Albanian and Polish Undocumented Workers’ Life-stories: Migration Paths, Tactics and Identities in Greece

Transnational activities and aspirations of irregular migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands

“…Many scholars explicitly use the term 'survival' to refer to the lives of irregular migrants (Adam et al 2002;Chavez 1998;Datta et al 2007;Düvell 2004;Düvell and Jordan 2006;Engbersen 1996;Jordan 2006;King and Mai 2004;Kosic and Triandafyllidou 2004;Psimmenos and Kassimati 2006;Triandafyllidou and Kosic 2006;van Nieuwenhuyze 2009). Because researchers focus on how irregular migrants manage to survive in the receiving countries, the emphasis is on their lives there and, consequently, their transnational activities often remain out of focus.…”

Irregular Migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands: Aspirations and Incorporation

“…While in Mahler's work the notion of 'survival' remains implicit, many other scholars explicitly use this term (e.g., Adam et al 2002;Andrews, Ybarra & Miramontes 2002;Bloch, Sigona & Zetter 2011;Chavez 1998;Cvajner & Sciortino 2009;Datta et al 2007;Düvell 2004;Düvell & Jordan 2006;Engbersen 1996;Jordan 2006;King & Mai 2004;Kosic & Triandafyllidou 2004;Psimmenos & Kassimati 2006;Triandafyllidou & Kosic 2006;Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009). Adam et al (2002: 115), for example, write that their book is about 'accounting for the ways in which foreigners without documents live, or more precisely survive, in their clandestine situation' (my translation, italics added).…”

“…Hagan (1994) has shown that although ethnic community networks can be beneficial in the initial phase of settlement, they tend to lock migrants in and restrict opportunities of social mobility in the long run, as migrants do not develop resources outside these networks. Others also emphasise the importance of contacts beyond the own community (see, e.g., Cyrus & Vogel 2006;Psimmenos & Kassimati 2006). Cross-community contacts are considered the most likely suppliers of upward social mobility.…”

Work culture and migrant women's welfare marginalization

“…Sociological studies focused on personal services, as a distinctive form of labour which generated particular living conditions and aspects of social identity (Lazaridis and Psimmenos, 2000;Karakatsanis, Swarts, 2003;Psimmenos, 1995). Anderson's and Phizacklea's comparative report (1997), for example, on the conditions and life prospects of migrant women domestic workers and a number of research studies that followed (for an overview see Psimmenos and Kassimati, 2006a), renewed interest on the issue of marginality of women and of the different types of inequalities they experience. What particularly led to a revival of interest was that domestic work not only undermined women's welfare opportunities and capabilities, but it also undermined family, community and citizenship rights and habituated workers to a customized type of servitude (see also Tastsoglou and Maratou-Alipranti, 2003).…”