Migrant and Refugee Impact on Well-Being in Rural Areas: Reframing Rural Development Challenges in Greece

Abstract

The paper aims to exemplify and discuss the changing conditions and challenges posed by the newly arriving populations of migrants and refugees in rural Greece, along with local people’s views on the impact of the new arrivals in their rural places. Its main objective is to understand whether migrants and refugees create threats or opportunities for the local population, and whether movers and non-movers have a shared understanding of well-being in their rural areas. The analysis unveils the connections that are emerging between migrants and refugees and the economy, society and culture in rural receiving areas. Thus, the paper aims at showing the complexity of rural migrant flows and how the interactions between migrants, refugees and locals in the light of the well-being of rural areas may inform rural development in Greece. The paper is structured into five main sections following the introduction. The first section contains a discussion of the main concepts used as building blocks for creating a theoretical framing of well-being in rural areas. The second section develops a brief discussion of international and internal migration to rural areas in Greece, as well as providing some contextual information on the impact of the economic crisis and new developments in response to the recession. The third section includes a short presentation of the methodological approach and a description of the case study area. The fourth section is dedicated to an analysis of the narratives of international migrants, refugees, internal migrants, locals and stakeholders. Finally, the concluding section critically discusses the conceptualisations of rurality and well-being between the various population groups and articulates the challenges connected to well-being and mobilities in contemporary rural Greece.

Migrant integration at the regional level in the rural areas of Southern Europe

“…Furthermore, my work built upon and corroborated previous theories such as the relevance of the place on migrant integration (Massey 1994;Gieryn 2000;Kasimis & Papadopoulos 2003;Hatziprokopiou 2006b;Kordel & Membretti 2020), that of migratory systems (Mabogunje 1970), migration industries (De Haas 2010), migratory networks and social resources (Massey et al 2005, Labrianidis & Sykas 2012, Hatziprokopiou 2006bMigali et al 2018), the relation between the lifecourse stage and well-being of migrants living in rural areas (Papadopoulos & Fratsea 2021), the relationship between socioeconomic and spatial mobility (Papadopoulos 2009(Papadopoulos , 2012, the segmentation of the rural labour markets (Hoggart & Mendoza 1999), as well as the analytical value of the Southern European model of migration (Mingione 1995;King 2000).…”

“…Finally, Papadopoulos and Fratsea (2021) looked into how international migrants and refugees perceive their well-being in rural areas of Western Greece. Their findings reveal the complexity of well-being's perception, which is closely related to individuals' hopes, motivations, capabilities, aspirations, and social relations.…”

Aspirations, agency and well‐being of Romanian migrants in Greece

“…You don't feel a stranger here; people here do not treat you like a stranger . By referring to people in places, Daniela differentiates between cities and smaller places, like villages (see also Papadopoulos & Fratsea, 2021). These quotes, which express the respondents' sense of belonging, offer evidence, through the comparison of places, on the significance of remaking one's sense of belonging based on mutual relations in one's place of residence.…”

social landscape after the pandemic crisis in Southern European societies

“…In many cases, those who were unable to organize their repatriation remained, vulnerable, in their host countries (see McAuliffe & Triandafyllidou, 2021). In this context, there are still significant political and economic challenges to be met before immigrants and refugees can be emplaced and included in local and/or rural areas which, in southern regions in particular, are suffering from depopulation, land abandonment, and the underutilization of their productive resources (Papadopoulos & Fratsea, 2021).…”