Women Migrants from East to West

Based on the oral histories of eighty migrant women and thirty additional interviews with 'native' women in the 'receiving' countries, this volume documents the contemporary phenomenon of the feminisation of migration through an exploration of the lives of women, who have moved from Bulgaria and Hungary to Italy and the Netherlands. It assumes migrants to be active subjects, creating possibilities and taking decisions in their own lives, as well as being subject to legal and political regulation, and the book analyses the new forms of subjectivity that come about through mobility. Part I is a largely conceptual exploration of subjectivity, mobility and gender in Europe. The chapters in Part II focus on love, work, home, communication, and food, themes which emerged from the migrant women's accounts. In Part III, based on the interviews with 'native' women - employers, friends, or in associations relevant to migrant women - the chapters analyse their representations of migrants, and the book goes on to explore forms of intersubjectivity between European women of different cultural origins. A major contribution of this book is to consider how the movement of people across Europe is changing the cultural and social landscape with implications for how we think about what Europe means. Cover image: Painting by Carla Accardi. Reproduced with the kind permission of Luca Barsi of the Galleria Accademia, Via Accademia Albertina 3/e, 10123 Torino. "...the result of an exciting oral history project...this rich edited volume offers a compelling look at the meanings of the feminization of intra-European migration...One of the primary strengths of the volume is its effective approach to the collection and transmission of oral histories." - Oral History

Acknowledgements Editors' Introduction List of Tables - Table 1 Interviews by Country PART I: SUBJECTIVITY, MOBILITY AND GENDER IN EUROPE Chapter 1. On Becoming Europeans Rosi Braidotti Chapter 2. "I want to see the world": Mobility and Subjectivity in the European Context Ioanna Laliotou Chapter 3. Transformations of Legal Subjectivity in Europe: From the Subjection of Women to Privileged Subjects Hanne Petersen Intermezzo: 'A dance through Life': Narratives of Migrant Women Nadejda Alexandrova and Anna Hortobagyi PART II: SUBJECTIVITY IN MOTION: ANALYSING THE LIVES OF MIGRANT WOMEN Chapter 4. Imaginary Geographies: Border-places and 'Home' in the Narratives of Migrant Women Nadejda Alexandrova and Dawn Lyon Chapter 5. 'My hobby is people': Migration and Communication in the Light of Late Totalitarianism Miglena Nikolchina Chapter 6. Migrant Women in Work Enrica Capussotti, Ioanna Laliotou and Dawn Lyon Chapter 7. The topos of Love in the Life-stories of Migrant Women Nadejda Alexandrova Chapter 8. Food-talk: Markers of Identity and Imaginary Belongings Andrea Petoe Relationships in the making: Accounts of native women Enrica Capussotti and Esther Vonk PART III: PROCESSES OF IDENTIFICATION: INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION OF MIGRANT WOMEN Chapter 9. Migration, Integration and Emancipation: Women's Positioning in the Debate in the Netherlands Esther Vonk Chapter 10. Modernity versus Backwardness: Italian Women's Perceptions of Self and Other Enrica Capussotti Chapter 11. Moral and Cultural Boundaries in Representations of Migrants: Italy and the Netherlands in Comparative Perspective Dawn Lyon Chapter 12. Changing Matrimonial Law in the Image of Immigration Law Inger Marie Conradsen and Annette Kronborg Intermezzo. In transit: Space, People, Identities Andrea Petoe Conclusions: Gender, Subjectivity, Europe: A Constellation for the Future Luisa Passerini Appendix I: Summary of individual interviewees Appendix II: Summary of interviewees' characteristics by nationality Notes on Contributors Index