TY - JOUR
T1 - Memory, Place and Agency:
T2 - Transnational Mirroring of Otherness among Young Albanian ‘Returnees’
AU - VATHI, ZANA
AU - King, Russell
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2020/6/2
Y1 - 2020/6/2
N2 - Return migration has been traditionally conceptualised within a framework of ‘homecomings’, emphasising primordial ethnicity at the expense of micro-level and cognitive aspects of migrants’ belongingness. Drawing on the narratives of Albanian-origin children and young people who moved (back) to Albania with their families from crisis-ridden Greece, this paper explores their experiences of otherness in the presumed homeland, and puts emphasis on their agency in the context of return migration. Memory emerges as an important aspect of agency in the process of what we term ‘the transnational mirroring of otherness’. Brought up in Greece, the Albanian-origin children are othered upon return because of their perceived ‘Greekness’ among the locals and limited ability to speak Albanian. Beyond establishing and maintaining transnational ties and identities, participants show initiative in positioning themselves against shifting transnational identification frameworks, as they contemplate a spatially mobile future.
AB - Return migration has been traditionally conceptualised within a framework of ‘homecomings’, emphasising primordial ethnicity at the expense of micro-level and cognitive aspects of migrants’ belongingness. Drawing on the narratives of Albanian-origin children and young people who moved (back) to Albania with their families from crisis-ridden Greece, this paper explores their experiences of otherness in the presumed homeland, and puts emphasis on their agency in the context of return migration. Memory emerges as an important aspect of agency in the process of what we term ‘the transnational mirroring of otherness’. Brought up in Greece, the Albanian-origin children are othered upon return because of their perceived ‘Greekness’ among the locals and limited ability to speak Albanian. Beyond establishing and maintaining transnational ties and identities, participants show initiative in positioning themselves against shifting transnational identification frameworks, as they contemplate a spatially mobile future.
KW - transnational return migration,
KW - otherness,
KW - Albania
KW - memory,
KW - children and young people,
KW - place,
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U2 - https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2020.1773402
DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2020.1773402
M3 - Article (journal)
SN - 1473-3285
VL - 19
SP - 197
EP - 209
JO - Children's Geographies
JF - Children's Geographies
IS - 2
ER -