From first-generation guestworkers to second-generation transnationalists: German-born Greeks engage with the 'homeland'

Few studies have been made of the 'return' of the second-generation children of migrants to their parental homeland. In this paper we examine this 'migration chronotope' for German-born children of the Greek labour migrants who moved to Germany in the early postwar decades, initially as 'guestworkers', later becoming more-or-less settled immigrant communities. We focus on two life-stages of return: as young children brought back to Greece for annual holidays or sent back for longer periods, usually to stay with grandparents; and as young adults exercising an independent return, usually leaving their parents (the first generation) behind in Germany. Our source material is twofold: a review of the limited German literature of the 1970s and 1980s on Greek migration to and from Germany; and our own recent field research in Berlin, Athens and Thessaloniki where we interviewed 50 first- and second-generation Greek-Germans, the majority of them second-generation. We find the practice of sending young children back to Greece to have been surprisingly widespread yet little documented. Often such family separations and transnational childhoods were disruptive, both for the family unit and for the individual child. Memories of holiday visits, on the other hand, were much more positive. Independent, adult return to the parental homeland takes place for five main reasons, according to our interview evidence: (i) a dream-like 'search for self' in the 'homeland'; (ii) the attraction of the Greek way of life over the German one; (iii) the actualisation of a 'family narrative of return' inculcated by the parents but carried out only by the adult children; (iv) life-stage triggers such as going to university in Greece, or marrying a Greek; and (v) return as 'escape' from a traumatic event or an oppressive family situation. Yet adapting to the Greek way of life, finding satisfactory employment and achieving a settled self-identity in the Greek homeland were, to a greater or lesser extent, challenging objectives for our research participants, some of whom had become quite disillusioned with Greece and re-identified with their 'German side'. Others, on the other hand, were comfortable with their decision to 'return' to Greece, and were able to manage and reconcile the two elements in their upbringing and residential history. Comparisons are made with other studies of second-generation 'return', notably in the Caribbean

Narratives of place, culture and identity: second-generation Greek-Americans return 'home'

The author explores the phenomenon of 'return migration' in Greece through the settlement and identification processes of second-generation Greek-American returning migrants. She examines the meanings attached to the experience of return migration. The concepts of 'home' and 'belonging' figure prominently in the return migratory project which entails relocation and displacement as well as adjustment and alienation of bodies and selves. Furthermore, the author considers the multiple interactions (social, cultural, political) between the place of origin and the place of destination; network ties; historical and global forces in the shaping of return migrant behaviour; and expressions of identity. The human geography of return migration extends beyond geographic movement into a diasporic journey involving (re)constructions of homeness and belongingness in the ancestral homeland

East European migrant women in Greece: intergenerational cultural knowledge transfer and adaptation in a context of crisis

This paper draws on a larger oral history project entitled ‘Gendered Histories of Resilience and Resistance: Eastern European Women’s Narratives of Mobility and Survival’, a narrative ethnography of Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Polish immigrant women living in Greece. The paper explores intergenerational cultural knowledge transfer and adaptation in a context of crisis with an analysis contextualised within the current crisis in Greece. We consider here the degree of uncertainty and the emotional challenges and constraints, but consider also the creativity and agency that participants display. Following on from that we aim to unravel the impact of ‘family and cultural values’ on migrants’ everyday lives in the diaspora

The significance of things: objects, emotions and cultural production in migrant women's return visits home

This paper draws on qualitative research in Basel, Switzerland with highly skilled migrant women from various European nationalities employed in a number of professional sectors. It seeks to contribute to the literatures on the sociologies of migration and the sociologies of everyday life by intersecting a conceptual link of ‘affective habitus’ to the phenomenology of material culture in unpacking how emotions triggered by objects shape settling practices in host societies. The analysis centres on pathways of cultural production as they unfold through memories, objects and experiential return visits. We find sociological depth in applying ‘affective habitus’ as the conceptual framing to examine how mediations of memory and emotions can extend understandings of how women migrants create agentic ways to settle in new host societies while making cultural accommodations. We theorise the conceptual terrain of ‘affective habitus’ through a phenomenological approach to gendered migrancy and cultural materiality in everyday life

Gender and Migration

This open access short reader offers a critical review of the debates on the transformation of migration and gendered mobilities primarily in Europe, though also engaging in wider theoretical insights. Building on empirical case studies and grounded in an analytical framework that incorporates both men and women, masculinities, sexualities and wider intersectional insights, this reader provides an accessible overview of conceptual developments and methodological shifts and their implications for a gendered understanding of migration in the past 30 years. It explores different and emerging approaches in major areas, such as: gendered labour markets across diverse sectors beyond domestic and care work to include skilled sectors of social reproduction; the significance of families in migration and transnational families; displacement, asylum and refugees and the incorporation of gender and sexuality in asylum determination; academic critiques and gendered discourses concerning integration often with the focus on Muslim women. The reader concludes with considerations of the potential impact of three notable developments on gendered migrations and mobilities: Black Lives Matter, Brexit and COVID-19. As such, it is a valuable resource for students, academics, policy makers, and practitioners

From first-generation guestworkers to second-generation transnationalists: Greek-Germans engage with the 'homeland'

Few studies have been made of the „return‟ of the second-generation children of migrants to their parental homeland. In this paper we examine this „migration chronotope‟ for German-born children of the Greek labour migrants who moved to Germany in the early postwar decades, initially as „guestworkers‟, later becoming more-or-less settled immigrant communities. We focus on two life-stages of return: as young children brought back to Greece for annual holidays or sent back for longer periods, usually to stay with grandparents; and as young adults exercising an independent return, usually leaving their parents (the first generation) behind in Germany. Our source material is twofold: a review of the limited German literature of the 1970s and 1980s on Greek migration to and from Germany; and our own recent field research in Berlin, Athens and Thessaloniki where we interviewed 50 first- and second-generation GreekGermans, the majority of them second-generation. We find the practice of sending young children back to Greece to have been surprisingly widespread yet little documented. Often such family separations and transnational childhoods were disruptive, both for the family unit and for the individual child. Memories of holiday visits, on the other hand, were much more positive. Independent, adult return to the parental homeland takes place for five main reasons, according to our interview evidence: (i) a dream-like „search for self‟ in the „homeland‟; (ii) the attraction of the Greek way of life over the German one; (iii) the actualisation of a „family narrative of return‟ inculcated by the parents but carried out only by the adult children; (iv) lifestage triggers such as going to university in Greece, or marrying a Greek; and (v) return as „escape‟ from a traumatic event or an oppressive family situation. Yet adapting to the Greek way of life, finding satisfactory employment and achieving a settled self-identity in the Greek homeland were, to a greater or lesser extent, challenging objectives for our research participants, some of whom had become quite disillusioned with Greece and re-identified with their „German side‟. Others, on the other hand, were comfortable with their decision to „return‟ to Greece, and were able to manage and reconcile the two elements in their upbringing and residential history. Comparisons are made with other studies of second-generation „return‟, notably in the Caribbean