The irony of kinship migration and the control of emotions among Malayalis

The article analyses migrants' uses of irony in relation to normative conceptions of intergenerational affection, in Kerala (South India) and in the diaspora. It draws from current understanding of irony not only as a figure of speech but also as an emotionally-charged attitude of scorn and dissatisfaction towards a dominant view of society. The ethnography shows how irony emerges in context where present forms of mobility are set against a past of painful kinship ruptures, and aims at creating a distance between the subject and the emotional charge of the stories recalled. It suggests how the sociological understanding of emotions within processes of contemporary migration should go beyond the 'here and now' of research contexts, to interrogate the relevance of longer family histories. It also argues for the need to look beyond the dominant trope of nostalgia to look at how migrants' emotions towards kin might be moulded by recurrent – and often unresolved – ambivalence. Irony emerges as an important affective frame through which migrants express – and importantly try to control – conflicting emotions as displaced subjects. It constitutes an emotional work through which migrants make sense of events over which they do not feel they have total control, and yet with the intention of asserting their own truth about the parodies and paradoxes of family lives.     

The mixed blessings of migration: Life satisfaction and self‐esteem over the course of migration

We investigated the psychological adaptation of Ingrian–Finnish migrants from Russia to Finland between 2008 and 2013. Pre‐migration data (N = 225) were collected at the Finnish language courses that were part of the immigration training program. The three post‐migration follow‐ups were conducted half a year (N = 155), and 2 (N = 133) and 3 years (N = 85) after migration. Well‐being was assessed with measures of Life Satisfaction and Self‐Esteem. Life Satisfaction increased from pre‐migration to the first post‐migration measurement point, after which it stabilized. Self‐Esteem decreased throughout the study. Variables reflecting adjustment to the event of migration (e.g., acculturation stress, socio‐cultural adaptation) were primarily associated with well‐being at the first post‐migration measurement point. More general determinants of well‐being (e.g., social support and subjective economic situation) were more consistently associated with well‐being throughout the study. The results suggest that migration can be beneficial to some but detrimental to other types of well‐being.     

Staying close by moving out. The contextual meanings of personal autonomy in the life stories of women of Moroccan descent in The Netherlands

This article focuses on the themes of personal autonomy and communion in the life stories of highly educated women of Moroccan descent in The Netherlands. It is argued that the task to make the most of what The Netherlands have to offer whilst staying loyal to parents who have paved the road, creates a double bind which is the motor behind the development of the ‘plot’ of all collected life stories. While the interviewees tend to interpret the dilemmas they face in finding a satisfactory balance between autonomy and communion in terms of differences between ‘the Dutch individualistic society’ and ‘the collectivistic values’ which characterize ‘the Moroccan’ or ‘Islamic culture,’ comparison with the life stories of members from the established Dutch working class who have socially moved upward, demonstrates that the dilemmas faced are similar. In many instances, climbing up the social ladder appears to play a bigger role than ethnic or religious background in ambivalent feelings abouth belonging. Where the life stories of migrant daughters differ is in narrations on the inheritance of loss and aspirations intrinsic to migration. Also, Moroccan colours, smells, objects, symbols and patterns of conduct inform the interviewees’ sense of belonging and supply them with powerful images and words to describe their experiences.

Island detention: Affective eruption as trauma's disruption

This article examines how remote detention facilities on islands function as transnational landscapes of sedimentation. Where trauma lies buried, affective eruptions move through seemingly fixed sites from hidden depths to surface. Detention facilities take many material forms in built landscapes: open and closed facilities, motels and military bases that have been repurposed, or state prisons. Much spatio-temporal logic surrounding island detentions assumes the possibility of enclosure and isolation of detainee bodies, subjectivities, and emotions. Research findings on island detentions debunk the assumption that people and emotions can be contained in the 'total institution.' On the contrary, detention facilities are transnationally embedded in families, communities, and material flows, and digitally wired in ways that connect detainees to others in their cohort who are either detained or free elsewhere. Trauma flows affectively and transcarcerally through encounters between people imprisoned and otherwise moving in and out of facilities. Often hidden and sedimented, trauma erupts into the present, making its presence known and haunting through affective eruptions. These eruptions connect colonial past and present, transmitting trauma between people inside and out. Data discussed in this article were collected from research on island detention carried out by Australia, Italy, and the United States.     

Well-Being and Social Justice Among Moroccan Migrants in Southern Spain

The decision to migrate is normally based on expectations of improving one’s actual living conditions and therefore, one’s well-being. However, these expectations are not usually met in receiving contexts that relegate newcomers to lower power positions. From a liberating community psychology approach, this study aims to develop a predictive model of the well-being of Moroccan migrants living in southern Spain. Data were collected from a survey sample of 633 migrants (the average age was 31.9 years and 51.8 % were women) from 20 territorial units of Andalusia. Through a process of multilevel regression analysis, this study reveals that the well-being of the Moroccan community is closely determined by the following: (a) the level of social justice in the receiving context (openness to diversity of receiving communities, cultural sensitivity of community services, and residential integration); and (b) the individual strengths of the population (use of active coping strategies, satisfaction with the receiving context, and temporal stability in the new environment). These results empirically support the impact that different ecological levels of analysis have on well-being. Major theoretical contributions of the model and useful suggestions for improving migrant well-being are discussed.     

