Suchergebnisse

This article examines the everyday experiences of welfare provision among EU migrants living in Glasgow, demonstrating how the process of restricting the rights of EU citizens has occurred well before Brexit. It is based on 12 months of ethnographic research conducted in 2012 with Czech and Slovak nationals who came to the UK after 2004. Introducing the migrants' notion of zkancelovali, the paper highlights a heightened sense of insecurity in their everyday lives, which arises from the increasingly common experiences of rejections of their benefit applications and payment delays. Various state practices are discussed which raise questions about the limits of EU citizenship and show how the latter is affected not only through policies and discourses but also in everyday encounters with state officials, where boundaries between 'us' and 'them' are being redrawn. Drawing on sociological/anthropological perspectives on state, it is argued that the migrants' experiences of welfare provision can be considered as constitutive of statecraft and nation-building processes, processes which turn (EU) citizens into immigrants.

In 2004 eight Central and East European countries joined the European Union (EU), and the UK, as one of the few existing EU members that opened its labour market to the nationals of these new members, attracted a large number of migrants from these countries. As EU citizens, these migrants were free from immigration controls and were thus able to move freely between the UK and Central/Eastern Europe. In addition, the relative proximity and affordable transportation within Europe also contributed to their (hyper)mobility. A majority of existing research on post-accession migration focuses on the question whether these migrants are a burden on the British welfare state. Alternatively, another stream in the academic literature tends to paint a rather positive picture of Central and East European (CEE) migrants as highly mobile individuals, thus giving rise to a celebratory image of their ability to negotiate their problems and risks transnationally. Focusing on issues around care, in this presentation I aim to show how, in practice, transnational negotiations and arrangements amongst CEE migrants are far more complex and uneven. The paper is based on ethnographic research conducted over 12 months in 2012 with Czech- and Slovak-speaking migrants living in Glasgow who came to the city after 2004 when their respective countries joined the EU. I will discuss various empirical cases of transnational care arrangements based on these migrants' everyday experiences. By doing so, I will revisit concepts of 'social security' and 'care' with regard to migration.

This paper examines the impact of the 2016 European Union (EU) referendum and its aftermath from the perspective of European migrants living in Wales. Drawing on interviews conducted with EU nationals in 2016 and 2017, the article highlights various examples of hostility and violence encountered by these migrants during and after the referendum campaign, demonstrating the longstanding nature of hostile experiences. It further outlines the uncertainty and insecurity experienced during this period, noting how Brexit affected not only EU migrants' rights and entitlements but also their settlement and sense of identity and belonging. The analysis sheds light on various negative emotions and reactions triggered by the referendum, illustrating the diversity of migrants' experiences. Highlighting the multiple and complex ways in which the referendum affected the migrants, the article argues that Brexit should be understood as an ongoing process of "othering" and unsettling.

This article offers a critical examination of the role played by migrants' online communities. With much of scholarly analysis focusing on the new ways in which online groups enable migrants to connect, interact or socialise together in digital space, little attention has been paid to how these groups are actually formed, by whom and with what motivations. Drawing on qualitative interviews with moderators of online groups created by EU migrants living in Wales, UK, our findings reveal the diverse and sometimes ambivalent roles played by these groups, acting not only as networks of support for migrants ('communities of interest') but also driven by commercial motives. To capture the impact of this commercialisation and the complexity in the field, we introduce the notion of 'communities for interest'. The article thus offers new empirical and conceptual contributions that advance our understanding of migrants' online communities beyond the much-discussed online/offline and virtual/real dichotomies.

This article examines the different ways in which local civil society has responded to refugees and asylum seekers in different parts of Wales in the wake of the recent "refugee crisis". While the events of summer 2015 have generated a considerable amount of scholarly attention, including empirical accounts that look into local community responses to refugees and asylum seekers, the current research has tended to overlook the significance of place and the varied impact of "refugee crisis" across localities; this article aims to fill this gap in the existing research. It draws on findings from qualitative research carried out between 2017 and 2018 with refugee-supporting organisations based in three different locations in Wales. Taking a comparative look at these organisations, the article sheds light on the intensity and variation of civil society response in each of these localities, showing how this is informed by and closely interweaved with processes of place-making and place-framing, contributing to the reshaping of civil society networks and population profiles in these local areas. In conclusion, the article argues that humanitarian responses to "refugee crisis" can be understood not only as instances of hospitality and solidarity but also as practices of locality production.

This book explores how the uncertainties of the 21st century present existential challenges to civil society. These include changing modes of governance (through devolution and Brexit), austerity, migration, growing digital divides, issues of (mis)trust and democratic confidence, welfare delivery and the COVID-19 pandemic and the contemporary threat to minority languages and cultures. Presenting original empirical findings, this book brings together core strands of social theory to provide a new way of understanding existential challenges to the form and function of civil society. It highlights pressing social issues and transferable lessons that will inform policy and practice in today's age of uncertainty