as uncertainty. She explores this through a case study of life after deportation to Ghana with a focus on conflicting notions of hope. Returning empty-handed is widely embedded in shame and a sense of individualized failure, despite widespread knowledge of the uncertainty related to high-risk migration. Nauja suggests that this conundrum is an expression of the local persistence of social hope in the lack of desirable alternatives which I further explore in the seminar.

Would a narrower gap in social services provision help to manage migration from developing countries? Income gap is widely accepted to be the single-most compelling factor that determines migration from developing to developed countries. It is driven by the income maximisation motive. Hence, conventional wisdom holds that economic development in developing countries should lead to lower migration. Interestingly, data also show that there is a considerable 'welfare state' gap between developing and developed countries. Using the argument of risk minimisation motive, would a narrower gap in social services provision help to manage migration from developing countries? This research provides empirical macro and micro evidence of the 'reverse welfare magnet' and the complexity on the effect of social policy on migration. It is argued that better welfare provision in developing countries could reduce migration through the risk minimisation channel.

Examining how social protection is conceptualised in research in African contexts and reviewing the extent to which these different approaches can take into account the changing populations of urban spaces, especially those experiencing high migration Over the last two decades, the concept of social protection has been widely applied to understand how poor societies reduce the multiple socio-economic risks faced by their members. Social protection is concerned with both social welfare or assistance and also social insurance that reduces risk for those most vulnerable to poverty and exploitation. It has been incorporated into a number of aid programmes in sub-Saharan Africa but the reach of formal social protection provided by the state remains extremely limited and informal social protection mechanisms often provide the majority of support that the population experiences. In Africa’s rapidly growing urban centres, the systems of social protection must be flexible in the face of the rapidly changing population, especially in areas where internal and international migration continues to contribute to their growth. In this seminar, I will look at how social protection has been conceptualised in research in African contexts and critically review the extent to which these different approaches can take into account the changing populations of urban spaces, especially those experiencing high levels of migration.

Comparing immigrant and native-born social capital formation via New Zealand data which permits a distinction between indicators of stocks of social capital and indicators of investment in the form of participation in community and voluntary activities In this presentation Professor Poot compares immigrant and native-born social capital formation by means of New Zealand data which permits a distinction between indicators of stocks of social capital (viz. feelings of safety, interpersonal contact and inclusion) and indicators of investment in the form of participation in community and voluntary activities, with bonding and bridging activities considered separately. For immigrants, an assessment is made of how social capital formation changes with increasing years in the host country. Additionally, impacts of spatial segregation - both interregional and intra-regional - on social capital formation are identified. The robustness of the results are gauged by replication of the statistical analysis across two different datasets: the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey and the 2008 New Zealand General Social Survey. We find that migrants’ social capital and investment are lowest upon arrival in the host country, but migrant-native born differences largely disappear during the first five years since migration. However, ethnicity of the native born and country of birth of migrants matter a lot for social capital formation. Migrant clustering between regions appears to decrease the formation of bridging social capital, while migrant clustering within regions increases the formation of bonding social capital.

What motivates policymakers to initially develop these very specifically-targeted policy proposals which contradict the territorial logic of the welfare state? Transnational mobility presents fundamental challenges to nationally-bounded welfare states, which historically have tended to be organised according to territorial principles of solidarity among permanent residents / nationals. By developing legislation to create welfare benefits encouraging the durable return of specific groups of older migrants to their countries of origin, the Dutch and French governments have taken recent unusual steps to break this link between national solidarity and territorially-bounded consumption of welfare.

This presentation asks what motivated policymakers to initially develop these very specifically-targeted policy proposals which contradict the territorial logic of the welfare state. Based on interviews and available official documents, we follow the subsequent 'biographies' of the two policies, explaining why the revised Dutch scheme has entered into force, while the implementation of the French proposal (although passed by parliament) continues to be blocked. What is noteworthy about the Dutch discussions is that the territoriality principle was not at issue; rather the political debate focused primarily on the utilitarian wish to save the welfare state money. By contrast in France, the dynamics of the debate have been precisely the contrary, with concern for the territoriality of the welfare state trumping any financial considerations. However, in both country cases the concern not to transgress anti-discrimination clauses in the EU treaties was a major preoccupation. We conclude by exploring the extent to which policymakers and other stakeholders in the respective countries have engaged in mutual ‘policy learning’.

IMI Trinity term Visiting Fellow Rafael Cazarin gives an exceptional seminar on narratives of social transformation amongst Nigerian and Congolese pastors in diaspora The celebration of conferences, the articulation of visions with spiritual gifts and the teachings on everyday life orientate Pentecostal migrants to develop personal skills, frame interpersonal challenges and ‘tune’ their minds to understand sentiments and emotions. Either in Africa or outside Africa, Pentecostal churches affect congregants though a set of multi-level activities in which transformation is the effect of rules of which obedience must be acknowledged.

As part of an ongoing doctoral research carried out in Bilbao, Spain, and, Johannesburg, South Africa this research engages with the current debates on emotions and social transformation exploring their places within church leaders’ narratives within a migratory milieu. Moreover, Cazarin analyses here the modus operandi of Nigerian and Congolese church leaders on articulating congregants’ emotional responses (hope, fear, love, suffering, etc) with everyday life in a foreign city by presenting and exploring three scales in which this process takes place. In doing so, Cazarin intends to related these geographically distant cases by a mutual, recognisable set of emotionally-based interactions, narratives and practices that frames the Pentecostal discourse on transformation.

What archaeological data tell us about the movement of populations in the last millenia: presented by Nicolas Zorzin

Applying a gender lens to migration and development: insights from research in Southern Africa: presented by Belinda Dodson

Remaining 'attached strangers': Encounters, relationships and the future of African migrants in China, presented by Linessa Dan Lin

MIGRATION AND MODERNIZATION IN POLAND: AN ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE presented by Marcin Galent (Jagiellonian University, Krakow) Migrants from Central and Eastern Europe have become an inseparable part of the British ethnic mosaic. Eastern European migration attracts a lot of scholarly attention in the UK, however little has been said about the origin country perspective in this debate. What has driven these people to leave in the first place? What are the consequences of their decisions? Not only the costs – depopulation of rural areas in certain localities in Eastern Europe – but also the benefits – low unemployment, skill transfers and modernization projects – of this out-migration are occurring on an unprecedented scale.

In this special series of podcasts, three speakers aim to bring these arguments to light, thereby filling the substantial gap in how emigration from Central Eastern Europe has been conceptualised thus far.

WELFARE SYSTEMS AS EMIGRATION FACTOR: EVIDENCE FROM THE NEW ACCESSION STATES Lucia Kurekova (Central European University, Budapest)

MIGRATION AND MODERNIZATION IN POLAND: AN ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE Marcin Galent (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)

THE ETHICS AND POLITICS OF OUTMIGRATION Dace Dzenovska (COMPAS, University of Oxford)

Mobile female traders from Mali in Dakar (Senegal): Place-making abroad and on the move, presented by Gunvor Jonsson

'Sub-Saharan mobility and the transformation of the urban religious landscape in Morocco', presented by Johara Berriane

Malasree Neepa Acharya presents her paper '‘Brain-gain' return of India’s high-skilled entrepreneurs: Home, transformation, and power politics in the cosmopolitan global south' in Parallel session V(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics This paper investigates the impact of entrepreneurs of Indian origin as social and economic actors that are choosing to return to emerging cities in India. I ask how do entrepreneurs of Indian origin who have lived for a substantial time in the US and/or EU construct their lives upon returning to cosmopolitan cities in India and what factors affect their actions. Entrepreneurs, self-employed owners, financers and managers of their own business or enterprise, are a specific subset of high skilled migrants who take charge of their destinies. I theorize that entrepreneurs— as a unique action-oriented subset of returning elites (Heberer 1999, Drucker 1975)—create their work and home space as a reflection of their hybrid subjectivities and life experiences as cosmopolitan ‘expats.’ These elites transform physical infrastructures of home and work, and social relations among resident Indians and fellow ‘expats’ within emerging Indian ‘Global South’ (Simone 2007, Dawson 2004) cities. The impact of these transformations reconfigure the ways in which global elites move through the world—these entrepreneurs largely redefine transnational networks across periphery and centre while actively creating their own connection to cosmopolitan spaces globally.

Utilizing primary interview data and cognitive social networking ‘maps’ created by entrepreneurs that have returned to Bangalore, India, an emerging ecosystem in India in the wake of globalization, I attempt to investigate the subtext of entrepreneur respondent discussions of ‘opportunity’ and ‘innovation.’ I contend that entrepreneurs who see their return as an opportunity to create a new venture or idea reflect a new cosmopolitan global citizenry whose rootedness and creation of subjective selves within India reconfigures multinational movements and settlement patterns of high skilled elites as part of a larger way in which they move through the world—thereby retranslating transnational ties and engagements with settlement within spaces around the world.

'Fortress Europe or Europe of Rights? The Europeanization of family migration policies in France, Germany, and the Netherlands' presented by Saskia Bonjour (Leiden University).

'The numbers game: Targets and indicators in UK immigration policy' presented by Christina Boswell (University of Edinburgh).

Erlend Paasche presents his paper 'Elites and emulators: the evolution of an Iraqi Kurdish - European migration system' in Parallel session VI(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper deals with both emigration and return, applying a systems approach on 'forced migrants'. Empirically based on more than 100 in-depth interviews and 7 focus group discussions with Iraqi Kurdish emigrants and returnees to/from the UK and Norway, this paper explores the evolution of an Iraqi Kurdish - European migration system through three time periods, 1975-1991, 1992-1998, and 1999 until today. The first wave, comprised of political elites, were often granted asylum by sympathetic host states in Europe. Through their existentially important remittances, transnational marriages and high-profile return visits these elites had a signalling effect triggering the emigration of a more mixed group of second-wave ‘economic refugees'. Second-wavers emulated the first-wavers in search of wealth and freedom but were also fleeing a complex of civil war, generalized insecurity and economic deprivation. The final third-wavers tend to be less wealthy and younger, and idealize Europe as a vehicle of social mobility in lieu of inaccessible patronage. Unprecedented though incomplete political stability and rapid though inequitable economic growth in Iraqi Kurdistan hence produces return and emigration simultaneously. It prompts the return of political and financial elites, well positioned to capitalize on investment opportunities and benefit from personal networks and any foreign-earned skills and education they might have acquired. It also produces third wavers who continue to emulate the elites by seeking asylum in Europe to accumulate wealth and enjoy social freedoms, but are poorly positioned to do so as increasingly restrictive asylum regimes and economic downturns in Europe combine to produce irregularization, marginalization, and unfavorable exchange rates vis-à-vis the booming Kurdish economy. When these third-wavers eventually return, often forcibly, they are largely empty-handed and face disappointed households and poor prospects in an increasingly specialized labor market. In other words, emigration to Europe has been democratized but return has not.

