No abstract

No abstract

Drawing upon qualitative data on Albanians residing in Italy and Greece, this article furnishes new insights into the topic of undeclared migrant construction workers’ agency. It analyses different types of undeclared work through Katz’s theoretical framework that suggests a disaggregated conceptualisation of agency. In so doing, it adds to thinking on the factors shaping fluidity between types of agency and challenges dichotomous views on passive or voluntary participation. The article also highlights that mutual interests between workers and employers enable migrant builders to defy and resist state regulations, despite the impacts of undeclared work on workers and the fact that power dynamics are unequal. Thus, the main contribution the article makes is to suggest a more nuanced understanding of labour agency that may go beyond the conflict between employers and workers. Overall, the article highlights the relevance of this study for different economic sectors, geographical areas and migrant groups.

Whilst most of the research on intra-EU mobility has mainly focused on the reasons behind young Southern Europeans leaving their home countries, and secondly on their experiences within the new context, little is known about their sense of belonging and identities. This article aims to fill this gap by exploring Italian and Spanish migrants’ social identity repositioning and the cultural change characterising their existential trajectories. Drawing on 69 semi-structured interviews with Italians and Spaniards living in London and Berlin, this article shows that the sense of belonging to one or more political communities and boundary work are related to individual experiences and can change due to structural eventualities such as the Brexit referendum. While identification with the host society is rare, attachment to the home country is quite common as a result of people’s everyday experiences. Cultural changes and European/cosmopolitan identification are linked to exposure to new environments and interaction with new cultures, mostly concerning those with previous mobility experience, as well as to a sentiment of non-acceptance in the UK. However, such categories are not rigid, but many times self-identification and attachments are rather blurred also due to the uncertainty around the duration of the mobility project. This makes individual factors (gender, age, family status, employment, education) that are often considered as determinants of identification patterns all but relevant.

This article elaborates on the activities developed by various actors from the civil society in favour of non-deported refused asylum seekers (NDRAS) through the lens of ‘de-bordering solidarity’. Drawing on qualitative data collected in two small Italian cities ruled by anti-immigrant coalitions, this study explores the rationales and outcomes of migrant supporters’ actions in providing help to NDRAS, thus deepening the action of pro-immigrant civil society in small urban centres. The findings show that, while civil society’s engagement in the provision of basic needs to vulnerable people is unconditional, legal advice and practical help for access to regular status can be more selective and reflect lack of human and financial resources available, the low probability of a part of NDRAS to achieve legal status, low demand in local labour markets, and social workers’ and volunteers’ subjectivities. Despite recognizing such limits in solidarity activities, this article shows that civil society in practice challenges deportation policies through practical and daily solidarity that assumes political and cultural meanings. Based on these findings, this article suggests durable solutions for addressing the issues connected with the presence of NDRAS.