Ethnic return migration, exclusion and the role of ethnic options: ‘Soviet Greek’ migrants in their ethnic homeland and the Pontic identity

Drawing on ethnographic research, this paper explores the reasons why and the processes through which the Greeks from the former Soviet Union altered their self-identification after migration to their ethnic homeland. Responding to their labelling by the native Greeks and the doubts expressed about their Greekness, most introduce themselves as Pontians, even though the area of Pontos was not a marker of identification for them in the Soviet Union. They do so to express their felt experience of otherness in Greece and to claim their belongingness in the Greek nation. Exploring this case of ethnic return migration, the paper shows how migrants select among available ethnic options and redefine them, to assert their desired identities and strive for inclusion. In so doing it highlights the situational and processual character of ethnic identification, which should not be treated as a direct function of one's descent and culture. At the same time, it shows the constraining role of available ethnic options delimiting this process. Ethnic labels are not empty vessels. They carry particular significations that make them appealing or foreign to different migrant categories and also define the discursive and performative limitations in their ability to claim them and gain national acceptance

Established and outsider nationals: immigrant–native relations and the everyday politics of national belonging

Ideologies of national belonging and related perceptions of the need to secure the boundedness of the national entity prevail in the design of migration policy in the western world. The same ideologies also account for discourses and policies questioning the belongingness of immigrants after settlement. Prolonged stays by migrants, especially those of low class standing, are seen as a threat to the social cohesion and cultural homogeneity of the nation, and the acceptance of newcomers is provisional upon their compliance with a set of norms and behaviours, dispelling impressions of their perceived dangerous character. Such ideologies are not only macro-structural forces produced through the workings of state institutions but, equally, are enacted and contested through the practices of ‘ordinary people’ in different fields of everyday social life. Elias and Scotson’s established–outsiders model provides an appropriate theory to understand these everyday dynamics allowing for a relational perspective that situates processes of domination and resistance at the heart of the inquiry. Expanding on this model and the literature on ‘whiteness’ and everyday nationhood, this paper puts forward an intersectional theoretical framework that views immigrant–native relations as unequal configurations unfolding through a symbolic struggle over defining the nation and who belongs to it. In so doing, it brings in the dimension of power in the study of immigrant integration

Resistance and Compliance in Immigrant-Native Figurations: Albanian and Soviet Greek Immigrants and their Interaction with Greek society

Focusing on two immigrant populations and their relationships with their native neighbours in Thessaloniki, Greece, this paper highlights that immigrant-native relations are not only cultural relations but also power configurations unfolding through a symbolic contestation over defining the nation and who belongs to it. In everyday interaction, immigrants' behaviour is judged by natives according to the degree of their compliance to the native norms. Immigrant categories are endowed with different resources in resisting the pressure exerted by the native society. Categories that have more resources in symbolic and substantial terms are less eager to comply, thus appearing more ‘different’ in the eyes of the natives

Special issue introduction: exploring the lived experiences of intra‐EU mobility in an era of complex economic and political change

This paper introduces the special issue on ‘Intra‐EU mobilities in times of crisis'. Intra‐EU mobility has emerged as an ambivalent phenomenon. On the one hand, EU‐wide opinion polls still depict freedom of movement as the most positive aspect of European integration. On the other hand, with nationalism and xenophobia on the rise, migration and mobility are increasingly problematized and challenged. Shifting attention from the master narratives about intra‐EU mobility, the aim of the special issue is to bring to the fore the lived experiences of the key actors as recounted in a period of multiple European crises which, in turn, represent the visible and mediatized manifestations of more complex and deep‐seated processes of political and economic change. Here we provide a chronological periodization of intra‐EU mobility trends over recent decades and how they intersect with major geopolitical events, aiming to contextualise the special issue articles which are then presented

Living together in multi-ethnic cities: People of migrant background, their interethnic friendships and the neighbourhood

This paper explores the extent to which people of different origins, natives and migrants, come together in everyday life in Europe. Instead of looking at overall ‘perceptions’ and ‘stances’, which are context-dependent and mediated through political-ideological currents and discourses as well as broader patterns of prejudice, we focus on sustained close contacts that suggest meaningful and organic relationships. Since it is most often people of migrant background who are blamed for leading ‘parallel lives’ and ‘not integrating’, we chose to focus on them and their interethnic friendships. Moreover, we seek to understand the relevance and role of the neighbourhood context in the development of those relationships. Despite the expressive fears in public discourses about the supposed negative impact of the presence of immigrants and ethnic minorities on social cohesion, our findings indicate that close interethnic relationships are not uncommon in diverse European cities. They further highlight that the neighbourhood context plays an important role in the first years of migrants’ settlement. Relationships in the neighbourhood develop in less formal social settings and are also less demanding in terms of host-country cultural skills on the part of the migrants, thus giving the opportunity to newcomers to develop close interethnic relationships with natives. Finally, the analysis supports the positive role of diversity at the neighbourhood level in the development of interethnic friendships and stresses the importance of the neighbourhood’s socio-spatial characteristics and its location in the wider urban net