‘Does your granny eat grass?’ On mass migration, care drain and the fate of older people in rural Albania

Abstract

Older people have been the main social casualties of the collapse of the Albanian communist system and the ensuing mass emigration of younger generations since 1990. Some have had to forage for survival on a near‐starvation diet, making broth from grass and weeds. For others, remittances from emigrant children ensure adequate material well‐being, but a loss of locally‐based trans‐generational care and of intimate family relations occurs. Rates of emigration have been highest in the southern uplands, where our fieldwork took place. Migration has been mainly to Greece, but also to Italy and elsewhere. Interviews with elderly ‘residual households’ ‐ single people and couples ‐ reveal stories of loneliness and abandonment; cross‐generational rupture of hitherto tight family structures is seen as emotionally painful because of the impossibility of enjoying mutual benefits of care sustained by geographical proximity. Profoundly upsetting is the denial of the practice of grand‐parenting, which the older generation see as their raison d'être. Cost of travel, visa regimes and emigrants’ irregular status conspire to prevent international visits. Finally, we examine various strategies of overcoming the ‘care drain’ produced by this situation, one of which is for older people to try to join their migrant children and grandchildren abroad.

Albania on the Move : Links between Internal and International Migration

“…The combined effects of such age-and gender-selective migration, related much less to internal migration and much more to international flows, bring forth two key social problems: the abandonment of older people and 'care drain' (King & Vullnetari 2006;Vullnetari & King 2008). Albanian custom obliges the youngest son (and his wife) to take care of his parents in their old age -indeed the youngest son is referred to in Albanian parlance as 'the son of old age'.…”

“…The irony is that many of these women will look after elderly people nonetheless, albeit in a different context and in another country, because looking after elderly Greeks is one of the main job opportunities open to migrant Albanian women. Yet, the nature of unpaid and paid care and its value -or lack thereof -in being considered as work affects the 'care drain' taking place in Albania (Vullnetari & King 2008). Here is a typical example: Jorgjia, 70, lives on her own in one of the villages, while both of her sons, their wives and children have emigrated to Greece.…”

How Has Internal Migration in Albania Affected the Receipt of Transfers from Kinship Members?

“…They find the same incidence of financial transfers in real terms, despite a worse economic situation, so family solidarity is somewhat weaker. Vullnetari & King (2008) describe a growing trend of " care drain" in Albania, namely the effect migration of adult children has on their elderly parents. They depict a pattern of fewer visits (as they mainly refer to international migration) and less care, both by parents (care of the grandchildren) and children (care of their parents).…”

‘Washing men's feet’: gender, care and migration in Albania during and after communism

“…Therefore, the decision may be taken for the parents to join the migrant family abroad, which is more feasible for the younger old -in their 50s and 60s. Intra-family mutual care strengthens the position of older people as they are not simply care recipients, but also care providers (Vullnetari and King 2008). They look after their pre-school grandchildren, freeing the migrant wife to take up paid employment.…”

“…Somewhat parallel to 'brain drain', care drain denotes the loss of care capabilities in Accepted Manuscript (AM) of 'Washing men's feet': Gender, care and migration in Albania during and after communism. Gender, Place andCulture 23(2): 198-215 [DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2015.1013447] 8 societies where demographic and economic changes -in our case the physical removal of the erstwhile carers through migration -have eroded the ability of relatives to provide care to those family members in need, such as young children, the elderly and the sick (Vullnetari and King 2008). Care is also an arena through which we question practices and politics of power, and the production of inequalities at a range of scales: from the personal, to the family, in local communities and globally (Lawson 2007).…”