Philip Marfleet presents his paper 'Egypt: Migration, revolution, and social change' in Parallel session VI(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 For decades Egypt was a source country for migration to states of the Gulf. Now some of its poorest people leave villages of the Nile Delta for the cities of Europe. Despite formal efforts by European authorities to inhibit these networks, greatly increasing the risks for those involved, the pace of migration has intensified and cross-Mediterranean networks have become integral to the life of some communities.

This paper examines the rapid emergence and consolidation of the new networks. It considers the development of new social practices associated with migration and the complex outcomes for migrants and for those who do not migrate.

The paper also considers the impact of Egypt's revolution upon migration - the effect of societal upheaval and of a huge rise in expectations of social and economic advance among millions of people. It argues that processes associated with the "Arab Spring" continue to stimulate cross-Mediterranean movements and to reshape regional patterns of migration.

Larisa Kosygina presents her paper 'Citizens of Kazakhstan in a Russian city: factors facilitating and limiting transnational activities' in Parallel session VI(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper discusses some results of my research, “Foreign citizens in the Novosibirsk region: factors for construction of transnational practices,” undertaken within the collective research project, “Cross-border relations in the Asian part of Russia: a comprehensive assessment of benefits and risks" (funded by the Russian Academy of Science). The paper is based on an analysis of semi-structured interviews with citizens of Kazakhstan residing in Novosibirsk, which is the principal city of the region bordering Kazakhstan. It presents migrants’ understandings of their migration process and factors facilitating or limiting their transnational activity (including transnational migration).

Both Russia and Kazakhstan participate in one migration system which emerged after the collapse of the USSR. These countries are connected by a common history, cultural ties and social links, and continued mutual economic interests. The recent introduction of the Common Economic Space – the economic and political union which encompasses Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus – presupposes facilitation of migration and social integration of the citizens of these countries across the covered territory. Citizens of Kazakhstan and Belarus can enter Russia without a visa. In Russia, citizens of Belarus and Kazakhstan in comparison with other foreign citizens have the greatest access to social and economic rights. Using the example of citizens of Kazakhstan residing in the region which borders Kazakhstan, my research tries to clarify factors which promote or limit creation of a transnational social space – a social space which is “composed from networks that link individuals to institutions in more than one state” (Glick Shiller, in print) – from below, in other words, the creation of transnational space via the activities of migrants themselves.

Oana Romocea presents her paper 'Transformative stages of migrant identity' in Parallel session VI(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Part of my doctoral research, the present paper aims to explore how migrant identity transforms over time in response to political and social changes. For the purpose of this study, I conducted in-depth interviews with first-generation Romanian migrants settled in the UK over the last half a century. Using the timing and reason of their relocation, I identified three sub-groups: pre-1989 political refugees, post-1989 knowledge diaspora and post-1989 labour migrants. The study is both a diachronic and synchronic analysis which follows the identity transformation, dynamism and re-adaptation of the Romanian migrant community. I argue that political and social changes have led to major identity shifts within the migrant community at both individual and collective level. If before the 1989 revolution, the Romanians settled in the UK had formed an active diaspora, during the 1990s, they lost this status and became known as an immigrant community motivated by aims of personal development. However, we have been witnessing a new transformative stage since 2007 when Romania joined the European Union. The Romanians settled in the UK have again started displaying traits specific to an incipient diaspora.

The study takes into account patterns of migrant integration in the context of everyday experiences in order to understand how Romanians in Britain have, over time, delineated their relationship both to their homeland and the host society across the transnational space of Europe. This interrelation is a dominant element of the diasporic imagination of what it means to be Romanian, given the migration experience. Based on this analysis, my study will reveal how the Romanian migrants responded to political and cultural changes, addressed identity crisis, adapted to new contexts and reinvented themselves. All these processes are reflected in the transformation of their migrant identity.

Joana Sousa Ribeiro presents his paper 'Beyond migrant lives: the rise and fall of meso-level actors' in Parallel session VI(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper examines the migration from East European countries to Portugal as a particular pattern of the named `southern European model´ (Baldin-Edwards, 1999; King, 2000). It discusses this sub-system through the analysis of the emergence, development and decline of migratory dynamics.

Biographic interviews to physicians and nurses coming from Russia Federation, Moldova and Ukraine to Portugal are explored in order to sustain the debate. These non-EU citizens arrived in Portugal without their credentials recognised before they left their country of origin; as a consequence, they do not benefit from any professional, organizational, or supra-national framework.

The analysis of the East European doctors and nurses’ pioneer paths into the Portuguese Health Service underlines the importance of multi-level actors: either as service providers (e.g. of language courses, of training programs), as bridge-builders of social capital, as mentors for newcomers or as gatekeepers.

The biographic approach of this study allows perceiving the role of the initial movers on the sustainability of the flows. Moreover, it contributes to emphasize the range of mechanisms that is on inter-play over time, namely, the ones resulted from the interactions with state institutions, employers, educational establishments, professional associations, NGO´s, Foundations, migrants fellows.

This paper argues for the need to overcome the structure/agency divide on the (re)valuation of the migratory dynamics.

Lucinda Platt presents her paper 'Accounting for diversity in Polish migration in Europe' co-authored by Renee Luthra & Justyna Salamonska in Parallel session VI(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Research on the decision to migrate overwhelmingly draws from neo-classical and revised economic models of international flows, in which individuals and their families choose migration strategies to maximize and diversify their incomes (Borjas, 1989)and reduce their exposure to financial risks (Taylor, 1999, Stark and Bloom, 1985). Yet these models do little to explain the large amount of remaining variation in the type and size of migration flows across receiving countries after the costs and benefits of migration are accounted for. We also know relatively little about how non-economic determinants of migration impact the integration process of new immigrants in the destination country.

This paper examines cross-national variation in the non-economic motivations and early integration of Polish immigrants to four Western Europe destinations: the UK, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands. We rely on a unique new data set that contains standardized measures of pre-migration and post-migration characteristics among recent Polish migrants in all four countries, enhancing comparability and sample size and reducing return-migration selection bias. Focusing only on Poles allows us to control for many economic confounders in the relationship between non-economic migration determinants and social and economic integration, because the legal and financial costs of migration from Poland to Western Europe, as well as the potential wage returns, are fairly uniform across destination countries. Despite this seeming interchangeability, we show considerable variation in the size and socioeconomic characteristics of Polish migration flows to these four countries. We link this variation to differences in the migration motives, pre-migration social networks, and settlement intentions. Furthermore, we show that these non-economic variables exert a significant impact on early socioeconomic integration in the destination countries, influencing the likelihood of unemployment as well as occupational status and subjective life satisfaction of Polish immigrants within the first 18 months after arrival.

Robert Westermann presents his paper 'The ‘Neogramscian approach’: using 'Critical Theories' to explain migration systems' in Parallel session V(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Until now World System approaches, also known as Critical Theories, are mainly applied in International Relation research. In the following I will illustrate on one example, the Neogramscian approach of Robert Cox, how global correlations of social forces, forms of state and global orders profoundly affect International Migration processes and should be considered by theoretical debates in Migration Studies. Furthermore, I will show how the specific perspective of social transformation in combination with the awareness of local rescaling processes can be a promising extension for the research of Migration Systems.

Gabriela Quevedo presents her paper '‘Now smells like revolution': migrants' activism, subjectivities, and agency in contemporary London' in Parallel session V(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Over the last sixty years London has transformed itself into a service based city where global economic forces have developed an expanding low-paid economy that relies heavily on migrant labour (Sassen, 1991; quoted in Evans et al., 2005). These historic and social processes have been the fertile ground of new forms of political, social and cultural mobilisation often led by migrants. It is within this setting that my doctoral research seeks to illuminate empirically the links between migrant's activism -as it comes into being- and the question of agency and social change.

Using ethnographic data from my engagement with the 3cosas campaign at the University of London, I argue that the epistemological premises of feminism, and in particular the notions of subjectivity and reflexivity can be instrumental to develop a deeper understanding of how migrants in London have become authentic pioneers in the resurgence of radicalised and somewhat unconventional forms of union activism (Seidman, 2011).

I take a ‘carnal' approach to ethnography (Wacquant, 2005) that is grounded in my personal engagement as an activist in the left wing London scene for more than three years. Departing from Bourdieu's concept of ‘habitus' as methodological focus (Bourdieu, 1990), together with Touraine's theory of ‘the subject' (Touraine, 1995), this paper hopes to provide some insights into the question of how activism ‘occurs', and the entangled articulations between the migrants' sense of self in relation to their current positions (material and symbolic), and the marks of their unique histories. This approach moves on from mono-causal understandings of collective action and seeks to expand the traditional remit of current anthropological research by adopting a dialogic, bottom up methodology to explain migrants' mobilisation (Pèro and Solomos, 2010).

Sanghita Datta presents her paper 'Dis-locating the local: A study of the migrants originating from the Indian enclaves' in Parallel session V(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Borders divide nations and with it, it also divides localities irrespective of class and religion. The partition of India happened in two folds:- firstly with Pakistan and secondly with Bangladesh. In this entire process of drawing and re- drawing of borders the residue, in this entire process, are the inhabitants of borders. This has been a similar experience in case of all those who have been uprooted due to war and have been displaced internally due to various reasons. The Radcliffe Commission's ‘Blunder Line', demarcated the boundary line between India and Pakistan-East and West Pakistan separately. It gave rise to a number of boundary disputes about the adversarial possession of enclaves. The major bone of contention are the 106 enclaves (locally known as ‘chits') of India in having a total area of 20,957.07 acres situated within Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan).

