Living for Today
Oxford Brookes University (Gipsy Lane Campus)
Human Agency in Migration: The Impact of Migration on Social and Cultural Identity View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Medea Badashvili, Ekaterine Pirtskhalava
This paper examines the processes of changing the life of Georgian migrants and the members of their families after migrating to the US. Labor migration in Georgia started in the 1990s, after the collapse of Soviet Union, as a result of the difficult economic and political situation in the country, which have led to the highest levels of out-migration from Georgia. According to the last World Bank data, approximately 23 percent of Georgia’s population lives below the official poverty line. Economic crisis have been exacerbated by political turmoil and violent conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. During the first years of the Georgian independence, labor migration from Georgia consisted predominantly of males and was directed towards Russia. A decade later, female labor emigration from Georgia started to increase, indicating the demand for domestic jobs at the global market. Accordingly to the recent studies, the most interesting countries are EU countries, Turkey and North America, where women generally perform babysitting work, care-giving, nurse, saleswomen, and waiters. Surprisingly, more women than men migrate from Georgia. The present paper is based on a quantitative and qualitative research, conducted with labor migrants from Georgia, living on the east coast of the US, describing migrant’s life in a new social environment. The research illustrates the changes of their lifestyle underwent in several important areas, such as: the family structure and family relationships; the level of integration and their social life; agency and identity.
European Integration and Migratory Crisis: Between the European Union and the Member States, Who Is in Charge? View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session María Celia Martínez de Castro
The present work analyzes certain aspects of the European community policy regarding the management of external migratory flows that it receives mainly on the Mediterranean coasts. Specifically, refugee crises and asylum applications collide with the decision-making machinery and community and national regulations of the host states, crystallizing a tangle of bureaucratic borders that, not because they are intangible, become less evident and problematic for migrants. It is from the specific cases of overcrowding in refugee camps such as Moria in Greece, that motivates us to propose a reading of the distribution of powers between the EU and the Member States in matters of migration and asylum under the light already not only of Community Law; but from the field of International Relations. From there, the sieve that this contemporary problem has had under the international security approach in the decision-making and regulatory structure of the EU and its Member States is addressed, losing sight of -or perhaps minimizing- its approach from Human Rights. Finally, some final reflections are rehearsed around a question: are we facing a humanitarian tragedy resulting from this diffuse distribution of powers and responsibilities between the EU and its Member States? Without intending to be definitive, these reflections leave open possible new questions and answers.
Affective Memory: Making Sense of the Recent Past through Letters to the Disappeared by the State during the "Dirty War" in Mexico
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Xatziri Peña Licea
This research focuses on the writings that visitors to the memorial museum "Casa de la Memoria Indómita", made during their visit to the institution. These writings are in the visitors books displayed along the exhibition. Through a qualitative analysis, I suggest that an affective memory is created in order to understand the violence that the Mexican State inflected to several citizens during the so called "dirty war" in 70´s and 80´s. This affective memory takes form in letters that the visitor writes to the disappeared, deploying emotions, calls to justice, hope and a reflections of current events in contemporary Mexico.
