Aija Lulle

SPACES OF ENCOUNTER–DISPLACEMENT: CONTEMPORARY LABOUR MIGRANTS' RETURN VISITS TO LATVIA

Abstract The context of this paper is return visits to the homeland of labour migrants in Europe. The paper draws on data from the authors ethnographic fieldwork on the island of Guernsey and in Latvia during 2010–2012. By theorizing the relevance which the research participants attached to the phenomenon of corporeal co‐presence in relation to these visits, the paper bridges a timegeographic perspective with phenomenological interpretations. It explains how actual experience during the return path is influenced by both past trajectories and future anticipation. Return visits are conceptualized as spaces of encounter‐displacement and illustrated through examples of sensory and emotional experiences of anticipating for the return, the actual travel, time spent in the home area, and departure. The paper suggests that a focus on the body scale can help researchers to gain important insights into how the path is shaped through the corporeal experiences and how it shapes interpretations about home and possible future orientations.

Unpacking the ageing–migration nexus and challenging the vulnerability trope

ABSTRACT The nexus between ageing and migration throws up a variety of situations. In this paper, we map out the various circumstances in which ageing and migration fuse together as entwined trajectories to produce situations of vulnerability, coping, active ageing and variable well-being. The ageing process is seen to be socially constructed and culturally embedded; hence, place – at ‘home’ or ‘abroad’, or some transnational mix – becomes a paramount structuring variable. Different models of successful ageing compete as migrants move and age in different countries and different cultures; the Western model of individual self-reliance should not necessarily be imposed on ageing migrant populations. In the final part of the article we challenge the prevailing trope of vulnerability applied to the perceived double disadvantage of being both an older person and a migrant, and present four case-studies in which older migrants enact agency and independence to achieve a greater level of material and subjective well-being.

Ageing well: the time–spaces of possibility for older female Latvian migrants in the UK

Abstract In this article, we explore the relationships between ageing, place and migration based on life history interviews with 37 female Latvian migrants in the UK. Reflecting an approach that sees migration as both embodied and emplaced, we conceptualise ageing and migration as entwined becomings that reconfigure the possibilities of a ‘better life’ in different time–spaces. Our approach combines time-geography with a well-being-based approach to migration constraints and outcomes. Our stress is on vitality – the ways in which migrants are able to mobilise resources and enact agency even in an environment where some aspects of life and working conditions are restrictive and exploitative. Hence, older Latvian women are able to transgress negative perceptions of ageing in their home country and achieve a measure of empowerment, both economic and psychosocial by moving to the UK.

Strangers within? Russian-speakers’ migration from Latvia to London: a study in power geometry and intersectionality

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to contribute to debates on ethnic identification and migration through a focus on a specific group – Russian-speakers from the Baltic state of Latvia who have migrated to the UK. Twenty-six interviews with members of this group were gathered in London and the wider metropolitan area during 2012 and 2014. Russian-speakers represent uniquely combined configurations of ‘the other within’: in most cases, they are EU citizens with full rights; yet, some still hold non-citizens’ passports of Latvia. While in Latvian politics Russian-speakers are framed as ‘others’ whose identities are shaped by the influence of Russia, interview findings confirm that they do not display belonging to contemporary Russia. However, London is the ‘third space’ – a multicultural European metropolis – which provides new opportunities for negotiating ethnic identification. Against the background of triple ‘alienation’ (from Latvia, from Russia and from the UK), we analyse how ethnicity is narrated intersectionally with other categories such as age and class. The findings show that Russian-speaking migrants from Latvia mobilise their Europeanness and Russianness beyond alienating notions of (ethno)national identity. The paper also demonstrates that being open to ethnicity as a category of practice helps us towards a progressive conceptualisation of often overlooked dimensions of integration of intra-EU linguistic ‘others’.

Ageing, gender, and labour migration

This book explores how the real conditions and subjective conceptions of ageing and well-being are transformed when people move from one country to another. Focusing on ageing female migrants from Latvia in the UK and other European countries, this book is based on fifty life-history interviews with women aged 40s-60s. Empirical chapters concentrate on functional well-being in migration, which includes access to the economic citizenship of work, income, pensions, and accommodation, and on psychosocial well-being, and explores Latvian women’s experiences of intimate citizenship in migration. In addition, the authors’ research challenges the trope of vulnerability which generally surrounds the framing of older migrants’ lives. The study’s findings offer policy-makers insights into the realities of ageing working migrants and advocates for a more inclusive transnational citizenship, better working conditions, and ongoing care arrangements for older migrants post-retirement, either abroad or back home.