This paper is an attempt to find answers to the big question of how and what motivated the inhabitants of the Enclave region to migrate and how the actual migration cycle took place. Based on unstructured interviews and mixed sampling techniques it traces the experiences of these migrants and there four decades of struggle to stay in India, mostly without legal citizenship in the two bordering districts of West Bengal:- Darjeeling and Coochbehar. Set on the backdrop of partition, the experience of travelling back to the mainland as a complete "alien" makes the journey different and the settling process sets them apart from the rest of the migration taking place in the country.

Alexandra Winkels presents her paper 'Migrant networks and the migration process: considering the spatial and temporal dimensions of social capital' in Parallel session V(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sep 13 This paper investigates the different functions of migrant networks at different stages of the migration process. Migration processes are conceptually divided into three stages (a) decision making (b) transition and (c) adaptation. Looking at migration as a spatial as well as a temporal process allows us to consider the role of social capital in managing the risks and opportunities of mobility, and to gain a deeper understanding of migrant agency. Based on a case study of internal migration in Vietnam the research shows that migrants are highly reliant on their family and friends to access resources and information to reduce the challenges associated with moving, settling and both accessing and maintaining income opportunities at the destination. This is particularly pertinent in the context of Vietnam, where household registration and poverty combine to exclude many migrants from accessing opportunities at their chosen destination. I argue that it is important to view the role of social capital over time, and in parallel with economic and political changes, as relationships also change over time and space so that the resources accessible through these social contacts do not always remain constant throughout the migration process.

Tamar Zurabishvili presents her paper 'Migration networks in action: Case of Daba Tianeti' co-authored by Tinatin Zurabishvili in Parallel session V(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 International labor migration started from most of the former Soviet republics only after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and Georgia is no exception. Since then, however, migration flows and the character of migration from Georgia changed drastically from being overwhelmingly directed towards Russia and consisting of male migrants, to redirecting itself towards the EU and Northern America and becoming feminized.

Present paper analysis how migration networks develop and work based on the analysis of two waves of fieldwork, conducted in a small migrant sending community in Georgia, Daba Tianeti. First fieldwork was conducted in Daba Tianeti in 2006 and employed a mixed method approach, consisting of the survey of all Daba Tianeti Households (1062 cases) and 23 in-depth interviews with return migrants, family members of current migrants, and potential migrants. In 2008, a survey of all Daba Tianeti households was conducted (957 cases) together with a survey of Daba Tianeti migrants in Athens (52 cases), Greece.

By 2008, every third household in Daba Tianeti had at least one migrant abroad, mainly in Western Europe, Israel, and the US, and about half of the migrant stock from the community emigrated with the help of a close relative or a friend. Present paper argues that despite the relatively short period of inclusion in the migratory processes, migrants from Daba Tianeti have already developed migration networks, that effectively connect them with both each other and members of Daba Tianeti community left behind. The paper draws on both qualitative and quantitative data to demonstrate how migration networks developed and to closely examine several cases when migration of one family member led to the migration of several other family members and/or friends from the community.

Uta Lehmann presents her paper 'Skilled Iranians in Germany and the United States: exploring migrants' networks' in Parallel session V(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Every year 150.000 highly skilled persons leave Iran and seek new opportunities in the United States and Europe (Carrington/Detragiache 1998). A look back at history shows that these migration flows have a long tradition. They first started with educational exchanges in the early 19th century and reached its climax in the year of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. A well-educated Diaspora has resulted as a result of these movements. However, empirical findings indicate that Iranians immigrating to the United States are more successful in sustaining and promoting their educational and professional potential than Iranians coming to Europe. Here, the complex interconnection of influencing factors at the micro-, meso and macro level within a migration system becomes important. One key trait that emerged in my empirical findings is the role of social networks. My paper explores the dynamics of Iranian skilled immigration from a Bourdieuian perspective on social capital and argues that networks serve to overcome structural obstacles in migration. They help to generate social capital, which can be used to transform educational potential into cultural capital that facilitates swift market access.

Juan Iglesias presents his paper ''Se quedó ¿a volver?': crisis, stay, and return in the case of Ecuadorians in Spain' in Parallel session V(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 The communication is based on a mixed research focused on the study of the effects of the current economic crisis is generating on the migration processes and projects of Ecuadorians living in Spain. Communication seeks to explore, specifically, in the processes of stay, new international mobility and return that the current economic crisis is making among the ethnic Ecuadorian population in Spain. Before the crisis, Ecuadorian migrants formed one of the most significant migratory realities in the Spanish context, not only for its volume, 458,437 (INE, 1-1-2008) but, especially, for their progressive and widespread process of incorporation, settlement and rooted in Spanish society (access regulation and nationalization, family reunification, residential settlement, some upward job mobility within the secondary market, etc.) Crisis has destabilized the ongoing process which substantially change processes and migration projects Ecuadorians in a bundle of options that include not only the commitment to stay in Spain, but new international mobility processes, among which the different processes of return to the country of origin. A landscape that has substantially changed the immigration system that Ecuadorians had built with Spain in recent years and it shows, not only the impacts of structural origin on migration processes, but the dynamism of the immigrants themselves and their resources and social networks to redefine their migration projects. Communication, which is part of a research project of the National I + D + I (CSO2009-10429) presents the main features of social and migration issues listed above, from quantitative and qualitative study conducted between 2009 - 2012 with the Ecuadorian community in Spain.

Christiane Timmerman presents her paper 'The relevance of ‘feedback mechanisms' in migration impacted regions' in Parallel session V(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper is co-authored by Kenneth Hemmerechts, Helene de Clerck, and Roos Willems.

People form migration related perceptions - especially in regions with a long emigration tradition where migration has reached a certain momentum - from a range of specific local, national and international sources (Timmerman et. al 2010, De Haas 2010, Portes 2010). However, these regional migration impacted cultures are situated in changing socio-economic macro contexts that also influence people's perceptions of opportunities that migration may generate. Europe is going through an economic crisis while some ‘source countries' are witnessing considerable economic growth; as for example Turkey. This does not apply for Morocco, another important ‘source country' for Europe. In this contribution we focus on the relation between (1) the significance of feedback mechanisms of international migration and (2) changing macro socio-economic contexts.

Data are collected using a survey with a representative sample (2000 respondents) and in-depth interviews (80) in two seemingly similar regions in Turkey (Emirdag, Dinar) as well as in Morocco (Todra Valley, Central Plateau) which, however, have different emigration experiences: Emirdag, Todra Valley being high migration impacted regions, while Dinar, Central Plateau are not (FP7 EUMAGINE Project).

Using multiple regression analyses and qualitative cross-country analyses we found that people in the Turkish migration impacted region (Emirdag) who belong to transnational family networks are less eager to migrate and that the European crisis is considered an important issue compared to similar people in the low emigration area (Dinar). In Morocco, however, people in the migration impacted region (Todra Valley) still have higher migration aspirations regardless of transnational family networks than in the low emigration area (Central Plateau). Thus, feedback mechanisms (presence of transnational family networks) matter for explaining migration dynamics. Moreover, with changing larger socio-economic contexts - European economic crisis versus Turkish economic growth - the impact of negative feedback of transnational family networks on migration aspirations is likely to increase.

'Nationality acquisition in Spain: Legal asymmetries and effects on selectivity' presented by Amparo González-Ferrer (Spanish Research Council – CSIC).

Linda Oucho presents her paper 'The influence of networks in the migration decisions of Kenyan and Nigerian women bound for the UK' in Parallel session IV(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Networks and the information they convey can play a very important role in the decision to migrate. With technological advancements taking place in today's globalised world, potential migrants can consult individuals on information about their chosen destination, but they can also explore their options by using the internet to investigate the information that they need in order to make a decision of whether to migrate to their chosen destination. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changing nature of networks through time with a focus on exploring how different types of networks were used by Kenyan and Nigerian women in their decision to migrate to the UK as an individual or a family unit. The paper is based on my PhD thesis completed in November 2011 which focused on the migration decision-making experiences of Kenyan and Nigerian women in London between 1990 to 2010. The aim of the research was to capture women's agency in migration decisions and networks played a very important role in the decision-making process. Fawcett's conceptual framework (1989) was useful for understanding the linkages that exist between networks and potential migrants in terms of the information/ assistance shared and how they operate within a migration system. Fawcett's primary focus was to examine the communication between potential migrants and their networks as well as observable links such as trade flows or family obligations (1989: 673). He identified three types of linkages (tangible, regulatory and relational) and four categories of networks, namely State-to-State Relations, Mass Culture Connections, Family and Personal Networks and Migrant Agency Activities (1989: 673). Although outdated, Fawcett's conceptual framework provided guidelines to understand the relationship between migrants and how the information influenced the Kenyan and Nigerian women's decision to migrate to the United Kingdom.

Katie Kuschminder presents her paper 'Strong ties, weak ties and protection for domestic workers: Ethiopian domestic worker migration to the Middle East' in Parallel session IV(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond Few comparisons have been made that examine the difference in migration outcomes for migrants that migrate via a strong versus a weak tie. This paper will contribute to this research area through an examination of Ethiopian female migration to the Middle East by using a network lens to compare migration via weak or strong ties. Domestic workers provide an interesting case for this analysis as they are vulnerable in their migration, and network supports can provide critical resources for the safety and security of the migrant and ensure an economic livelihood. The central hypothesis of this paper is two-fold: first that women with dense ties have greater opportunity to access migration due to their networks; and secondly that women migrating via strong ties would have the greatest opportunity for protection in the Middle East. Women migrating via weak ties, namely a migrant broker, would on the other hand, be less likely to have accurate information regarding migration, and secondly, be more likely to experience abuse in the Middle East. Migration via dense networks should allow for greater access to information and the ability for networks to assist an individual if needed. Migration via weak ties suggests that assistance is less likely to be available upon arrival. It is recognized that networks alone cannot determine the outcome of migration, and other issues such as legality in migration will be explored in the analysis. The paper will demonstrate that networks are not enough to protect migrants against the structural conditions in the Middle East.

Chris Moreh presents his paper 'From post-socialist to post-accession pioneering: the shaping of Romanian migration networks to Spain and the UK' in Parallel session IV(E) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper examines the dynamics of Romanian migration networks following the fall of socialism, by comparing two receiving countries, Spain and the United Kingdom. While Spain is a well-established destination for Romanian migrants, who constitute the most numerous foreign-born group in the Iberian country, the United Kingdom has seen more moderate levels of immigration from Romania, slightly ascending following the latter's EU accession in 2007. The question posed in the paper is why movements to certain places have been more able to develop into systems than others.

