Return Migration and Psychosocial Wellbeing: Discourses, Policy-Making and Outcomes for Migrants and their Families

299 Pages·2017·1.4 MB·English

by  Zana Vathi (editor), Russell King (editor)

Return migration is discussed a lot but remains poorly understood in both aca-
demic and policy contexts. Engaging with the multi-faceted realities of ‘return’,
this book offers a much-needed critical view to return migration. Focusing on
the psychosocial wellbeing of the returning migrant the book challenges the
dominant myth that return is a ‘good thing’. Contributions to this volume cover
four continents and very different contexts of return (voluntary and forced,
assisted and spontaneous) pointing to the agency of the migrant and to the role
of volition in both returning and in seeking to escape (forced) return.
Anna Triandafyllidou, Professor, Global Governance Programme, Robert Schuman
Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Italy
Return Migration and Psychosocial Wellbeing sheds new light on classical themes
in the study of migration, such as agency, home, and the life course. The book
connects these themes with current theoretical turns and policy contexts. The
focus on psychosocial wellbeing weaves together forms of migration that are
usually studies in isolation from each other.
Jørgen Carling, Peace Research Institute Oslo, Norway
Readers who want to understand the policy and societal relevance of returnees’
wellbeing will find much in this volume co-edited by Russell King and Zana
Vathi. The authors’ contributions accurately identify the various psychosocial
dimensions inherent in returnees’ patterns of reintegration as well as their
implications. To be sure, this volume clearly shows that it is still possible to reflect
on return migration by critically examining and deconstructing predominant
assumptions with grounded scientific evidence.
Jean-Pierre Cassarino, Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain
(IRMC), Tunisia

Return Migration and Psychosocial
Wellbeing
Return migration is a topic of growing interest among academics and policy-
makers. Nonetheless, issues of psychosocial wellbeing are rarely discussed in its
context.
Return Migration and Psychosocial Wellbeing problematises the widely held
assumption that return to the country of origin, especially in the context of
voluntary migrations, is a psychologically safe process. By exploding the forced–
voluntary dichotomy, it analyses the continuum of experiences of return and the
effect of time, the factors that affect the return process and associated mobilities,
and their multiple links with returned migrants’ wellbeing or psychosocial
issues.
Drawing on research encompassing four different continents – Europe,
North America, Africa and Asia – to offer a blend of studies, this timely volume
contrasts with previous research which is heavily informed by clinical approaches
and concepts, as the contributions in this book come from various disciplinary
approaches such as sociology, geography, psychology, politics and anthro-
pology. Indeed, this title will appeal to academics, NGOs and policy-m akers
working on migration and psychosocial wellbeing; and undergraduate and post-
graduate students who are interested in the fields of migration, social policy,
ethnicity studies, health studies, human geography, sociology and anthro-
pology.
Zana Vathi is Reader in Social Sciences at Edge Hill University.
Russell King is Professor of Geography at the University of Sussex and Visiting
Professor of Migration Studies at Malmö University.
Routledge Research in Race and Ethnicity
5 Music, Difference and the Residue 14 Immigration, Assimilation, and the
of Race Cultural Construction of American
Jo Haynes National Identity
Shannon Latkin Anderson
6 Black Citizenship and Authenticity
in the Civil Rights Movement 15 Blackness in Britain
Randolph Hohle Edited by Lisa Palmer and Kehinde
Andrews
7 Migrants and Race in the US
Territorial Racism and the Alien/ 16 The End of Black Studies
Outside Conceptual, Theoretical, and
Philip Kretsedemas Empirical Concerns
Clovis E. Semmes
8 The Black Professional Middle
Class 17 Contemporary African American
Race, Class, and Community in the Families
Post- Civil Rights Era Achievements, Challenges, and
Eric S. Brown Empowerment Strategies in the
Twenty- First Century
9 Race and Class Distinctions within
Edited by Dorothy Smith- Ruiz, Sherri
Black Communities
Lawson Clark and Marcia Watson
A Racial- Caste-in- Class
Paul Camy Mocombe, Carol Tomlin 18 Return Migration and Psychosocial
and Cecile Wright Wellbeing
Discourses, Policy-Making and
10 Making Diaspora in a Global City
Outcomes for Migrants and Their
South Asian Youth Cultures in
Families
London
Edited by Zana Vathi and Russell King
Helen Kim
19 Mapping the New African Diaspora
11 A Moral Economy of Whiteness
in China
Four Frames of Racializing Discourse
Race and the Cultural Politics of
Steve Garner
Belonging
12 Race and the Origins of American Shanshan Lan
Neoliberalism
20 Doing Violence, Making Race
Randolph Hohle
Mattias Smangs
13 Experiences of Islamophobia
Living with Racism in the Neoliberal
Era
James Carr
Return Migration and
Psychosocial Wellbeing
Discourses, Policy-Making and Outcomes
for Migrants and Their Families
Edited by Zana Vathi and Russell King
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 selection and editorial matter, Zana Vathi and Russell King;
individual chapters, the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-67750-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-61961-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Galliard
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
Contents
List of contributors x
Preface and acknowledgements xvii
1 Introduction: the interface between return migration and
psychosocial wellbeing 1
ZANA VATHI
PART I
The forced–voluntary continuum in return migration 19
2 Return to wellbeing? Irregular migrants and assisted return
in Norway 21
SYNNØVE BENDIXSEN AND HILDE LIDÉN
3 Forced to return? Agency and the role of post- return
mobility for psychosocial wellbeing among returnees to
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Poland 39
MARTA BIVAND ERDAL AND CERI OEPPEN
4 Between ‘voluntary’ return programs and soft deportation:
sending vulnerable migrants in Spain back ‘home’ 56
BARAK KALIR
PART II
Ancestral returns, adaptation and re-m igration 73
5 Roots migration to the ancestral homeland and
psychosocial wellbeing: young Polish diasporic students 75
MARCIN GOŃDA
viii Contents
6 ‘This country plays tricks on you’: Portuguese migrant
descendant returnees narrate economic crisis- influenced
‘returns’ 93
JOÃO SARDINHA AND DAVID CAIRNS
7 ‘Invisible’ returns of Bosnian refugees and their
psychosocial wellbeing 108
SELMA POROBIĆ
PART III
Asylum systems, assisted returns and post- return
mobilities 127
8 ‘Burning without fire’ in Sweden: the paradox of the state’s
attempt to safeguard deportees’ psychosocial wellbeing 129
DANIELA DEBONO
9 The return of refugees from Kenya to Somalia: gender and
psychosocial wellbeing 149
NASSIM MAJIDI
10 Time heals? A multi- sited, longitudinal case study on the
lived experiences of returnees in Armenia 165
INE LIETAERT, ERIC BROEKAERT AND ILSE DERLUYN
PART IV
Life course, family and health 183
11 The need to belong: Latvian youth returns as dialogic work 185
AIJA LULLE
12 Migration and return migration in later life to Albania: the
pendulum between subjective wellbeing and place 203
ERALBA CELA
13 To stay or to go? The motivations and experiences of older
British returnees from Spain 221
KELLY HALL, CHARLES BETTY AND JORDI GINER
Conents ix
14 ‘Is this really where home is?’ Experiences of home in a
revisited homeland among ageing Azorean returnees 240
DORA SAMPAIO
15 Conclusions: exploring the multiple complexities of the
return migration–psychosocial wellbeing nexus 257
RUSSELL KING
Index 274