Defying precarity: Iranian diaspora and transnationalism in the making

Abstract

We are living amidst a global transformation in which neoliberal policies have created a precarious existence for various individuals and groups, including migrants around the globe. Precarity as a concept has become progressively widespread for making sense of the insecurities stemming from neoliberal policies, especially, flexible employment, ongoing decrease of welfare protection, and finding market solutions to social problems. Using an ethnographic approach, this paper aims to explore how Iranians in the UK overcome precarity. We found that precarity forces Iranians to confront their situation by considering their specific social experiences. Joining various transnational activities and networks, using transnational communication media, migrants convert their self-awareness into a strategy in order to overcome marginality.

Transnational and Local Co-ethnic Social Ties as Coping Mechanisms Against Perceived Discrimination - A Study on the Life Satisfaction of Turkish and Moroccan Minorities in the Netherlands

“…For example, in their study conducted in the Dutch context among middle-class immigrants living in Rotterdam, Snel et al (2016) found that perceiving discrimination based on their ethnicity associates positively with immigrants’ having more transnational social ties. Some qualitative studies conducted among different minority groups in the United Kingdom context also provided similar results regarding minorities’ increased transnational activities when faced with discrimination ( Redclift and Rajina, 2019 ; Pourmedhi, 2020 ). Therefore, we hypothesize that Turkish and Moroccan minorities ’ perceptions of discrimination in the Netherlands associate positively with their transnational co-ethnic social ties (H1).…”

‘Picking up the neighbours' waste’: migration of Bangladeshi villagers to India metropolises

“…Both a juridical and a socio-political condition, 'illegality'and thus deportabilityanyway stop them to challenge their working condition (De Genova, 2002)while, at the same time, it affects other important aspects of their lifelike, for instance, the schooling of the children or their freedom of movement. A majority of migrants certainly succeed in staying for long years by using their agency in developing tactics or strategies (De Certeau, 1984;Pourmehdi, 2018;Scott, 1985)to get around the hazards of an unregular sojourn and to react to the structural violence they have to face, but it remains a very constrained agency (Paret & Gleeson, 2016, p. 282). Their status remains insecure, fragile and many are deported as I could check in Moralganj: this threat to be arrested, jailed and sent back is thus not only theoretical, even if it does not take the form of mass deportation.…”

Drivers of Libyan Students’ Desire for Emigration: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Dekker and Engbersen argue that social media provides a platform for communication with migrants who are already settled abroad, which acts as a powerful source of knowledge about the host country, whilst strengthening family and friendship ties. Migrants tend to pursue their connections; they are inclined to follow the beaten paths (Castle & Miller, 2003; Dekker & Engbersen, 2014; Pourmehdi, 2020).…”