To answer this question, the paper analyses the development of particular migration networks in the two countries, showing the complex relationships and contingent events that led to the emergence and preservation of these systems. State, market and individual actors come into dynamic interaction to create and shape migration systems, and the paper traces the activities, histories and effects of key pioneers, migration policies and economic developments. The presented data come from an intensive ethnographic fieldwork in the Community of Madrid, Spain, during the first half of 2009, and an ongoing research in the United Kingdom.

An overarching structural factor analysed is European integration, which can influence all stages of the development and decline of a migration system. Romania's EU accession occurred almost concomitantly with the eruption of the global economic crisis, and the paper examines how these political and economic developments shape existing migrant networks and the initiation of new ones. In this respect, the paper compares the role and position of post-socialist and post-accession pioneers within the political-economic structure prevalent at the time of their migration.

Through this double comparative lens, the paper is able to expand our knowledge on the complexity of migration phenomena, and show how the interrelations between individual and structural factors shape migration systems.

Saara Koikkalainen presents her paper 'Highly skilled migrants and the European mobility industry' in Parallel session IV(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 The paper examines intra-European mobility and migrant agency from the perspective of highly skilled migrants, namely Finns working abroad in other EU15 countries. It is based on a web survey titled Working in Europe (n=364) conducted in 2008, its continuation in 2010 (n=194) and 18 migrant interviews (2011). The paper draws on Karen O'Reilly's (2012) practice theory for international migration. It focuses on understanding highly skilled mobility in Europe through an analysis of the external, macro level structures that ease or impede mobility, as well as the internal, micro level structures that affect the mobility behaviour of this particular migrant group. At the meso level the paper introduces a novel concept of mobility industry, which helps facilitate intra-European mobility. The term migration industry has been used to refer to the various agents and organizations helping migrants, remittance companies, as well as human smugglers who manage irregular migration. I argue that this term can also be useful in understanding different forms of intra-European mobility. In the European context permanent migration is not the only or perhaps even the main form of transnational movement across borders, so mobility industry is a more fitting term to be used. It can be roughly divided into two categories: firstly the non-commercial institutions and agencies that provide information and facilitate the mobility of students, trainees and academics, as well as job-seekers, and secondly the commercial relocation and headhunting agencies, consultants and job search portals whose business it is to facilitate the mobility of workers and professionals. The paper concludes that the paths that lead abroad from Finland are influenced by both external structures and individual migrant agency, as voluntary, intra-European migrants can choose their destinations according to their life projects focusing on work and careers, but also on quality of life and adventure.

Fabiola Pardo Noteboom presents her paper 'New immigrant groups, integration and forms of citizenship in the global city: the case of Latin Americans in Europe' in Parallel session IV(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond In the last two decades, and with the so-called failure of multiculturalism, an important debate has emerged on the formulation of integration policies for immigrants in Western Europe. While these policies should aim to strengthen the participation of immigrant groups in all spheres of society and encourage intercultural processes, particularly in large cities, in practise, immigrants must assume the entire responsibility of their integration. This paper is based on the results of a recent comparative study on the integration practices of Latin American migrants in Amsterdam, London and Madrid in the framework of their specific local integration policies. Given the international socio-political context, Europe is undergoing a moment of resistance to non-western immigration and there is a strong tendency towards enforcing control measures and the establishment of strict selection criteria. In relation to integration, governments are resorting to short-term legislation interventions in an attempt to achieve results. Integration becomes a democratic urgency and rapid solutions are given for processes that need long-term perspectives. As shown in the case of Latin Americans, the efficiency of these policies is limited and migrants are more influenced by their informal social and civic networks and trajectories than by the formal policies designed to integrate them. In the context of the global city, these migrant intercultural trajectories have created alternative forms to experience citizenship and a genuine city identity without a direct connection to the national identity promoted by formal integration policies. The resurgence of the concepts of citizenship and national identity as a strategy for integration and social cohesion, and the urgency that characterised integration policies for processes that requires long-term views are leading to the inefficiency if not, the failure of these legislative efforts.

Annamaria Nifo presents her paper 'Do institutions play a role in skilled migration? The case of Italy' in Parallel session IV(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics. Co-authored by Gaetano Vecchione. The factors identified by economic theory as determining migrants' decisions appear less relevant to the choices of the highly skilled, a fairly small but significant group which is able to wield a major economic impact on regional economies. This paper is based on the idea that in their migration choices the highly skilled are motivated to look for an area or context able to ensure a higher income and better employment opportunities. At the same time, it should be a favourable socio-economic environment with well-functioning local government institutions. The decisive impact of institutional quality on the level of services, the environment, regional development and the overall quality of life in the destination area has been extensively studied in the literature. Building on such previous studies, by using data from the "Survey on the professional recruitment of graduates" in Italy conducted by the National Statistics Office (ISTAT) in 2007 on a sample of 47,300 individuals who graduated in 2004, we study the impact of provincial institution quality on the probability of resident graduates migrating. Our Heckman Probit estimation indicates that institutions do matter for migration decisions and their importance is comparable to that of per-capita income provincial differences.

Gustavo Dias presents his paper '“How to get into London?”: the role played by travel agencies to move Brazilian migrants to the UK' in parallel session IV(D) of the Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond conference How have Brazilian migrants moved into London after the September 11? Who are the social agents and what are the social conditions of movement involved in such mobility? Since 9/11 the EU have reinforced its borders and mobility control in the airports in order to stop undesirable mobile people, including undocumented migrant workers. As a consequence Brazilian migrants have created escape routes to literally escape from that mobility control (Papadopoulos et al. 2008, Frontex 2011). Considering the fact that migratory mobility is not just a matter of network involving kinship and relatives, this paper follows the argument that behind migration there is an informal industry which provides the mobility according to global politics and events (Khosravi 2010). Therefore, through an empirical study on Brazilian migration from Minas Gerais state to London, this presentation attempts to discuss how migration routes are carefully organized through package tours by travel agencies managed by pioneers, who became specialized in providing tactic of border crossing movement after the 9/11. Such tactic aims to transform the migratory mobility of those migrant workers into a more desirable type of mobility, the touristic one (Adey 2004). In other words, they have promoted a border-crossing movement able to ensure the connectedness between Brazil and the UK through any small airport hubs located in the Schengen area and British territory where the surveillance, according to them, is less strict to tourists. As a result this paper argues that due to the border reinforcement adopted by the EU after the terrorist attacks (Balibar 2002, Mezzadra 2007), friends and family members abroad are not the only ones who provide support to Brazilian emigrating to London, a migratory industry composed by specialized pioneers and their travel agencies have also played important roles in such mobility (Bakewell, de Hass and Kubal 2011).

Gabriele Tomei presents his paper 'Remaining subjects despite structural constraints: migratory strategies among refugees hosted in Italy after their expulsion from Libya' in parallel session IV (C) of the Examining Migration Dynamics conference During the 2011 Lybian crisis, Gheddafi decided to expel many African and Asiatic workers, forcing them to illegally migrate to Italy as a reaction to the government support of the international military intervention against his regime. As a consequence of that mass expulsion, and under the menace of the regime army, more than 30.0000 refugee arrived in Italy where they all have been requested to seek for refugee status and, consequently, they have been hosted for months into special centres, waiting for the conclusion of the application process under administrative limitations of their freedom and of their mobility in space and time. Despite the strong pressure of these constraining new conditions, some refugees reacted in order to give chances to their own migratory projects, using administrative dispositive as opportunities: someone used government programme to return home; others became illegal and escaped to other European countries; others decided to remain in Italy, using the welfare system to integrate in the host society. Three seems to be the main strategies against the structural constraints: (1) improving their social capital, through informal networking among people of the same nationality and fraternizing with centres' personnel and local population; (2) defending their basic rights, mobilizing collective protests against the inactivity or the abuses of the Italian bureaucracy; (3) sustaining their livelihood, mapping the territory looking for some working opportunities. According with the theoretical approaches that unveil the autonomous structuring power of subjectivity against the strength of the context structural conditions, with a special focus on the role of social networks and of their cultural and symbolical dimensions in orienting migrant's habits and trajectories, the hypothesis above mentioned will be tackled using a set of qualitative data from first hand interviews with refugees and centre's personnel, collected in Italy between April 2012 and February 2013.

Hein de Haas presents his paper 'Migration system dynamics: evidence from global data' co-authored by Mathias Czaika in Parallel session III(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond held in Oxford from 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper provides a critical assessment of migration systems theory based on an analysis of global migration patterns between 1960 and 2000. Migration systems theory pioneered by Mabogunje (1970), predicts that migration that one form of exchange between countries or places, such as trade, is likely to engender other forms of exchange such as people, in both directions. This echoes earlier arguments by Ravenstein (1885; 1889) and Lee (1966) that migration in one direction is likely to engender a counterflow in the opposite direction. In this functionalist perspective, migrant networks fulfil a vital role in the process of ‘migration diffusion' and in facilitating return migration and counter-migration (of natives of the destination country to the origin), and this can be seen as part of a wider process of social, cultural and political entangling and increasing equilibrium (decreasing skewed-ness) between ‘origins' and ‘destinations'. From a historical-structural perspective, the hypothesis that migration reciprocity increases as migration systems mature can be criticized for its ignorance of structurally embedded power inequalities, the discriminatory role of immigration restrictions and the exclusionary dimensions of ‘negative social capital' in migrant networks. However, these hypotheses have remained strikingly untested, and this paper aims to fill this gap. Based on Global Migrant Stock database, it assess the extent to which bilateral migration corridors become more balances as migration systems mature, and which factors may explain difference in such migration system dynamics (i.e., when does such increasing equilibrium occur).

[The research leading to these results is part of the DEMIG project and has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement 240940.]

Hideki Tarumoto presents his paper 'Developing migration systems in Europe and Asia' in Parallel session I(A) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 As globalisation is accelerated in twenty-first century, surely migration systems have been emergent and developed in the globe. But, it is still ambiguous what differences migration systems hold and through what mechanism they appear.

