“Our Generation…” Aspiration, Desire, and Generation as Discourse Among Highly Educated, Portuguese, Post-austerity Migrants in London

Abstract

Drawing on 18 months of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork, this paper brings into dialogue empirical material from young, highly educated Portuguese migrants in London, theoretical work on desire in migration studies and sociological approaches to theorising aspirations. The paper argues that young migrants' narratives of migration shed important light on the working of aspirations in the processes of becoming through migration. Such orientations towards the future are shaped by young migrants' engagements with doxic and habituated logics producing aspirations. The analytical lens of desire illuminates the role of discursive self-positioning, emotions, and the embodiment of lived experiences of migration in the enacting of particular migrant subjectivities and associated aspirations. In a context in which competing discourses of generation constitute important registers of meaning about migration and aspirations, mobilising generation discourses is a key temporal practice in young migrants' constructions of narratives of migration.

Analysing youth migrations through the lens of generation

“…The idea of generation as life-phase illuminates how migration is related to the construction and performativity of youth. This approach sheds light on the interplay between institutional dynamics which make migration a likely option during certain points in the youth phase of the life-course (Ní Laoire 2000), and young people's desire to migrate or stay put in order to enact a particular generationed identity (Hertrich and Lesclingand 2013;Rodan and Huijsmans 2021). From an institutional perspective, labour markets and the provision of education are typically more developed and diverse in urban settings than in rural areas.…”

“…A Mannheimian interpretation of generation draws attention to how widespread involvement in migration among youth can become a feature in how people identify with others in their generation and as a generation (Rodan and Huijsmans 2021). This perspective draws on Karl Mannheim's seminal work (Mannheim 1952) on the role of generations in social change.…”

Aspiring While Waiting: Temporality and Pacing of Ghanaian Stayer Youth’s Migration Aspirations

“…Barford et al (2021) found that youth "in waiting" adapt to changing social contexts both on their own or by relying on social network support. In other studies, waiting youth preoccupy themselves with playing, talking, scheming, or working in order to derive some benefits from waiting or simply to keep their minds "off the stresses" (Stasik et al, 2020;Rodan & Huijsmans, 2021;Zharkevich, 2020). A range of concepts point to the strategies youth in the Global South use to cope with waiting: "killing time" and "building solidarity" (Ralph, 2008), doing "timepass" (Jeffery, 2010), "hustling to survive" (Munive, 2010), and "zigzagging'' or meandering through available opportunities and forms of entrepreneurship (Jeffery & Dyson, 2013).…”

Socio‐spatial negotiations in Lisbon: Reflections of working‐aged lifestyle migrants on place and privilege

“…Much of the existing literature on European youth mobilities focuses on migration to more advanced economies as part of a strategy of income or career advancement (King, Lulle, et al, 2018; Lulle et al, 2021). Indeed, particular attention has been paid to youth migration from Mediterranean countries (Montanari & Staniscia, 2017; Rodan & Huijsmans, 2021). However, some young working migrants use mobility to Southern Europe (King, 2019; Seers et al, 1979) to opt out of the pressures embedded in mainstream ideas of progression and success.…”