Between a ‘student abroad’ and ‘being from Latvia’: inequalities of access, prestige, and foreign-earned cultural capital

ABSTRACT This paper visualises tertiary-level students who study abroad as simultaneously both international students and members of an emerging diaspora. Coming from a country (Latvia) which is peripheral and relatively poor by European standards, students go abroad for multiple reasons not necessarily directly connected with study (e.g. family reasons, labour migration); yet their evolving diasporic status is instrumentalised by the Latvian government which wants them to return and contribute to the country’s development. Based on 27 in-depth interviews with Latvian students and graduates who have studied abroad, our analysis focuses on three interlinked dimensions of inequality: access to education at home and abroad; the varying prestige of higher education qualifications from different countries and universities; and the inequalities involved in getting recognition of the symbolic and cultural capital that derives from a non-Latvian university. Within a setting of neoliberal globalisation and conflicting messages from the homeland, students and graduates are faced with a challenging dilemma: how to balance their materialistic desire for a decent job and career with their patriotic duty to return to Latvia.

Contrasts in ageing and agency in family migratory contexts: a comparison of Albanian and Latvian older migrants

Focusing on the experiences of migration of older people, the chapter makes a unique comparison between two small post-socialist countries, Albania and Latvia. In-depth interviews with Latvian older women in the UK, and with ‘left-behind’ older people in Albania and Albanian migrants in Greece and Italy, reveal marked contrasts in their agency as regards their movements and livelihoods, and in their patterns of giving and receiving care. Latvian older women achieve economic salvation, personal independence, and an enhanced sense of self-worth through migration. Albanian older people’s movements and livelihoods are tightly enmeshed within, even controlled by, their children’s migration. These different migration patterns and outcomes are set against contrasting home-country backgrounds of patrilinearity in Albania and post-socialist neoliberalism and economic crisis in Latvia.

From peripheral region to escalator region in Europe: Young Baltic graduates in London

This paper examines recent migration from three little-studied European Union (EU) countries, the Baltic states, focusing on early-career graduates who move to London. It looks at how these young migrants explain the reasons for their move, their work and living experiences in London, and their plans for the future, based on 78 interviews with individual migrants. A key objective of this paper is to rejuvenate the core–periphery structural framework through the theoretical lens of London as an ‘escalator’ region for career development. We add a necessary nuance on how the time dimension is crucial in understanding how an escalator region functions – both in terms of macro-events such as EU enlargement or economic crisis, and for life-course events such as career advancement or family formation. Our findings indicate that these educated young adults from the EU’s north-eastern periphery migrate for a combination of economic, career, lifestyle and personal-development reasons. They are ambivalent about their futures and when, and whether, they will return-migrate.

Ageing, Gender, and Migration: Theorising Entwined Becomings

The key conceptual approach is to see ageing, gender, and migration together as entwined becomings. Whilst migration is relatively straightforward—movement across an international border for a certain threshold of time—ageing and gender are social and cultural constructions; they are relational and situational. Gender is now largely mainstreamed into migration research; ageing much less so. In this study of Latvian women, ageing connects theoretically to life course and family studies, social network theory, and segmented labour market analysis. Ageing women find low-wage work in agricultural labour, the hotel and catering sector, and domestic cleaning. A well-being approach is very useful to grasp the multi-dimensionally changing lives of older migrant women.

Research methods for children

This follows the course of real-life research where further experiments would be designed, more data would be collected or existing data re-analysed. The author acknowledged some shortcomings of the text such as data entry, research design and SPSS availability. Another shortcoming of this text would be that, definitely on first reading, you need to run the analysis in conjunction with reading the book. So be prepared to work through this book in front of SPSS – not just as easy to read on the bus home! It would be preferable to have more images of the output produced in the text as SPSS output can be lengthy and difficult to find the information that you need, although Davis states this is omitted to ‘save trees’ (p. 168). You may be forgiven for assuming that the title implies a student audience, but the audience for this book would be anyone who needs to interpret and analyse data who are not statisticians. This book is useful also for qualitative researchers to get a grounding in statistics to help understand articles and reports that use these and for those returning to research after a break. To conclude, the value of SPSS Step by Step is in its excellent presentation of the fundamentals of statistical analysis for social and political science research projects. The writing is clear, concise and very readable. Even complex statistical concepts seem within reach due to the authors’ ability to distil information into an accessible format. This is a book that I know I will refer to time and time again.