Among various factors and actors, we cannot ignore the role of the state. In one aspect, the state seems to be an inhibitor against emergence of migration systems. Not only Western countries but also non-Western countries are struggling to handle massive international migration and to reconcile social issues appearing from it. But in the other aspect, the state takes a role of facilitator for migration systems. It tends to select migrants who can enter and/or stay in the society. What differences of migration systems does the state create? What mechanism does it produce, with relating to the other state, social groups, migrants and the society?

To these questions, this paper will take two approaches. Firstly, we should examine not only Western countries but also non-Western countries. With comparison to Western world, much less research has explored situations of migration in non-Western world. Asia is not an exception, although it has been remarkably shifting to multicultural societies. So, we will undertake comparative study of Europe and East Asia, such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, to examine differences and factors of migration systems.

Secondly, some theoretical perspective is needed to examine the questions. One theoretical key concept is citizenship. To create or limit migration systems, the state utilises citizenship of migrants composed of status, rights and duties, and identity. Then, with reference to a theoretical model called the Hammar=Koido=Tarumoto model (the HKT model), we will approach mechanisms of development of migration systems.

This exploration will lead us to comprehensive understanding emergence and development of migration systems which has been evolving all over the world.

Dora Sampaio presents ''Do as I say, not as I do?': analyzing the potential effects of immigrants' representations of the crisis on migration systems' co-authored by Rui Carvalho in Parallel session V(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics The current context of economic crisis is producing multiple challenges, particularly evident in European economies and societies. This has and will continue to influence the reshaping of international migration streams in Europe, both at the countries of origin and destination. These changes can be felt more vividly in those migratory destinations facing major financial constraints and higher unemployment rates, as is the case with most southern European countries, among which Portugal is included. Bearing this in mind, this paper examines how the representations of the crisis may contribute to (re)define the migration pathways of international migrants in Portugal and how they influence the evolution and dynamics of the country's positioning in the European migration systems. Resorting to data from the THEMIS project, a comparative analysis of three immigrant groups (Brazilians, Moroccans and Ukrainians) - drawn mostly from qualitative information obtained from interviews seconded with quantitative data from key questions of a questionnaire - is proposed. The focus will lay on both individual and contextual variables, aiming to verify if analytical dimensions such as the country of origin, the stage of maturation of the migrant system, or individual socio-demographic variables (e.g. gender, age, educational level, socioeconomic status), assume an important role in shaping these immigrants' representations of the crisis, their stated intentions towards future migration movements and also the feedback they transmit to co-nationals in their countries of origin. Preliminary results suggest that the intensity and contours of the immigrants' social and spatial discourses and representations of the crisis appear to differ between immigrant groups. Moreover, these visions do not tend to translate directly into intentions to redefine individual and family migration trajectories nor even into the advice given to co-nationals in their countries of origin, being instead influenced, although to a different extent, by the analytical dimensions previously considered.

Barbara Pinelli presents her paper 'Violence, surveillance and agency experiences of the women refugees in the Italian reception camps' in Parallel session IV(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper focuses on the relation between agency and the process of becoming refugees. In the last four years, I have carried out an ethnographic research in southern Italy refugee camps organized by the Italian government for the detention and control of undocumented migrants, in order to document the violence experiences of women asylum seekers who have reached Italy after spending a period of time in Libya, and crossing the Mediterranean Sea. These women have endured terrible abuses in their trajectory toward Europe; once inside the camps, they are subject to forms of moral and institutional violence, surveillance mechanisms, that shape their subjectivities as women and refugees. In particular, they are exposed to the disciplinary regimes of the camps and the imaginary of assistance culture that perceive them only as victims, female subjects to be emancipated and devoid of any agency. In this paper, I will show how refugee women are not mere bodies to be educated, controlled or emancipated: I will describe the weight of the memory of violence and of the power abuses experienced in the arrival context, paying attention on how women refugees have coped with these burdens, how they read the power networks they were involved in or the gap between refugees' self-perceptions and imaginary produced by the system of protection. I will refer to the issue of subjectivity (as multi-positioned and an ongoing process) as an important key for exploring both signs suffering, and the dimensions of agency, desire (to reconstruct a new life) and hope for the future, and the practices performed by women asylum seekers to reconstruct their existences after the flight. My intention is to show how the recognition of agency has an important political valence when ethnographic research involves subjectivities affected by violence and living in extremely marginal conditions.

Angeliki Dimitriadi presents her paper 'What kind of asylum and which destination? Afghan asylum seekers transiting from Greece' in Parallel session IV(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 The paper discusses Afghan asylum seekers in Greece and how migrant agency factors in the context of transit from Greece to other EU member states. Labeled in public discourse as transit migrants, I argue that their mobility, when successfully pursued, is more than the sum of structural constraints; they are not only escaping from specific factors but simultaneously pursuing specific conditions. Thus, an element of choice and active participation in the migratory journey is incorporated in the discussion on asylum. The paper draws from two sources, the fieldwork conducted in the framework of my PhD thesis (2009 - 2012) across Greece and the fieldwork conducted in 2013 in Athens, in the context of the project “IRMA-Governing Irregular Migration” carried out as part of a funded research project. Drawing from interviews conducted with irregular Afghan migrants in Greece, that were ‘in transit’, asylum is discussed not from the perspective of safety, but as a way of acquiring a particular identity and social position coupled with specific benefits. This raises once more the question of whether we can incorporate migrant agency in the context of forced migration, and the case of Afghans shows that agency does not negate the need for refuge; rather the need for refuge can be complemented by the expectations for certain conditions and preferences to be met. From this perspective, it is possible to view the asylum seeker as an active agent of his/her migration, attempting and often succeeding in determining his/her own migration journey.

Johan Wets presents his paper 'Changing migration opportunity structures of Roma and their hosting societies: the case of Belgium' in Parallel session IV(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 The overthrowing of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe lead to different societies, with more freedom on the one hand, but disappearing social safety nets, economic disruption and often booming unemployment, especially amongst ethno-cultural minorities like the Roma. As a result of the accession of Eastern European countries, some communities saw their "migration opportunity structures" change dramatically. This had lead to increasing numbers of Eastern European migrants with a Roma background in other European countries. Roma populations are on a policy level often approached as one homogenous group. The Roma themselves are however an extremely heterogeneous group having different nationalities, speaking different languages, adhering to different religions, having different visions and experiences on the labour market an defining themselves in different ways as Roma, Sinti, Kalderash, ... . There live in the different European countries, some are EU citizens and some not. Some rely heavily on social security benefits and others work and provide for their own sustenance. But there are many common characteristics: they have been (often suppressed) minorities for centuries, they have extended networks spread over different countries and they have specific forms of organization. The question that can be raised is what exactly makes them Roma? Is it the fact that they are very often poor, is it a ‘culture of poverty" or is it a "Roma culture"? Is the migration of these ethno-cultural minorities to (other) EU countries a "Roma migration" or a migration of Roma individuals?

The paper proposed will address this issue and look at the dynamic of new Roma migration, on the "push and pull" factors (reaction of host societies), at opportunity structures and networks. The data used in this paper results from an analysis of international research on the one hand and of a research project executed in Belgium in 2012.

Tess Hellgren presents her paper 'Challenging the borders of intimacy and legality: migrant agency in response to Danish restrictions on transnational marriage' in Parallel session IV(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond Based on my 2012 dissertation work for the Oxford MSc in Migration Studies, my presentation will explore migrants' creative agency in response to Denmark's ‘24-year rule' limiting transnational marriage migration. My paper will examine how Danish restrictions have impacted the decisions, identities, and livelihoods of Danish-migrant couples - and how these couples' agentive strategies are creating new migration flows between Denmark and southern Sweden, with implications for regional transnational belonging and on-going legal debates on the balance of national and EU authority.

Over the past ten years, immigration discourses have been increasingly politicised in Denmark, tied to the enhanced influence of the right-wing Danish People's Party over mainstream political leadership. Amidst the societal normalisation of anti-immigration sentiments, since 2002 legislation on marriage migration places strict requirements of age, income, and ‘national attachment' upon any third-country national (TCN) wishing to marry a Dane. In practice, these marriage restrictions have been a pragmatic immigration control, considerably restricting the eligibility of potential applicants for family migration.

In response to the Danish governments' legal impediments, many Danes wishing to marry TCNs - particularly Danes in the Copenhagen area - have chosen to move to southern Sweden, where their marriage is allowed under stronger rights to family life derived from their status as mobile EU citizens. By relocating across the Danish border, impacted couples are strategically navigating intersecting levels of Danish, Nordic, and EU law in their determination to form a partnership. This provocative outcome establishes new patterns of transnational living and identity, as many couples reside in Sweden but spend more time working and visiting family across the border in Denmark. It also raises important questions about present and future interactions of national and supranational legal structures in the realm of EU family migration and beyond.

Jack DeWaard presents his paper 'Migrants' expected time of residence in receiving countries: a systems approach' co-authored by Guy Abel in Parallel session III(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond This paper bridges recent developments in migration systems theory with empirical work on international migration systems to examine the latter in a theoretically informed way. Unlike in previous research, our efforts go beyond merely examining exchanges in the form of migration flows, and further consider the dynamics which govern these exchanges. We synthesize these two components in a fairly new measure of international migration. Termed migrants' expected time of residence, we estimate this quantity each receiving country in the EU-15 every five years from 1960-1965 to 2005-2010 and disaggregate our results by sending region, subregion, and country. In the process, our work helps to clarify three persistent problems in the empirical research on international migration systems, and, more generally, provides a blueprint for moving forward in this area in a way that is consistent with recent theoretical concerns and developments.

Jan-Paul Brekke presents his paper 'Stuck in transit: the Dublin regulation, national discrepancies & secondary migration of asylum seekers' co-authored by Grete Brochmann in Parallel session III(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics Tensions related to a harmonization of EUs asylum policies are reinforced by the current economic crisis. In this paper we look at the interplay between the Dublin Regulation, national discrepancies in asylum policies and individual migrants' strategies.

We study mechanisms in the interaction between the supranational, the national and the individual level. The empirical focal point is bilateral secondary migration between Italy and Norway. Interviews with Eritrean migrants, with NGO personnel and government representatives in the two countries provide the basis for a discussion of two research questions:

In what ways is the Dublin Regulation challenged by national differences, migrants' strategies and the current economic crisis?
How does the Dublin Regulation influence migrants' strategies regarding secondary movements within Europe?

