Publication
Title
Cosmologies and migration: on worldviews and their influence on mobility and immobility
Author
Abstract
This article argues that the concept of 'cosmologies of destinations' is a useful theoretical tool to provide an emic understanding of the social and moral meanings of migrants' journeys. By this concept, I refer to the hierarchical representations of the world that orient migration journeys. Drawing from my multi-sited ethnography with Eritreans at home and abroad, I illustrate how migration destinations were mapped by my informants along an implicit but widely shared normative and moral scale, with different levels of perceived safety, individual freedom, social recognition and economic achievements. After charting the theoretical field concerning social imaginaries and cultures of migration, I show the importance of symbolic and moral structures for understanding my informants' mobility choices at different stages of their migration process. I conclude by highlighting the potential of this concept to study the interplay of mobility and immobility, particularly in the framework of increasing constraints.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Identities. - Place of publication unknown
Publication
Philadelphia : Taylor & francis inc , 2020
ISSN
1070-289X
DOI
10.1080/1070289X.2020.1748357
Volume/pages
p. 1-19
ISI
000523140400001
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Exiled and separated: a multi-sited ethnography of Eritrean refugees and their families attempting to reunite.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 05.05.2020
Last edited 02.12.2024
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