Migration in Differentiated Localities: Changing Statuses and Ethnic Relations in a Multi‐Ethnic Locality in Transylvania, Romania

Abstract

In recent years, an increasing number of scholars have started to analyse the effects of migration in societies of emigration. This scholarship often depicts migration as a powerful process generating ‘levelled’ processes of diffusion of money, goods, ideas, and values, ultimately changing entire communities and regions of origin. The paper diverges from this view and argues for a differentialist approach in researching processes of migration and social change. I substantiate this claim by analysing patterns of migration and social change in a multi‐ethnic community in Romania that consists of Hungarians, Romanians, and Roma. The research fieldwork consisted of qualitative interviews and participant observation. By using a perspective inspired by the literature on critical social capital and mechanisms of migration, I show that local social differentiation profoundly affects not only the development of migration but also the relationship between migration and social change. As I unfold in the paper, social closure based on ethnic and class/group membership had a strong effect on the ways in which Hungarians, Roma, and Romanians migrated towards Hungary, Italy, and Germany, as well as on the economic niches they occupied in countries of destination. The enrichment of some Roma and the new social position they gained reveals that migrant localities are contested social spaces where migrants' new social statuses and the ideas and values they bring back with them are weighted and negotiated against local values and systems of classification. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Roma within Obstructing and Transformative Spaces

“…While a focus on the local has been present in anthropological and sociological studies on Roma migration from Romania (Pantea, 2013b;Troc, 2012;Vlase and Voicu, 2014) as well as in policy suggestions (Pantea, 2013a), more attention has been paid to the pre-conditions and effects of migration within the Roma segments of the local population than to the broader local community and to the relationships between different local population segments (for notable exceptions, see: Anghel, 2016;Cingolani, 2012). In an earlier publication, we presented findings on Roma migration in relation to the general migratory patterns of the Romanians to address this limitation.…”

Social Mechanisms in Local Transformations: Towards a Conclusion

“…Two mechanisms stand out in the dissection of the consequences of transnational dynamics for social inequalities and power distribution on the local level: partial exclusion and discursive standard‐isation. The social mechanism partial exclusion remains a useful antidote to overly optimistic portrayals of socio‐economic improvement as a result of international migration (Anghel, 2016). Anghel convincingly shows changing patterns of inequality in the course of international migration among three groups from a small town in Romania, namely Hungarians, Romanians, and Roma.…”

Social Mobilities in the Transnational Migration of Romanian Roma to Italy

“…More frequently, new cleavages are created in the home country within Roma communities and between migrating and non-migrating Roma (e.g. Dion, 2014;Benarrosh-Orsoni, 2015;Anghel, 2016;Toma et al, 2018). 2 This article aims to contribute to the debate on transnational migration as a process of social transformation by investigating efforts made towards status changes within some Romanian Roma migrant networks in Italy.…”