We argue that although this particular migration system stretches back further along the route between Eritrea and Norway, it makes sense to study the intermediary stage of the asylum journeys - the unclear transit/destination juncture of Italy and Norway.

Secondary movements within the EEA-area are indicators of regime competition and the concomitant migrant strategies. By studying secondary movements between the South and the North related to their respective regimes as to the asylum/labor market/welfare policy nexus, it is possible to analyze tensions and interconnections between the supranational and the national policy levels. In our discussions we draw upon established topics in the field of migration studies, such as destination choices, the role of information, feed-back systems, as well as the importance of experiences in transit.

We combine concepts developed by de Haas (2011) with a model of action used by Brekke and Aarset (2009), to present our data: The migrants' immediate situation, their perception of opportunities in transit/other destination countries, destination information, perceptions of hindrances, capabilities (resources, networks, abilities), and finally destination specificity (directedness towards one specific country).

Anastasia Bermudez presents her paper 'Does migration from Colombia to the UK constitute a migration system?' in Parallel session III(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 There is limited information and analysis of contemporary migration flows from Colombia to the United Kingdom, despite the fact that this migrant community has attracted increased research interest in the new ‘super-diverse’ Britain. Colombians are one of the oldest and the second-largest national group within the growing Latin American diaspora in London, and are behind many of the ethnic-based organisations and businesses created by this group. However, little is known about the origins and development of these flows. This paper has two main aims. The first is to track the emergence and development of a potential migration system linking Colombia and the United Kingdom. The second is to explore the role of both agency and structure in this context, in line with current scholarship on migration systems. This paper is based on the limited secondary data available, and the primary data accumulated during more than ten years of research with the Colombian community in London. One of the main contributions of the paper is the adoption of an intersectional approach that takes into account gender, class and type of migration when analysing the role of agency and the so-called pioneer migrants.

Pauline Carnet presents her paper 'The role of both migrants and institutions in an enduring pattern of migration' in Parallel session III(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Based on my PhD, my paper will examine how an enduring pattern of migration is sustained and the role of both social actors and structural factors in the face of this process.

Nowadays, international migrants glide between constraints and strategies, regularity and irregularity. Their migration, built on several stages, constitutes a real “snakes and ladders”. In it, Almeria is a stage where it is possible to get "papers". Since the 90’s, this Spanish province specialised in agriculture has centralized the African migrants who are in a precarious situation. How is this possible?

1/ Migrants have the capacity to be mobile and develop strategies to reach Europe and to look for housing, employment and papers. 2/ Spanish governmental institutions fluctuate between control and tolerance regarding migration – fluctuation partly linked with the economic function of undocumented migrants.

I will develop theoretical constructs explaining undocumented migrants’ use and development of social networks. Their mobility will be qualified as a mastered roving, mastering that is essentially done through social relations and the constitution of social networks. I will explain why some of them are in a zero square, i.e, a special space-time, intermediate between the border crossing and the insertion in the European space and characterized by the repetition of basic survival situations.

Mathew Creighton presents his paper 'To move or not to move (when one arguably has the social capital)' co-authored by Fernando Riosmena, in Parallel session III(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Prior migrants with ties to migrants-to-be provide the latter with important information and assistance to move and find accommodations and work in destinations. Individuals with better access to migration-specific social capital are considerably more likely to aspire to and eventually migrate themselves. However, it is less understood why some individuals with access to migrant networks and the associated migration-specific social capital do not “make use” of this social capital and remain in their countries of origin. Among potential migrants, instances of leaving social capital dormant could manifest as behavior (i.e., no subsequent migration) or a change in aspirations (i.e., no longer seeing migration as a potential pathway). As such, they represent an interesting case for migration theory and a way to obtain some analytical leverage to better understand migration decisions. In this paper, we compare the U.S. migration intentions and behavior according to whether they have no, moderate, or larger access to migrant networks. We use two waves from the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS), collected in 2002 and 2005/6, to assess the translation of migration networks and stated aspirations to migrate into subsequent migration behavior, taking into account baseline sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, migrant networks and emigration aspirations. Among those that do not migrate, we distinguish those that remain and continue to aspire to a future move from those that no longer consider migration to be an option.

Ya-Han Chuang presents her paper 'Mediating migration: the role of the Qiaoban in the rescaling of the Wenzhou region' in Parallel session III(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Based on a multi-sited ethnography, this paper aims to provide a nuanced picture of the meso-level interaction between Chinese migrants, their sending/receiving localities, and the Chinese government through the case of Wenzhou migrants in Paris and the Qiaoban - the "Office of Overseas Chinese Affairs." The paper begins by presenting the evolving relationship between migrants and the Qiaoban of Wenzhou. The Wenzhou region experienced tremendous growth in the decades following the economic reform of 1978, which allowed for the emergence of new patterns of migration as Wenzhou residents profited from the local informal credit institutions and cheap local goods to take their businesses abroad. The Qiaoban has used this success to promote the Wenzhou development model, particularly through the commemoration of emigrant histories. I then analyze various institutional tools used to establish trans-local linkages. In the sending region, a structured administration and associations for return migrants were established to collect information and provide services for migrants; and, in the receiving country, numerous voluntary associations cultivate networks with political and economic actors. Various summer camps and associations were also created to link younger generations, often born abroad, to Wenzhou. The article concludes by examining the consequences of these initiatives. Despite the Qiaoban's attempts to "rescale" Wenzhou through promoting the "global Wenzhou diaspora" (shijie wenzhouren), interviews with migrants show that the effects vary due to the unequal degrees of development and infrastructure in different sending villages/townships. While the use of the Qiaoban as a political institution to strengthen links and implement policy in the diaspora is not uniformly effective, it does facilitate economic exchange between localities, thus strengthening the trans-local networks between the sending and receiving communities.

Ana Margheritis presents her paper 'The impact of sending states’ transnational policies on migration dynamics: a comparative analysis of South American cases' in Parallel session III(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond The phenomenon of state-led transnationalism (i.e., the policies and programs that nation-states implement to reach out to their citizens abroad) is relatively under-studied within both migration and international relations studies. Although those policies have expanded lately in all regions, the literature is still overwhelmingly concerned with issues that affect receiving (rather than sending) countries, the economic (rather than political) impact of migration, bottom-up transnational practices and networks, and a few cases.

The mechanisms of transnational policymaking in the migration area, as well as policy impact on migration patterns and migrants’ engagement in the sending and receiving countries, remain largely under-researched. There is also a biased selection of cases that focuses on large and/or politically relevant emigrant communities and transnational practices that are facilitated by geographic proximity between home and host societies. Regarding the Americas, South American cases have been less explored than Mexico and Caribbean countries. In fact, given the unfortunate record of state violence, dramatic economic crises, and recurrent political instability, South American countries can shed light not only on the emergence and maintenance of out-migration patterns but also on the complex, and often conflictive, relationship between migrant associations and state institutions across long distances.

This study assesses the results of recent emigration policies in Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico with an eye on what the outcome tells us about transnational governance. The first three cases have received less scholarly attention than others and are representative of different trends within the region, thus offering the opportunity to expand existing knowledge and revisit critically some assumptions. Mexico provides a good comparative background and long-term historical perspective. The outcomes do not allow for a full comparison or generalizations, but they contribute to specify how transnational policymaking occurs and how new forms of governance are developing in the area of human mobility.

Simona Vezzoli presents her paper 'Guyanese migration since independence: Migration policies, migrant networks, and postcolonial ties' in Parallel session III(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Historical migration patterns in the Caribbean saw a transformation in the 1960s-70s as many former colonies gained independence and new migration policies were introduced at origin and destination. If some policies potentially may have reduced migration opportunities towards former colonial states, migrant networks and post-colonial ties established before independence may have acted as migration-facilitating factors to sustain migration. Without overlooking important contextual factors at origin and destination, we could hypothesise that border controls and migration policies, migrant networks, and postcolonial ties should explain in part the variations in migration patterns following independence. To explore this hypothesis, I use data from an in-depth case study of Guyana. In the 1960-2000 period, the overall emigrant stock grew from 6 to 48 percent of the total population, whereas the emigrant stock in the UK fell from over 37 to less than 1 percent during the same period. Immigration policies, negative economic performance and growing racial tensions in the UK have been provided as explanations of such drop. At the same time, less restrictive immigration policies in North America may explain the development of new destinations. But why such a severe drop, unlike other British Caribbean countries? This case suggests that the beneficial connectivity provided by migrant networks and post-colonial ties may in fact have been left ‘unused' as the objectives of migrants evolved and their interest towards the old migration destination declined. This paper considers migration not uniquely as the result of structural forces, but as dynamic responses of individuals to the diverse opportunities created by contextual national and international structures. In so doing, this paper aims to improve our understanding of migration processes and dynamics, the relevance of migration policies, migrant networks and postcolonial ties, and also provide some evidence surrounding the decline of migrant networks.

Guri Tyldum presents his paper 'What migration means: Recognising the diversity of practices embedded in cultures of migration' in Parallel session II(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Building on Douglas Massey's concept of a culture of migration, this article shows how ideas of when and how migration can be appropriate will vary, just like ideas of proper behaviour will differ between regions, at different stages of life and according to, for instance, gender, responsibilities and class. Consequently, migration is rarely perceived to be either good or bad. Instead it is understood as a potential response in particular situations for particular groups. The article shows how approaching migration studies with an awareness of the variation in meanings attached to migration, makes us better equipped to understand why some migrate and others do not. The approach is illustrated through a case study of migration from Western Ukraine.

Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels presents her paper 'American migrants in France, Germany, and the UK' in Parallel session II(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Migration between two countries, or localities within those countries, is usually examined only uni-directionally (although return migration may, often in a context of transnationalism, be taken into account). Examining the less-studied half of such a migration dyad can help us to understand more clearly the ways in which migration feedback processes function. This paper considers the case of Americans in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, three key receiving countries for American migrants (estimated at 2.2 to 6.8 million worldwide), and will examine the role of networks and interactions, broadly defined, which have played a role in leading these Americans to migrate. To do so, it will draw on 115 semi-structured in-depth interviews carried out in London, Paris and Berlin in 2011, as well as upon 450 survey responses from France, Germany and the UK. These data will be analyzed with respect to factors leading to migration, exploring what role a range of interactions and networks have played in migration. These include professional, educational, state-organized and a wide variety of personal networks (including nationals of France, Germany and the UK) - a far broader range than is usually considered. The dualism of temporary vs permanent migration will also be questioned; the paper will suggest that a continuum is more helpful in understanding the nature of migration, and will be drawn upon. This recognition, in turn, has an impact upon the ways in which personal and institutional resources are drawn upon by migrants.

