‘Between a rock and a hard place’: Bulgarian highly skilled migrants’ experiences of external and internal stereotypes in the context of the European crisis

Genova, Elena

doi:10.1080/14608944.2015.1136609

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…This is especially critical in the current socio-political situation, where citizens of many European countries, unsettled by economic and political crises and now directly confronted with the phenomenon of large-scale immigration, are increasingly turning to stereotyping, ethnic essentialism, and racism (e.g. Worth, 2013; O'Hara, 2014; Genova, 2017; Sierp & Karner, 2017) which fits into long defunct concepts of cultural wholeness. In this situation, the archaeological discussion just described, on whether we conceptualize prehistoric communities as whole, uniform, and bounded entities or whether we see them as constituted by individual actors with potentially diverse and heterogeneous backgrounds and intentions, and individual agencies, becomes a highly political issue.…”

Section: Lessons From the Adna Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Massive Migrations? The Impact of Recent aDNA Studies on our View of Third Millennium Europe

Furholt

2017

Eur. j. archaeol

109

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New human aDNA studies have once again brought to the forefront the role of mobility and migration in shaping social phenomena in European prehistory, processes that recent theoretical frameworks in archaeology have downplayed as an outdated explanatory notion linked to traditional culture history. While these new genetic data have provided new insights into the population history of prehistoric Europe, they are frequently interpreted and presented in a manner that recalls aspects of traditional culture-historical archaeology that were rightly criticized through the 1970s to the 1990s. They include the idea that shared material culture indicates shared participation in the same social group, or culture, and that these cultures constitute one-dimensional, homogeneous, and clearly bounded social entities. Since the new aDNA data are used to create vivid narratives describing ‘massive migrations’, the so-called cultural groups are once again likened to human populations and in turn revitalized as external drivers for socio-cultural change. Here, I argue for a more nuanced consideration of molecular data that more explicitly incorporates anthropologically informed mobility and migration models.

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Section: Lessons From the Adna Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Massive Migrations? The Impact of Recent aDNA Studies on our View of Third Millennium Europe

Furholt

2017

Eur. j. archaeol

109

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“…Strategies aiming at disassociation are typically directed towards one's co-ethnics (e.g. Boccagni, 2014;Genova, 2017). As racialized somatic features link people together by looks alone, a co-ethnic's behaviour can have a direct negative effect on an unrelated person, resulting in what can be called 'collective shame' (Shelton et al, 2006, p. 328).…”

Section: The Company You Keepmentioning

confidence: 99%

Claims to a nation, dressing the part and other boundary making strategies by skilled migrants in response to ethnic categorization

Koskela

2020

Social Identities

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This article is about self-defined social identities, other people's perceptions of us and the potentially conflictual relationship between these two. Building on a Barthian focus on group boundaries, the article takes the interplay between external categorizations and internal group definitions as its point of departure to examine how individuals negotiate the boundaries of their social identities. Based on a case study of skilled migrants with racialized ethnicities in Finland, I look at how they express their self-defined identity as well-to-do, skilled professionals in the face of contradicting categorizations of them as un-skilled, lowerclass migrant subjects. I identify two types of complementary approaches employed by the skilled migrants in boundary making strategies to their identity negotiations: those de-emphasizing ethnicity (or its importance), and those emphasizing class status. These approaches are two sides of the same coin; coming from different perspectives, they both aim at a more positively viewed identity, and for individuals to be seen as well-to-do, educated, working professionals, rather than as ethnic migrant subjects. As such, the article also highlights the interconnection of class and ethnicity for the social identities of skilled migrants in Finland.

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“…Crossing borders in times of crisis produces anxieties in host and home societies alike. Migrants thus find themselves exposed to double‐sided othering – a discursive realm where home and host discourses of othering stigmatize individuals and impact upon their identities (Genova, ). This clearly demonstrates not only that power, othering and identification are interlinked but also that their nexus is the result of a dynamic process of negotiation over the definition of the Self.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

(New) Bulgarian Enlighteners and Ambassadors? The Reinvention of National Identity in Times of Crisis

Genova

2019

International Migration

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Drawing on empirical data from 37 Bulgarian students and young professionals in the UK, this article explores the intersection of the discourses produced by the European crises and migrants' national identity. In Bulgaria, the crisis narrative is embedded in the arguably never‐ending democratic transition, manifested in socio‐economic instability and political volatility. Simultaneously, “Brexit Britain” is enveloped in strong Eurosceptic sentiments, propelled by a combination of austerity measures and intensified Eastern European migratory flows. Both contexts subject Bulgarian migrants to stigmatizing representations. Looking at migrants' everyday practices, the data reveals that young Bulgarians draw on the related ideas of the “new” Enlightener and Ambassador to counterbalance negative discourses. Thus, the article explores the meanings and significance attributed to the Enlighteners and the Ambassadors, arguing that the participants engage in “social creativity” and “individual mobility” strategies that lead to reinvention of national identity.

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‘Between a rock and a hard place’: Bulgarian highly skilled migrants’ experiences of external and internal stereotypes in the context of the European crisis

Cited by 11 publications

References 25 publications

Massive Migrations? The Impact of Recent aDNA Studies on our View of Third Millennium Europe

Massive Migrations? The Impact of Recent aDNA Studies on our View of Third Millennium Europe

Claims to a nation, dressing the part and other boundary making strategies by skilled migrants in response to ethnic categorization

(New) Bulgarian Enlighteners and Ambassadors? The Reinvention of National Identity in Times of Crisis

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