Life Course Justice and Learning (Editorial)

There is a paradox: While life courses are de facto pluralising, the pull to conform to an imagined standard is strong. In this thematic issue, we unpack the question: To whose standards do people cohere over the course of their lives? We seek the answers through the idea of life course justice, by which we mean a critical inquiry into how wealth, opportunities, and privilege are distributed and constrained in certain life stages and situations, and geographically. The dual focus of this thematic issue is thus on how people forge new ways to learn and work and how they try to resolve life course differences

'I no longer believe in the British 'word of honour': young migrants reflect on Brexit

Young EU migrants' worries about their post-Brexit immigration status and future are not a concern for themselves alone, writes Aija Lulle (University of Sussex). They reveal an acute loss of trust in the UK and its value systems - signified by the broken 'word of honour' - and put social relations between migrants and native-born Britons at risk

(Post-)Socialist Housing and Aging in Neoliberal Riga

This article contends that envisioning the future of housing planning in post-socialist cities necessitates the acknowledgment of a pressing reality: Many societies are undergoing rapid aging and depopulation. Latvia's capital city of Riga, the focal point of this study, stands at the forefront of these global trends. However, due to entrenched neoliberal practices that idealize youthful, robust, and entrepreneurial residents, considerations of aging are conspicuously absent from urban planning visions. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in the capital city between 2021 and 2023, this article establishes a link between urban lived experiences while aging and the intersecting dynamics of housing. The critical analysis is informed by data derived from observations, conversations, media sources, official discourses, and perspectives gathered through expert interviews. Ultimately, this article advances an agenda aimed at urging people to think about more hopeful futures for aging in cities, an issue of paramount significance in the post-socialist societies of the 21st century

Mobilities and waiting: experiences of middle-aged Latvian women who emigrated and those who stayed put

By revisiting de Beauvoir’s feminist arguments on ageing I interrogate work-related (im)mobilities of women in two contexts: migrating in middle-age or pre-retirement, and ageing ‘in place’. The data derive from in-depth interviews with currently middle-aged Latvian labour migrants in Europe and non-migrants in Latvia. Ten life stories of migrant women are matched with ten life stories of women who never migrated, but have had similar work-life transitions and care responsibilities. Work-related mobilities are conceptualised along three interrelated dimensions: first, risk-taking in relation to career and income-generating work abroad; second, ‘waiting’ and enduring versus enjoying employment towards retirement; and third, post-retirement for both groups of women and post-return experiences of return migrants. I demonstrate how these mobilities are similar, but also diverge in migrant and non-migrant narratives due to the capability of these women to control their own mobility. I argue that power relations arising from gender and ageing are important for a more nuanced understanding of how hopeful meanings attached to social and geographical mobilities shape a person’s sense of self during ageing

Relational ageing: on intra-gender and generational dynamism among ageing Latvian women

In this paper I conceptualise relational ageing in spatial and comparative terms by comparing the life stories and practices of Latvian women who migrated with those who did not. By counterposing the literatures on global care and gender contracts, I make a plea for a time- space attentive geographical approach to ageing migrants, their pre-migration experiences and ongoing relations between migrants and non-migrants. Firstly, I present some lesser-known dynamics of women-to-women (intra-gender) relations in these two groups. Secondly, I nuance relational effects in contexts when women are ageing but the man is absent from care responsibilities. And thirdly, I focus on cross-generational relations narrated and practised by ageing women abroad and those who stayed in Latvia throughout their lives

Latvian students abroad, evolving cultural capital and return intentions

This paper visualises tertiary-level students who study abroad as simultaneously both international students and members of an emerging diaspora. Coming from a country (Latvia) which is small, peripheral and relatively poor by European standards, students go abroad for multiple reasons not necessarily directly connected with study (eg. family reasons, labour migration); yet their evolving diasporic status is instrumentalised by the Latvian government which wants them to return and contribute to the country’s development. Based on 27 in-depth interviews with Latvian students and graduates who have studied abroad, our analysis focuses on three interlinked dimensions of inequality: access to education at home and abroad; the varying prestige of higher education qualifications from different countries and universities; and the inequalities involved in getting recognition of the symbolic and cultural capital that derives from a non-Latvian university. Within a setting of neoliberal globalisation and conflicting messages from the homeland, students and graduates are faced with a challenging dilemma: how to balance their materialistic desire for a decent job and career with their patriotic duty to return to Latvia