The paper will examine which factors, including networks and/or social interactions, are most significant in each country, whether there are key differences between receiving countries, including historically, and in how far these contribute to strengthening the bi-directionality of these migration systems. The paper will thus contribute to our understanding of migration feedback processes and development of migration systems.

Anju Paul presents her paper 'Migrant negotiations/negotiating migration: A gendered variation on the new economics of labour migration' in Parallel session II(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 The new economics of labor migration theory has been frequently criticized for ignoring the gendered social norms and inequitable intra-household power distribution that make it difficult for prospective independent female labor migrants to leave their homes to work overseas. And yet increasing numbers of independent women labor migrants leave countries in the Global South every year. Interviews with 142 Filipina migrant domestic workers located in Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Canada, and the United States, reveal that prospective female migrants initially develop an individual-level aspiration to migrate and then have to negotiate with family members to secure these relatives' support for their migration decision. They win their family's approval by agentically manipulating gendered scripts in Philippine society. A multilevel model of the migration decision-making process that distinguishes between migration aspirations and migration negotiations is proposed to incorporate these findings.

Liudmila Kopecka presents her paper 'Children go first! Family strategies and educational migration' in Parallel session II(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Recent developments in migration studies have shown that is very important to pay attention to how migration decisions are taken collectively. Families and kin group play a significant role in the process of migration and influence individual’s behaviour. However, there have been only a few studies, which focus on family strategies and migration for educational purposes. This paper attempts to show what kind of role does family play in student migration from Russia to the Czech Republic and what kind of transnational strategies and migration projects do have parents, sending their children abroad. The field research for this article was conducted in a few cities in Russia and in Prague, in the Czech Republic, involving in-depth interviews with student migrants and their parents.

Jennifer Wu presents her paper 'Respondent-driven sampling as a recruitment method' co-authored by Rojan Ezzati, in Parallel session II(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS) is a peer-to-peer sampling method similar to snowball sampling, but with a mathematical model that weights the sample to compensate for biases in such recruitment. In this paper we focus on the recruitment side of the method, describing how we used RDS in our data collection among Brazilian and Ukrainian migrants residing in Oslo, Norway. The peer-to-peer recruitment approach of RDS helped us succeed in reaching our target sample size in the Ukrainian case, but not the Brazilian. In this paper we explore possible reasons for this. First, our two cases demonstrate that the target population size is not determinative of the failure or success of RDS, as the Brazilian and Ukrainian populations in Norway are roughly the same size. Nor does it appear that the social network size of the initial individuals selected to get recruitment started played a role. In our data collection, we detected considerable concerns regarding stereotypes within the Brazilian community. Hence we question whether alternative incentives to the monetary ones we offered for participation and recruitment (as part of the RDS procedure), would have provided us with better results. Furthermore, we find that our questionnaire-based interviews were longer with Brazilians than with the Ukrainians. Given that RDS relies so heavily on the recruiters' accounts of their experiences to potential recruits, it is highly vulnerable to any negative experiences. Finally, how different populations respond to RDS design varies from one case to another. In the Brazilian case, we found that the need for respondents to recruit others following the required RDS procedures was perceived as a burden, which impeded further recruitment.

Miriam Rehm presents her paper 'Migration feedback effects in networks: An agent-based model' co-authored with Asjad Naqvi, in Parallel session II(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper develops a computational network model of migration. The importance of ties between family members and friends in migration has been long recognised by other social sciences and is increasingly confirmed by econometric studies. The paper presents a micro simulation of an economy in which the heterogeneous population moves between three locations, a rural and urban location of origin, and the destination. The key elements in (return) migration decisions are network feedback effects and income opportunities. The simulations generate stable patterns and detailed information on distributions, which reproduce available data for the geographical population distribution, wealth, and remittances. The model generates the clustering of migrants both at the origin and at the destination that is one of the most pervasive and resilient stylized facts of migration research.

Ana Paula Figueiredo presents her paper 'Should I stay or should I go? The role of relationships in the decision to migrate, stay, or return' in Parallel session I(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Despite an estimated number of over 200.000 Brazilians in London, there is no comprehensive research on their experience in the capital. This paper explores the various factors that affect the choice by Brazilians to migrate to and stay in London or to return to Brazil. Based on eighty interviews with Brazilians in London and eight months fieldwork with Brazilians women who work as cleaners in London, this research explores the importance of loving relationships on the decision making process of Brazilian migrants in London. The combination quantitative and qualitative methods of research made it possible to uncover how the break up of a long term relationship, death of a loved one, new love found on the internet or simply the hope to find love have more influence than studies of migration have previously accounted for.This case study analysis contributes to the understanding of the complexities of human agency and network formation in the context of migration and will thereby contribute to fill gaps in research on Brazilian migration in London.

Katherine Botterill presents her paper 'Flexible ethnography for practice stories of migration' co-authored by Karen O'Reiilly and Rob Stone in Parallel session I(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 In contemporary migration research, the dynamics of migration systems and the processes that sustain them have been explained through a narrow focus on origin and destination. Increasingly, however, scholars recognise the importance of historical, social and cultural conditions of movement, institutional frameworks and interactions, individual agency and everyday practices in their analysis of migration patterns and processes. Any focus on a single aspect of the above leads to calls for more attention to other aspects. We argue that structural and agentic processes are always and continually interlinked through the practice of daily life and that the goal should be to tell practice stories of migration (O’Reilly 2012), using practice theory as a meta-theoretical framework. This is, nevertheless, a tall order for researchers, raising new methodological challenges.

Drawing on our experiences of researching lifestyle migrants in Thailand and Malaysia we consider the merits of utilising a ‘flexible ethnography’ that learns from and through the mobile, the virtual and the place-based, recognising the changing nature of migrant lives. Lifestyle migrants in Thailand and Malaysia occupy a relatively privileged position in global migration hierarchies, a status shaped by historical conditions and social reproduction. An understanding of their migration involves analysis of macro, micro and network factors as they interact and re-emerge in the practice of daily life. This research is informed by ethnographic methodology, recognising that everyday practices are acted out in the context of constraints that migrants themselves reproduce, create and shape. However, ethnography traditionally involves a long-term commitment, and has tended to be place specific. A flexible ethnography approach integrates traditional methods with virtual, mobile, multi-sited, and digital methods to produce practice stories of migration.

Eleonora Castagnone and Sorana Toma presents their paper 'A life-course perspective on mobility trajectories and migrant networks' in Parallel session I(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 International migration is still mainly analysed as a one-time, one-way movement from an origin country A to a permanent destination B. Yet migration trajectories are often more complex, as migrants may travel through and successively settle in several countries, or engage in circular mobility. However, the factors that shape individuals' migration trajectories remain little known. In particular, secondary intra-European migration is still an under-researched area, despite the fact that qualitative studies suggest that secondary movements have become a common mobility strategy (Schapendonk 2010; Paul 2012) increasingly adopted in times of crisis (Sacchetto & Vianello, 2012; Cingolani & Ricucci, 2013). Taking Senegalese migration flows as a case study, this paper characterizes the diversity of migration trajectories and explores the drivers that shape them. In particular, it focuses on secondary migration paths within Europe and the role migrant networks play in this form of mobility. We use quantitative, longitudinal data recently collected within the framework of the Migration between Africa and Europe (MAFE) survey. Using sequence and optimal matching analysis, four main patterns of international mobility from Senegal are identified: linear or direct mobility, secondary migration within Europe, stepwise migration from Africa to Europe, and circular migration. Furthermore, preliminary results suggest that intra-European secondary mobility takes place mainly within the first few years of arrival in Europe and is motivated, to a larger extent then first migration, by work reasons or a desire for discovery. However, the unemployed do not re-migrate more then those who have a job; rather, the decision to re-settle is associated with a desire to improve one's occupational status, and is taken more by the self-employed and the entrepreneurs. Also, social ties in other European countries play a substantial and significant role in triggering re-migration. Especially important are weaker ties - such as friends, extended family members or acquaintances - and migrants having recently moved to Europe. In contrast, close family ties at destination decrease the likelihood of re-settling in another country. Thus, the paper emphasizes the more complex ways in which migrant networks influence mobility, and the importance of distinguishing between various types of ties.

Tom Kleinepier presents his paper 'Life paths of migrants', co-authored by Helga de Valk and Ruben van Gaalen in Parallel session I(C) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Polish migration to the Netherlands has increased substantially over the past decade and is one of the main origins of migrants settling in the country nowadays. Nevertheless, still little is known on how migration affects the lives of these migrants in the family domain and what decisions are made by these migrants. In this study, we use register data from Statistics Netherlands to examine to what extent migration affects the timing (“when”) and sequencing (“in what order”) of family-life transitions. The majority of studies on family-life transitions of migrants exclusively focus on one transition only, which is unfortunate as different events in the life course are not separate experiences but are linked to one another. Therefore, we apply a more holistic approach by using sequence analysis. More specifically, we apply optimal matching (OM) analysis to assess (dis-)similarities between individual life trajectories. We then use standard clustering algorithms to group the different individuals into predominant life paths. In this way we can include multiple transitions in the family domain (union formation, marriage, childbirth, divorce) simultaneously and study life courses as meaningful units. We will investigate the relationship between these trajectories to both migration and return migration. Our analyses focus on young adult Polish labour migrants from two birth cohorts (aged 22 and 26 at migration) who came to the Netherlands in 2004. Data come from a rich individual administrative panel database that covers the entire population of the Netherlands: the Social Statistical Database (SSD) housed by Statistics Netherlands. Data are available for the period 2004-2011 and include detailed information on the place of residence in the Netherlands. The latter allows us to assess the relative importance of the neighborhood and the potential effects of the ethnic network on life paths.

