‘And then one day they all moved to Leicester’: the relocation of Somalis from the Netherlands to the UK explained

Abstract

Since 2000 it is estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 Somali immigrants have left the Netherlands for the UK. This exceptionally high level of intra‐European Union (EU) mobility is in contrast with the general trend of very low levels of intra‐EU mobility. Based on 33 in‐depth interviews with Dutch Somalis in London and Leicester this paper tries to explain the relocation of Somalis from the Netherlands to the UK. The presence of a large Somali community in the UK, economic and educational opportunities in the UK, and differences in integration policies have influenced Dutch Somalis' decision to relocate. It is argued, however, that the wider context in which these movements take place should be taken into account as well. Immigrants may (initially) not always be in a position to move where they want to move. As such, Somalis' relocation from the Netherlands to the UK could also be seen as a follow‐up to an earlier movement that was interrupted along the way. Dutch Somalis' narratives about their onward move provide us with a comparison of the Netherlands and the UK as countries of settlement. At the same time, these stories also challenge the binary oppositions that have tended to inform how we think about migration in a static and often linear way. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

‘Where are you from’ or ‘when did you come’? Temporal dimensions in migrants' reflections about settlement and return

“…These studies suggest that the chance of migrants returning or moving to another country is greater a couple of years after migration, and for a few years, perhaps up to ten years of stay, in the country of settlement (Tysse and Keilman 1998;Van Liempt 2011). As time passes, for most migrants return becomes a more distant prospect linked to, for example, retirement (Hunter 2011) or extraordinary situations.…”

Diaspora as aesthetic formation: community sports events and the making of a Somali diaspora

“…The European Union, Norway and Switzerland are home to 14% of the world's Somali migrant population, the United States is home to about 7% of the world's Somali migrant population (Connor and Krogstad 2016). Many Somalis in the West describe themselves as a diaspora in relation to affective ties, identity, political mobilisation and activism (van Liempt 2011a;Hammond 2013). This is revealed in their claims and expectations regarding diaspora as a community of potential resources and solidarity (Kleist 2008).…”

Super-diversity and the art of living in ethnically concentrated urban areas

“…Leicester has a large immigrant population as well, but less diversity within this group. Moreover, it only recently experienced Somali immigration (Liempt 2011a(Liempt , 2011b, again allowing for less diversity within the immigrant population.…”

“…In the introduction, we review the literature on urban ethnic concentration (focusing on evidence from the UK), then present three cases which, in our view, symbolise the three main forms of ethnic concentration. The empirical data on which this article draws are derived from research with former asylum-seekers from Somalia who first arrived in the Netherlands and then decided to go and live in London (Liempt 2011a(Liempt , 2011b.…”