'Turks' in London: shades of invisibility and the shifting relevance of policy in the migration process

No description supplie

Routes to roots: second-generation Turks from Germany ‘return’ to Turkey

Based on 26 in-depth interviews with German-born second-generation adults of Turkish parentage who have relocated to the Istanbul region, this paper consists of three parts corresponding to three questions regarding: (i) their memories of growing up in Germany, (ii) the circumstances and motivations surrounding their ‘return’ and (iii) their experiences of life in Turkey since return. We draw on the conceptual notion of ‘third space’ to propose that the secondgeneration returnees occupy a fourth socio-cultural space that is distinct from German society, Turkish society and the Turkish immigrant community in Germany

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

Applying to higher education: comparisons of independent and state schools

This paper reports on research into the ways that schools engage in university application processes. Questionnaire and interview data were collected from 1400 Year 13 students from 18 independent and state schools in England and 15 in-depth interviews were carried out with school teacher higher education (HE) advisors. The analysis compares independent and state schools with respect to: the types of higher education institutions (HEIs) that students applied for; the way the HE application process was managed in their schools; and how teacher advisors explained and managed the processes and outcomes for their students. Informed by Bourdieu's relational sociology, our discussion focuses on how schools in the two sectors mobilise different forms of capital in the competitive processes of university application. We also use the notion of doxa to explore how these micro-institutional processes and teacher advice relate to observed differences between state and independent sector students' HE destinations

International student mobility literature review

To bring their understanding of patterns in students' study and work abroad up to date, HEFCE and the British Council, the UK National Agency for Erasmus, commissioned a review of international student mobility. Professor Russell King and Jill Ahrens of the University of Sussex, and Professor Allan Findlay of the University of Dundee undertook the review which includes new evidence from interviews with staff in higher education institutions (HEIs). A group of several UK stakeholders in international student mobility, including the organisations BUTEX (British Universities Transatlantic Exchange) and HEURO (the Association of UK Higher Education European Officers), and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) oversaw the work. The report brings together recent literature and data on student mobility. It looks at the trends in UK international students' mobility and compares these internationally. It also considers the causal factors for students' choice to spend time abroad, the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of mobile students, and the impact that time abroad has on their employability; and it highlights policy and practice in HEIs in respect of student mobility

Motivations of UK students to study abroad: a survey of school-leavers

No description supplie

British Students in the United States: motivations, experiences and career aspirations

Twelve years ago, the British educational press, and indeed the mainstream media, were consumed by the story of Laura Spence, a super-bright pupil from a Newcastle comprehensive school who, despite having five straight-As at ‘A level’ (the final secondary school exams), had been refused a place to read Medicine at Oxford after an interview there. General outrage at Oxford’s snobbishness ensued, with politician Gordon Brown, amongst others, weighing in with the criticism that Oxford favored applicants from the UK’s fee-paying independent schools (which include the elite but perversely named ‘public schools’), thereby excluding excellent applicants from state schools like Laura – especially if they come from deprived parts of the country with strong local accents. Laura instead went to the US to Harvard on a funded scholarship, completed her biochemistry degree there and returned to do postgraduate medical training at Cambridge – the other UK university which constitutes the top duo known collectively as ‘Oxbridge’. How typical is Laura’s story? Are there many British students who, as Oxbridge ‘rejects’, or fearful of being turned down for a place at the UK’s two most ancient and prestigious universities, apply abroad to widen their chances of success at other globally recognized institutions? Brooks and Waters (2009a) argue that there are indeed those like Laura who apply to US universities as a ‘second chance at success’; but our research suggests that there are many other explanations of the upward trend in favor of international study. Since the US is the most important destination for people from the UK studying abroad, the findings of this chapter are particularly important in producing a more robust understanding of the key drivers of international student mobility between one advanced economy and another. We suggest that there are some movers for whom study abroad is part of a carefully strategized plan of international career enhancement, while for others it is a product of their class habitus and family networks (see Bourdieu 1977). We would also argue that there are those who are looking for ‘something different’ yet, at the same time, desire a ‘knowable’ destination, familiar to them for example from film and television and without any great linguistic challenge. In the next section we describe our research project and its aims and methods. The main body of the chapter is made up of three sections which correspond to our three key research questions: about motivations for study in the US, about experiences there, and about future career plans. The conclusion emphasises the motivational and strategic nature of UK student migration to the US, targeted especially at universities perceived to be of high international standing. In terms of the link between study abroad and future career plans, fears about a putative British ‘brain drain’ are shown to be largely unfounded, since most students plan to return to the UK

‘What have I done to deserve this?’ The aftershocks of Brexit for London’s EU migrants

For many young Europeans living and working in London, Brexit came as a huge surprise. Interviewing EU migrants before and after the referendum, Russell King discusses the ‘affect’ experienced by a generation that grew up with the promise of free movement of people in Europe and of better lives and careers in ‘Euro-city’ London. And in the aftershocks, European migrant hierarchies are being reconfigured

Narrating Europe’s migration and refugee ‘crisis'

It is very clear – as many journalists covering the unfolding migration and refugee crisis have pointed out – that geography lies at the heart of the events taking place in Europe and the Mediterranean. It is a story of borders and routes, of distance and proximity, and of location and accessibility. The role of (re-)bordering has been fundamental in states’ attempts to ‘manage’ and ‘control’ the refugee and migrant flows and, in this respect, we observe a return to the more traditional practices of bordering – physical barriers and personnel-heavy security controls – rather than the previous processes of ‘externalizing’ and ‘internalizing’ border management. In the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans the external border of the European ‘fortress’ has been prised open, whilst the free-movement ethos of the Schengen area has been compromized by EU states’ reactions to the large-scale movement of migrants and refugees and recent acts of terrorism. In this introductory paper we bring a critical geopolitical lens into play in order to understand the European, regional and global power geometries at work, and we critically examine the political and media rhetoric around the various discursive constructions of the migrant/refugee ‘crisis’, including both the negative and the Islamophobic utterances of some European leaders and the game-changing iconicity of certain media images