Research on migration: facing realities and maximising opportunities: a policy review

This policy review synthesises the main findings from several European projects dealing with migration. Where possible, these findings are matched, or occasionally contrasted, with key insights from the wider research literature on migration and with policy documents. An introductory chapter sets the scene with regard to the ongoing European debate on migration and gives some basic facts and figures. Chapter 2, the first of three substantive chapters, presents research related to the two-way interaction between policies and flows, with a focus on regular migration. Chapter 3 tackles the complex issue of migrants’ integration from a variety of perspectives – economic, social, cultural, spatial and political. Chapter 4 explores the migration – development nexus, and specifically the potential of migration for stimulating development in migrants’ countries of origin. A concluding chapter highlights key findings and policy implications. The title of this report ‘Migration: Facing Realities and Maximising Opportunities’ indicates its main narrative arc. The challenges and dilemmas posed by migration have to be faced in a way which is both principled and pragmatic. Wherever and whenever possible, these challenges and realities should be ‘turned’ into a scenario where the potential benefits of migration are maximised for all actors concerne

FATEFUL WELL-BEING : Childhood and Youth Transitions Among Latvian Women in Finland

In this article we investigate what happens to the children who are brought to a new country along with their parents, and how they, now young adults, narrate the 'self' as a migrant child and adolescent in different temporal and spatial contexts. We draw on five long narrative interviews with young women who were born in Latvia and came to Finland during their childhood. For our analysis of these narratives, we coin a notion of 'fateful well-being'. The research participants' challenges as child migrants, where geographical displacement was compounded by language changes and discontinuities in schooling, as well as ruptures with family members and friends, are revalued and appropriated through the self-development skills of reflexive narration. Within the concept of fateful well-being, youth transitions involve both constrained agency and choices towards well-being. We argue that reconciling difficulties is a vital part of fateful wellbeing.Peer reviewe

Between a ‘student abroad’ and ‘being from Latvia’: inequalities of access, prestige, and foreign-earned cultural capital

This paper visualises tertiary-level students who study abroad as simultaneously both international students and members of an emerging diaspora. Coming from a country (Latvia) which is peripheral and relatively poor by European standards, students go abroad for multiple reasons not necessarily directly connected with study (e.g. family reasons, labour migration); yet their evolving diasporic status is instrumentalised by the Latvian government which wants them to return and contribute to the country’s development. Based on 27 in-depth interviews with Latvian students and graduates who have studied abroad, our analysis focuses on three interlinked dimensions of inequality: access to education at home and abroad; the varying prestige of higher education qualifications from different countries and universities; and the inequalities involved in getting recognition of the symbolic and cultural capital that derives from a non-Latvian university. Within a setting of neoliberal globalisation and conflicting messages from the homeland, students and graduates are faced with a challenging dilemma: how to balance their materialistic desire for a decent job and career with their patriotic duty to return to Latvia

Grandmothers migrating, working and caring: Latvian women between survival and self-realisation

This paper describes the circumstances surrounding the migration of older Latvian women and their multi-dimensional lives as economic migrants and as distant carers and supporters of diverse family members who remain in Latvia. In post-Soviet Latvia, especially since the 2008 financial crisis and the austerity measures which took away hope for a decent old-age pension, older women migrate abroad in order to salvage their economic wellbeing and support their multi-generation families, which can run to four generations - their children and grandchildren plus, often, their elderly parents. Migration enables these women to maintain multidirectional flows of care and also to achieve economic and psychosocial independence. Therefore, care practices that reach four generations put the figure of the grandmother at the core of transnational care relations. Research evidence for this paper comprises 50 in-depth interviews with older Latvian migrant women aged from their mid-40s to their late 60s in the UK and elsewhere. The paper demonstrates the complexity and richness of these women’s working lives, built around enhanced economic wellbeing, multiple and transnational caring responsibilities, and a new sense of self-worth and empowerment