No abstract

In this article, we look at “skills” and “enfolded mobilities” as intrinsically intertwined processes. By applying interdisciplinary approaches from social anthropology and human geography, we ask how migrating cultural capital is recognized and negotiated during marriage migration. Data draw on thirteen in-depth interviews collected in 2011 with highly skilled Latvian women married to Finnish men in Finland. Gender, ethnicity, migrant status, and professional skills form the inter-categorical axes of analysis. We argue that highly skilled migration is complexly embedded in multiple decision-making processes and in individual and national/regional biographies and histories. We interpret our findings through interlinked themes: the decision to move to Finland, the opportunities for work, the feelings and emotions associated with the integration process, the importance of language skills, names as ethnic signifiers, and prospects for future mobilities.