Emotions on the move: Mapping the emergent field of emotion and migration

Migrant life experiences and the migration process offer a rich, complex and under-examined field for social research on emotion. This article introduces this Special Issue collection of papers, all authored by migration scholars, by providing an overview of migration and emotions studies, hopefully inspiring further scholarly work and orienting newcomers to the field. We examine research to date on topics such as the development of emotional life “on the move” over time and space; the interface between emotion in proximity and from a distance; the influence of mobility on emotional cultures and on their changing social and ethnic boundaries; the mixed ways in which emotions are dis-embodied and re-embodied – out of place and re-emplaced – in response to migrant life trajectories. In all of these domains, available research points to the migrant emotional condition as a complex and multifaceted one. Far from being the opposite of the instrumental (i.e. economically-driven) dimension of migrant life, the emotional dimension is its inescapable complement, in which ambivalence is more common than straightforward “either (home-)/or (host-oriented)” emotional states. The relevance of emotion to the debate on immigrant integration, identity and belonging, and the political significance of emotion both for top-down politics and day-to-day ethnic relations, is also analysed. A case is made for further comparative, multi-method and interdisciplinary research on migration and emotion given the important intersections of these fields.     

Guilt: A gendered bond within the transnational family

Between 1999 and 2003 Argentinians lived an economic, social and political crisis that led some of them to emigrate, mainly to the United States and Spain. There are few studies on Argentinean migration and even fewer studies that take emotions and gender during the migration process into account. The aim of this work was to understand the link between gender and guilt within the migration process. In order to consider this, I analyzed the expression of guilt within the narrative of Argentinean migrants in Miami, United States and Barcelona, Spain. In-depth interviews of Argentinean migrants were conducted in both cities. Research shows that guilt is a gendered emotion, which allows migrants to temporarily stay attached to their family in a gendered way during the migration process. Nonetheless, its expression depends on four different factors that are interrelated: representations of gender role and “imagined family”, representations' changes during the migration process and the context of departure and the context of arrival.     

Migrations,transformations and tradition in the Finnish Pentecostal movement: why does all global not become local?*

In this article, I will outline the dynamics of social transformations and cultural preservation in the Finnish Pentecostal movement, which are caused and affected by different migrations in the history of the movement. With a history of hundred years, immersed by social and societal transformations, missionaries, new converts and new cultures, the Finnish Pentecostal movement has its own traditions, but nevertheless is constantly facing influences from different cultures. My aim in this article is to analyse the logics of transformation and preservation of Pentecostal religion and culture on a congregational level. I will compare two different migrations, the Karelian evacuation and the international immigration, as well as analyse the differences in acculturation between these groups. The analysis will include not only the language and cultural habits, but also the social situations, structures and the styles that matter in the way Pentecostalism transforms, and how migrant groups are acculturated within the church.     

ÉmigrÉ analysts in Boston, 1930-1940

A brief history of the European analysts who settled in Boston during the first decade of the newly re-organized Boston Psychoanalytic Society/Institute, as part of the great intellectual migration fleeing from Hitler Germany and Austria. The term émigré was chosen as more inclusive, since not all were refugees forced to emigrate. The sequence of each analyst's arrival is traced, and their reasons for choosing Boston are identified, whenever possible.     

Parenting and preschool child behaviour among Turkish immigrant,migrant and non-migrant families

When families migrate the new culture and culture of origin may conflict, with possible consequences for parenting and children's development. Turks form one of the largest immigrant groups in Western Europe, and there is also much movement within Turkey. This study compares three groups; Turkish immigrants to the UK (N = 142), migrants within Turkey (N = 229), and Turkish non-migrants (locals, N = 396). The children were 39–71 months old (M = 58 months, SD = 6.5), 392 were boys and 375 were girls. Parents supplied data on family characteristics and parenting, and teachers supplied data on children's behaviour. Using Baumrind's parenting model and allowing for background effects, compared to non-migrants and migrants, the immigrant parents were less permissive and more authoritarian. Children in immigrant families had more externalizing problems, internalizing problems and emotional dysregulation and less social competence than migrant and non-migrant children. Multilevel models and structural equation models both found that these effects upon child behaviour were evident after taking into account demographic factors and were not eliminated by taking into account parenting style differences, and thus suggest that immigration and migration are risk factors for child behaviour. Effects of immigrant and migrant status were partly direct and partly indirect via their effects on parenting.