Workshop: Biography & Transnational Migration Eveline Ammann Dula BFH & Daniela Henn HTW Saar Berner Fachbereich Fachhochschule Soziale Arbeit Haute école spécialisée bernoise Bern University of Applied Sciences
Obejctives To get to know biographical research as one way to investigate transnationalisation To be conscious about the influence of your own experience (Biographical reflexivity) To identify challenges for social work
Biography & Transnational Migration Analysis of migration processes between Kosovo and Switzerland 3
Transnationalisation Research question Data collection Data analysis
Research question How is transnationality experienced? In which biographical and intergenerational context is the development or the lack of transnational networks, affiliations, or social practices situated? 5
Transnationality Gender Multiple social inequalities Intergenerational context Biography Ethnical boundary making
Data collection Multi-sited ethnography (Marcus 1995): Following people, connections, associations and relationships across space
Data Analysis biographical analysis 8
Biographical approach the empirical research strategy focus at the case structure as the central aim of analysis possibility to analyze the link between social context and individual The central form of data collection in this approach is the narrative interview introduced by Schütze (1976, 1983) in the German discourse 9
Biographical approach To investigate invisible structures of transnational migration spaces possibility to overcome territorial limitation and a methodological nationalism Anthias(2003), Apitzsch(2003), Lutz(2004), Riegel(2011) (Ruokonen-Engler & Siouti 2012) 10
Biographical approach possibility to reconstruct diversity, complexity and multiple discriminations in the context of transnational mobility access to subjectivity & embeding of the biographies in social structures Reconstruction of social change and its influence on biographical subjects Anthias(2003), Apitzsch(2003), Lutz(2004), Riegel(2011) (Ruokonen-Engler & Siouti 2012) 11
Biographical approach Principle of reconstruction method of abduction Principle of sequentiality 12
biographical reflexivity reflecting the frames of analysis not to reintroduce a form of methodological nationalism in focusing on life situations of migrants from the perspective of receiving societies to take into account normative cultural expectation (Ruokonen-Engler & Siouti 2012) 13
Context information 14
Migration processes between Kosovo and Switzerland Kosovo-Albanians are an important immigrant group in Switzerland 1960 Guest worker migration from former Yugoslavia 1980 Family reunification Asylum migration 1980 1999 Naturalization: Swiss Nationality Return migration (especially after the war) Today: 170 000-200 000 persons from Kosovo are living in Switzerland. (BfM 2010: 25) 17
CONTEXT INFORMATION Representation in media
I prefere 10 «negroes» to a Kosovo-Albanian
They need this somehow: two shot women, a men with a slit throat on the same day. not all Kosovo-Albanians living in Switzerland are criminell, but an important minority. What are the reasons?
Erstellt: 02.02.2009, 10:01 Uhr) Many Kosov-Albanians feel to be not accepted in Switzerland
Balkans is suddenly cool
First Results: Biographical Reflexivity & access to the field shows that ethnic boundary making processes are relevant not only in the analysis of the data, but also in the process of data collection Importance to overcome methodological nationalism & ethnical groupism (Brubaker) in taking into account processes of ethnical boundary making in the relevant context (Switzerland & Kosovo) 23
Analysis of 1 case study: Blerina
Group work Read the brief summary of Blerina' s biographical data What's your first impression? What kind of discourses and inequalities, gender and family norms may influence her life? What hypothesis do you have for her future?
Results
V. CHALLENGES FOR SOCIAL WORK Conclusions 27
Bibliography Amelina, A. & Faist, T. (2012). De-naturalizing the national in research methodologies: Key concepts of transnational studies in migration. Ethnic and Racial Studies. Special issue 35(10). S.1707 1724. Anthias, F. (2009): Intersectionality, belonging and translocational positionality: thinking about transnational identitites. In: Rosenthal, G. & Bogner, A. (Hrsg.): Ethnicity, Belonging and Biography, Ethnographical and Biographical Perspectives, Münster: LIT Verlag. S. 229-249 Apitzsch, U. & Siouti I.(2007): Biographical Analysis as an Interdisciplinary Research Perspective in the Field of Migration Studies, Johann W. G. University, Frankfurt am Main. http://www.york.ac.uk/res/researchintegration/integrative_research_methods/apitzsch%20biographi cal%20analysis%20april%202007.pdf Apitzsch, U. & Siouti I. (2007): Biographical Analysis as an Interdisciplinary Research Perspective in the Field of Migration Studies, Johann W. G. University, Frankfurt am Main. Apitzsch, U. (2005): «The Chances of the second Generation in Families of migrant Entrepreneurs», Revue européenne des migrations internationales [En ligne], vol. 21 - n 3 2005, mis en ligne le 01 décembre 2008, consulté le 17 mai 2014. URL : http://remi.revues.org/2517 Rosenthal, G.(2004). Biographical research. In: Seale, Clive (Ed.) ; Gobo, Giampietro (Ed.) ; Gubrium, Jaber F. (Ed.) ; Silverman, David(Ed.): Qualitative research practice. London : Sage, 2004. - ISBN 0-7619-4776-0, pp. 48-64. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-56725 Ruokonen-Engler, M-K & Siouti, I. (2012): Doing Biographical Reflexivity as a Methodological Tool in Transnational Research Settings. In: Transnational Social Review, Vol. 3, Issue 2, pp. 247-261