Migration And Transnationalism Between Switzerland And Bulgaria

This book explores trends in migration from Bulgaria to Switzerland since Bulgaria joined the European Union (EU) in 2007. Due to several unique factors, this in-depth case study provides a basis for understanding transnational migration in a wider European context. Bulgarians represent a fairly small community within Switzerland, and are quite scattered throughout the country. They come from various regions in Bulgaria with very different socio-economic profile. In Switzerland, apart from differences in linguistic regions and the federal system, there are significant regional disparities, providing a variety of contexts for exploring this transnational migration, causes and consequences. The first part of the book analyses who migrates and why, addressing regional disparities within Bulgaria. The text explores the impact of economic differences, educational background, and other factors that play into immigrants’ motivations to move. The next part of the book examines different migratory movements and transnational practices between Switzerland, Bulgaria, and other destination countries for Bulgarian immigrants. It addresses larger socioeconomic shifts and resulting impacts at individual, household, community, and national levels. Finally, the book assesses all of these factors within the context of shifting immigration policies. This work draws on mixed-method empirical research conducted in both countries over a three-year period, analysed within four major frameworks: transnationalism and migrant networks, social inequality, regional disparities and development, and immigration policies. The results will be of interest for researchers working in a variety of social science fields, including anthropology, geography, sociology, social psychology, law, public policy, political science, international studies, demography and exploring issues related to migration and development, social and regional disparities, inequality, employment, social networks, social identity and others.

This book explores the history of migration in Switzerland from the late nineteenth century to the present day. It brings together recent scholarship on Switzerland in the field of cultural and migration studies, as well as migration history, and combines various research approaches from postcolonial studies, transnational studies, border studies, and history of knowledge. Since the late nineteenth century, Switzerland has gradually transformed into a migration society, becoming one of the countries in Europe with the highest percentage of migrant population. While migration has become one of most contentious issues in Swiss public and political debates, the volume also shows how migrants have developed various strategies to deal with the country’s discriminatory policies and distinct institutional settings. The authors of the volume convincingly challenge the view that Switzerland still does not represent a migration (or even post-migrant) society and substantially contributes to the long overdue acknowledgement of Switzerland in migration history and studies at the international level.

The Southeast Europe and Black Sea region presents fertile terrain for examining recent international migration trends. The contributions to this book cover a range of examples, from Ukraine and Moldova in the north, to Greece and Albania in the south. By intersecting the three key concepts of migration, transnationalism and development, they offer new insights based on original empirical research. A wide range of types of migration can be observed in this region: large-scale emigration in many countries, recent mass immigration in the case of Greece, return migration, internal migration, internal and external forced migration, irregular migration, brain drain etc. These migratory phenomena occur within the context of EU migration policies and EU accession for some countries. Yet within this shifting migration landscape of migrant stocks and flows, the fundamental economic geography of different wealth levels and work opportunities is what drives most migration, now as in the past. This book was previously published as a special issue of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.

This collection explores student mobility and study abroad programmes across Europe, presenting original research on personal, linguistic, and intercultural development during study abroad experiences. The volume synthesizes work from the 2016-2020 Cost Action 15130 ‘Study Abroad Research in European Perspective’ research network, offering a multidisciplinary account of the intersection of language learning and study abroad in Europe amidst the changing contemporary higher education landscape, as well as new directions for future research. The initial section comprises short survey chapters outlining key themes and literature, connecting traditional study abroad research with new multilingual and transnational realities. This is supported by a main section containing original empirical studies in a wide range of European contexts and a short afterword bringing together policy and pedagogical proposals. Taken together, the collection shines a light on the impact of the internationalisation of higher education on linguistic dimensions of student mobility while including a range of lesser studied settings and languages. New insights are offered on language learning, identity, interculturality, student agency and motivation, and transnational social networks in the study abroad context. This book will be of particular interest to students, researchers and institutions interested in the intersection of language learning and study abroad, including such areas as multilingualism, higher education, and applied linguistics. Chapter 8 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This open access book provides insight on current patterns of migration in Switzerland, which fall along a continuum from long-term and permanent to more temporary and fluid. These patterns are shaped by the interplay of legal norms, economic drivers and societal factors. The various dimensions of this Migration-Mobility Nexus are investigated by means of newly collected survey data: the Migration-Mobility Survey. The book covers different aspects of life in the host country, including the family dimension, the labour market and political participation as well as social integration. The book also takes into account the chronological dimension of migration by considering the migrants’ arrival, their stay, and their expectations regarding return. Through applying conclusions drawn from the Swiss context to the migration literature on other European and high-income countries, this book contributes to new knowledge on current migration processes in high-income countries. As such it will be a valuable reference work to scholars and students in migration, social scientists and policy makers.

This collection was inspired by the international conference "Dynamics of National Identity and Transnational Identities in the Process of European Integration", organized by the Balkan Ethnology Department of the Ethnographic Institute and Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and realized as project of the European Commission Jean Monnet Action Program for the support of Study and Research Centers. The book opens a debate on the changing notions of identity in the region of Central and Eastern Europe on the base of analysis of social developments influenced by EU accession and EU integration process. The most important aspect is the analysis of processes of breaking up the borders of national identity and transition towards new forms of transnational identities and emerging of consciosness of All-European unity. The book has a dual focus: on general topics related to the study of national and transnational identities and on the process of European integration. It brings together the work of researchers not only from different parts of Europe (from France to Russia) but from USA and Asia too. This book is a starting point for East-West discussion and brings new knowledge that will be an invaluable contribution to the common European research area.

This multidisciplinary volume offers unique perspectives, across the globe and throughout the centuries, on the complexity of the nexus between work and the life course. For industrialized regions, from Germany and Western Europe to China and Japan, it questions the widespread notion of an overall growing working life course instability, since the 1970s. For unindustrialized or industrializing regions, from West Africa to state socialist East Central Europe, as well as for transnational and transcontinental labour migrations, it shows the enormous influence of the extended family and wider kin on individual pathways into and out of work. For early modern Europe, India, and China, and up to twentieth-century state socialism and to current welfare states, it stresses and concretizes the crucial impact of age and gender for both societal labour relations and individual work-related decision making. With all chapters based on original research, the volume reflects a close cooperation between historians, anthropologists, and sociologists. Its multidisciplinary approach finds expression in its methodological plurality, reaching from archival research and sophisticated statistical analyses to biographical interviews and participant observation. This mix allows to grasp the interaction between societal change and individual agency.

This comprehensive Handbook explores the fundamental concepts surrounding the ageing-migration nexus. It is indispensable reading, presenting interdisciplinary research to investigate the unique experiences of older migrants, migrant eldercare workers and older people left behind.