Rianne Dekker presents her paper 'Online feedback in migration systems', co-authored by Godfried Engbersen in Parallel session I(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Online media allow for transnational communication in migration systems that does not only directly affect non-migrants who are embedded in migration networks, but also possibly affects a broader community as a channel of indirect feedback. This paper studies the effect of transnational exchange of information via online media on migration processes. We take a migration systems approach and consider both the information sending-perspective of migrants in destination countries as well as the information consuming-perspective of non-migrants in popular origin localities of migration in Western Europe. Our results show that online media have become rather important channels of communication. Online feedback sending and -receiving behavior can be explained by personal characteristics as well as migration characteristics. Origin country proves to be an important predictor. Online feedback is in most cases direct feedback to existing social ties but may also concern indirect feedback concerning latent ties. Receiving online feedback correlates significantly with non-migrants' self-perceived migration likeliness, indicating that online feedback indeed affects subsequent migration. This does not always lead to more migration movements because online feedback may also be negative and migration-undermining.

Tania Tonhati presents her paper 'Female migration and intergenerational relationships: The use of ICTs by Brazilian migrant women in the UK' in Parallel session I(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This presentation aims to reflect on how the use of ICTs has reshaped the experience of Brazilian pioneer women in the United Kingdom and their relationship with their parents in Brazil. The literature on Brazilian migration argues that the second wave, initiated in the mid-90s onwards, was the period when women began to leave the country in search for employment, study and career improvement (Assis 2007, Padilla 2007). This paper argues that in the case of the United Kingdom, the migration of Brazilian women had also begun in the 1980s. Thus, Brazilian women moving to the UK should not be seen as followers of male migrants. They were active in the construction of the network effect. Therefore, I present that Brazilian female migration should be seen as a wide phenomenon in which women no longer stay at home and men are no longer the main breadwinner. There is an increase in individualization and women are searching for "a life of their own" in which elements such as education and employment have strongly become part of women's biography (Beck-Gernsheim 2002). Beyond these general social trends, female migration has a consequence for traditional family practices such as care for elderly parents. Therefore, Brazilian pioneer women are now facing intergenerational expectation to care for their elderly parents. In this context, ICTs play a role in reconciling women's search for a "life of their own" and their intergenerational obligation. Throughout my fieldwork I have observed that the use of ICTs has allowed the continuation of family relationships and the creation of everyday family practices even at a distance. Nevertheless, they have also affected emotional feelings with regards to family relationships. Thus, the use of ICTs cannot be only analysed as minimising the effects of migration. Their use also creates ambiguous feelings in the migrant about their migration trajectory.

Maren Borkert presents her paper 'Worldwide@home: transnational networks in the Digital Age' in Parallel session I(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 In the almost 20 years of existence transnational studies have focused on a variety of topics and social phenomena (Faist 2000, Levitt 1998, Levitt & Glick-Schiller 2004, Pries 1999 and 2010, Vertovec 2004). Different perspectives on the nexus between transnationalism and migrants networks have emerged that have, on the one hand, led to the diffusion and rapid establishment of transnationalisation as a genuine field of study and approach. On the other hand, transnational concepts have become catch-all phrases for cross-border ties and have been seen as equivalent to such different processes as globalisation, de-nationalisation, de-materialisation, virtualisation or the ‘liquidation' of social relations. While some might mourn the unspecific use of the term, others add to its uncertainty with claims regarding the far-reaching consequences of transnationalisation without providing substantial empirical evidence.

To better understand processes of transnationalisation and shed a fresh light on the emergence, ‘solidification' and breakup of migration networks, this paper explores the role that modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play in how migrants maintain exchange relationships over long distances and across nation states. Special emphasis is put on the question how virtual networks affect (offline) migration behaviour and how they impact on the countries of origin and destination. Here, the assumption that strong cross-border transnational ties result in making social contacts in residential areas/cities grow weak (Levitt 1998, Levitt & Glick-Schiller 2004, Pries 2001, 2008 and 2010), is put to the test. Empirical evidence is drawn from more than 150 questionnaires and 30 qualitative interviews conducted by bachelor students of the Department of Development Studies at the University of Vienna.

Carolin Fischer presents her paper 'The (changing) role of family among Afghan communities in Britain and Germany' in Parallel session I(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 This paper explores how Afghan families shape migration from Afghanistan and processes of settlement and community formation at European destinations. Social relationships based on family and tribal ties are sources of solidarity and make mutual assistance an imperative. How these attributes of Afghan families are maintained or re-shaped through migration and settlement in western countries has not been explicitly addressed. Focusing on the lives of Afghans in Britain and Germany I examine the reconfiguration of families and agency of family members, taking into account structural conditions enforced in the receiving society. I conducted a series of in-depth interviews with people who left Afghanistan at different stages during the last four decades and now live in Britain or Germany. The interview transcripts contain large segments on personal stories and explicitly address experiences of migration and settlement in the two destination countries. Afghan families play important roles at various stages of migration and settlement processes. They are key factors for peoples’ decision to migrate and inform choices of destination countries and places of residence. Families also influence social interaction and shape processes of community formation in countries of residence. However, newly emerging patterns of solidarity and community organization among Afghans in Britain and Germany suggest that dynamic reconfigurations occur in conjunction with peoples’ lives in receiving societies while core attributes of families are being maintained. Such reconfigurations primarily occur as a result of differences between first and second- generation immigrants. When aiming to unpack how structural environments in Britain and Germany enhance peoples’ ability to exercise agency and choice, the challenge is to disentangle how changing scopes of agency affect family ties as a mode of social integration.

Thomas Geisen presents his paper 'The complexity of migration: life-strategies of migrant family members and families' in Parallel session I(D) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 In migration research the concepts of network and transnationalism gained new insights on migrants as social actors. Most important was, that decision-making and balancing processes became bound back to the individual and its network-relations. In this course a new emphasis was given to the relevance of the migrant family as an important social actor in migration processes. For transnationalism the family is the most important social unit, which binds individuals together in an intergenerational social context, often over long geographical distances. It seems, that the family has become the most emplematic social form of transnationalism. However, looking at concrete family practices it can be shown, that the family itself is embedded into wider social relations build within the community or the society. Based on own empirical research on migrant families, the proposed paper wants do develop a conceptional approch for migration research which is centered on migrants as social actors. Here migration is understood in a wider perspective as a change in residence beyond communal borders. Starting with such a perspective not only different forms of migration can be identified in a biographical or life-course perspective. It can be shown as well what relevance the experience of migration and mobility has for individual and collective actors, wat motifs are relevant for migrants in intergenerational and interactional perspective, and what individual and collective motifs and orientations lead migrants and migrant families to migrate . Under such a process-perspective of migration, the still existing cleavage in migration research between international and internal migration shows its limitations for understanding migrants and their families. Based on Norbert Elias concept of figuration and on Ernest Jouhys concept of social relations, the proposed paper seeks to discuss the complexity of migration by introducing the concept of live-strategies to enrich the understanding of migration networks and dynamics by discussing the decisive relevance of the 'subjecitve factor' for understanding the migration of family members and migrant families.

WELFARE SYSTEMS AS EMIGRATION FACTOR: EVIDENCE FROM THE NEW ACCESSION STATES presented by Lucia Kurekova (Central European University, Budapest) Migrants from Central and Eastern Europe have become an inseparable part of the British ethnic mosaic. Eastern European migration attracts a lot of scholarly attention in the UK, however little has been said about the origin country perspective in this debate. What has driven these people to leave in the first place? What are the consequences of their decisions? Not only the costs – depopulation of rural areas in certain localities in Eastern Europe – but also the benefits – low unemployment, skill transfers and modernization projects – of this out-migration are occurring on an unprecedented scale.

In this special series of podcasts, three speakers aim to bring these arguments to light, thereby filling the substantial gap in how emigration from Central Eastern Europe has been conceptualised thus far.

WELFARE SYSTEMS AS EMIGRATION FACTOR: EVIDENCE FROM THE NEW ACCESSION STATES Lucia Kurekova (Central European University, Budapest)

MIGRATION AND MODERNIZATION IN POLAND: AN ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE Marcin Galent (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)

THE ETHICS AND POLITICS OF OUTMIGRATION Dace Dzenovska (COMPAS, University of Oxford)

Olivia Sheringham launches her new book.

In this talk, Professor Ian Goldin discusses the themes arising in his book Exceptional People, which looks at the profound advantages that such dynamics will have for countries and migrants the world over. Special Lecture.

Seminar from International Migration Institute.

This special seminar hosted by IMI and presented by Professor David Leblang of the University of Virginia will address the drivers of international migration. David Leblang is the J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance and Chair of the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on broad questions of political economy and he is presently working on a number of projects related to the politics of international migration, the political consequences of the global financial crisis and the causes and consequences of global commodity price volatility.

Ruth Padel reads poems and prose from her book The Mara Crossing on images of migration In this podcast Ruth Padel reads poems and prose from her book The Mara Crossing on images of migration from cells in our body to the UK Border Agency and British strategies for detention and forced deportation. Her central image the crossing of the crocodile-filled Mara River by thousands of wildebeest at the end of the longest mammal migration, becomes an image for the struggle of all migrants.

Lecture by Hein de Haas. Hilary term seminar series IMI.

Lecture by Derya Bayir, Queen Mary Univesity and Prakash Shah, GLOCUL: Centre for Culture and Law, Queen Mary, University of London.

Lecture on Gender and (High) Skilled Migration by Eleonore Kofman, Middlesex University.

The third IMI African Migrations Workshop was organised by IMI with the Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire (IFAN) at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar.

Dr Line Bonneau Closing Remarks from the Chair of the Global Migration Futures Using Scenarios in Academic Research to Study the Future panel event.

Arnoldo Matus Kramer gives a presentation on the rationale behind the use of socioeconomic scenarios using the year 2030 to identify climate change adaptation options, barriers and priorities for the tourism community of Tulum in the Mexican Caribbean.

Presentation on the Global Migration Futures project; why scenario-building is particularly suited to study migration futures, and discusses what insights and challenges the project has encountered thus far. Hein de Haas closing.

Trudi Lang discusses the scenario work carried out by Open University, European Patent Office and the Strategic Policy Office of the Government of Singapore as they sought to understand emerging developments in their strategic contexts.

Dr Line Bonneau, James Martin Fellow in Futures at the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, gives a short introduction to the panel on Using Scenarios to study the future of Migrations.

The Global Migration Futures team will introduce some of its key findings on future migration in North Africa and Europe, arising from the project's recent second stakeholders workshop in Cairo.