Thursday, July 13, 2017
JWS - Stevenson Lecture Theatre (University of Glasgow)
The impact of the 2008 economic and financial crisis on migration flows to Spain has generated an abundant literature looking at different aspects, such as consequences for the labour market opportunities of migrants and changes in incoming and outgoing flows. It has been documented that in response to the crisis, migrants have implemented different mobility strategies, involving return, remigration and circular and multiple migration projects, in order to try and reconfigure their social mobility projects. Such new projects often happen within the family, with different consequences according to gender and generation. In this paper, we look at the new, complex social and spatial mobilities implemented by Latin American migrants in Spain, in response to the negative impacts the crisis has had on them. We focus on the experiences of families originating from Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil moving within Europe, both temporarily or permanently, individually or as a family (in steps or all together). Based on the results of our several qualitative research projects, carried out before and during the crisis, we look at the reasons for these new mobility strategies, the ways they have been implemented and the consequences for the migrants and their families. Our analysis shows a heterogeneous mix of gains and losses, both for migrants and processes of migrant integration in host countries.
