Erka Çaro

Negotiating between patriarchy and emancipation: rural-to-urban migrant women in Albania

It is essential to explore the role of gender while analysing internal migration in Albania to account for the differing experiences of men and women. Quantitative studies suggest that Albanian internal migration is pioneered by men, with women merely acceding to their wishes. This article addresses the undervalued role of women in the academic discourse concerning migration in Albania. Utilizing ethnographic research techniques, it explores the role of women migrating from rural to urban areas as part of a larger household and examines the coping and negotiating strategies used for survival in the city. Our findings reveal that women actively participate in the rural-to-urban migration process, including the initial decision to migrate and the choice of destination. Womens narratives provide evidence of specific emancipation strategies through which they express themselves and their new ways of living. Women adjust to and challenge their new urban environment through gaining paid employment and expanding their social networks, as well as experience emancipation through daughters and by changing their appearance, achieving varying degrees of personal and social prosperity.

Migration in the Albania of the post-1990s: triggered by post-communist transformations and facilitator of socio-demographic changes

Statements that make us think – why is this phenomenon of such importance in Albznia? ‘The last piece of domino,’ as communist Albania was called in the western media, fell one year after the Berlin Wall, in December 1990 (Lami, 1999). In the context of former communist countries in eastern Europe, it took more time and effort for Albania to pass through what is generally accepted as one of the most repressive and centralised communist regimes in the world. Over the last seventeen years, Albania has experienced remarkable political, social and economic developments in the transition from a closed and centralised economy towards one based on an open market. The transformation process, developed during a period of economic and political unrest, has affected social and demographic changes and was accompanied by large flows of people moving within and out of the country. Migration, both internal and international, has increasingly been seen as a process involving economic developments, political changes, urbanisation, modernisation and demographic changes. According to Mullan (2001), migration has dramatic social, cultural and economic consequences for individuals, families, communities, society, regions and the country as a whole. As such, migration (internal and external) has been one of the most dynamic features of the Albanian transition. The role of migration is reflected in the total population decrease; the massive urbanisation of some areas and the depopulation of others; increased levels of conflict in urban areas because of the difficult integration process of migrants; social and cultural transformation in the regions; changes in the sex and age structure of the population; and other dynamic changes. Different data suggest that around 1 000 000 Albanians have moved temporarily or permanently over the border since the beginning of the transition period (INSTAT, 2004; Barjaba, 2003; Labour Market Review of Albania, 2006). Moreover, in the last census (2001) the urban population increased visibly compared with the previous one,

Winners or Losers? The Adjustment Strategies of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in Tirana, Albania

This paper explores the micro-level process of adjustment undergone by rural migrants to the city. Rural migrants are expected to fully adjust to the urban lifestyle, setting aside their traditions and culture. However, as the migrant population increases in an urban area, migrants create their own communities with their own lifestyles and values, and thus there is an ongoing debate about whether this process entails the ruralisation of the city or the urbanisation of migrants. While becoming urban and being part of the city is desired, the reality is that joining a migrant community and adjusting to other migrants is more important. According to the resource-based model, migrants need personal, material, social and cultural resources to satisfy their needs, goals and demands. Socio-cultural clustering constitutes the main social resource, creating a support system for migrants. The longer the rural migrants reside in the city, the better their adjustment strategies. Moreover, economic security and willingness assist the adjustment process, while the younger generation is perceived as being better adjusted.

Becoming an EU citizen through Italy: the experience of Albanian immigrants

L’articolo esplora l’esperienza dell’acquisizione della cittadinanza italiana e, per estensione, della cittadinanza europea tra i migranti albanesi in Italia. In particolare, il contributo indaga le motivazioni che hanno spinto i migranti albanesi a richiedere la cittadinanza e le ripercussioni di tale scelta sul loro status, sull’accesso ai diritti sociali e al mercato del lavoro, nonche sulla loro identita. Inoltre, l’analisi si focalizza sugli effetti dell’ acquisizione della cittadinanza EU nelle vite, traiettorie lavorative e prospettive nella mobilita dei migranti. I dati empirici indicano che i migranti albanesi che hanno acquisito la cittadinanza italiana hanno vissuto un’esperienza di empowerment e di agency, che ha reso la loro presenza nel mercato del lavoro e nella societa italiana piu sicura. La consapevolezza tra i migranti albanesi dell’acquisizione della cittadinanza europea come derivato della cittadinanza italiana e aumentata durante il processo di naturalizzazione, principalmente per effetto dell’impatto della crisi economica sul mercato del lavoro italiano e della loro posizione di lavoratori. La cittadinanza italiana, diviene quindi una strategia per una maggiore integrazione e, in caso di necessita, per un’ulteriore migrazione.

Coping with Urbanity

Where migration is a mass phenomenon, it seems sensible to turn to the statistics to give you the facts and figures of the situation. Erka

‘I am the God of the House’: How Albanian Rural Men Shift their Performance of Masculinities in the City

CLaro argues that to understand, shape and direct the contribution of migrants to Albanias urbanisation, it is better to go beyond the facts and figures to get to the feelings of the migrants.

Posted Migration and Segregation in the European Construction Sector

Abstract Migration triggers significant developments in gender norms and identities. Cultural and spatial dislocation influences the ways people renegotiate their gender schemas and shifts the performances of masculinity and/or femininity. Scholars have mainly focused on its impact on women, overlooking its importance in shaping men’s identity. This paper focuses on rural migrant men moving to the city. It explores the strategies they use to renegotiate traditional performances of masculinities in the context of their spatial dislocation and wider socioeconomic developments and urbanization in a suburb of Tirana, Albania. Using an ethnographic and auto-ethnographic narrative approach, this paper reveals that traditional performances of masculinities confronted with modernization are shifting and being reshaped in the new urban environment where generational differences and the emancipation of women are now apparent.