29 / 2009

Anna Matyska

Transnational Practices and Integration Materialized: Polish Transnational Migration and the World of Goods

The paper addresses the historical and class-contingent processes of transnationalism and integration mediated through material culture. I see the world of goods as a means to uncover the daily, potentially cosmopolitan, practices through which migrants (re)create the ties to their places of origin and destination and contribute to the transnationalization and cosmopolitanization of the subjectivity of the people with whom they interact: the Finnish “natives” and those who stayed behind. The analysis is based on my multi-sited ethnography conducted across Poland and Finland.
KEY WORDS: transnationalism, integration, material culture, Polish migration, Finland

29 / 2009

Anna Matyska

Transnational Practices and Integration Materialized: Polish Transnational Migration and the World of Goods

The paper addresses the historical and class-contingent processes of transnationalism and integration mediated through material culture. I see the world of goods as a means to uncover the daily, potentially cosmopolitan, practices through which migrants (re)create the ties to their places of origin and destination and contribute to the transnationalization and cosmopolitanization of the subjectivity of the people with whom they interact: the Finnish “natives” and those who stayed behind. The analysis is based on my multi-sited ethnography conducted across Poland and Finland.
KEY WORDS: transnationalism, integration, material culture, Polish migration, Finland

29 / 2009

Maja Lamberger Khatib, Tatjana Pezdir

“Could I Ask You, my Brother, to Send me a Little Something?” Remitting Behaviour Among Arabs and Bosniaks in Slovenia

The paper addresses motivations for patterns and types of remittances, which can be defined as a set of gifts in different forms. Generally speaking, remittances refer to a variety of transfers between migrants and individuals or groups remaining in countries of origin. The latter most often include both core and extended families. In addition to transfers, the paper deals with processes of incorporation and preservation of migrants’ sense of belonging to the place of origin, and with processes of linking them with places of residence. Furthermore, the authors discuss the essence of social responsibility evident in migrants’ incorporation, maintenance of their sense of belonging, their image, social authority, substance, respect and inclusion into their sending societies. The focus is on migrants’ motivation, as well as on factors existing in countries involved in transnational connections stimulating and hindering processes of remitting. The authors discuss social and demographic distribution and the importance of social pressures faced by migrants and expectations of other members of the social networks which play an essential part in the aforementioned processes.
KEY WORDS: remittances, social networks, migration, Arabs, Bosniaks

29 / 2009

Maja Lamberger Khatib, Tatjana Pezdir

“Could I Ask You, my Brother, to Send me a Little Something?” Remitting Behaviour Among Arabs and Bosniaks in Slovenia

The paper addresses motivations for patterns and types of remittances, which can be defined as a set of gifts in different forms. Generally speaking, remittances refer to a variety of transfers between migrants and individuals or groups remaining in countries of origin. The latter most often include both core and extended families. In addition to transfers, the paper deals with processes of incorporation and preservation of migrants’ sense of belonging to the place of origin, and with processes of linking them with places of residence. Furthermore, the authors discuss the essence of social responsibility evident in migrants’ incorporation, maintenance of their sense of belonging, their image, social authority, substance, respect and inclusion into their sending societies. The focus is on migrants’ motivation, as well as on factors existing in countries involved in transnational connections stimulating and hindering processes of remitting. The authors discuss social and demographic distribution and the importance of social pressures faced by migrants and expectations of other members of the social networks which play an essential part in the aforementioned processes.
KEY WORDS: remittances, social networks, migration, Arabs, Bosniaks

29 / 2009

Maja Povrzanović Frykman

Material Aspects of Transnational Social Fields: An Introduction

The author argues that ethnographic insights into migrants’ personal relations achieved through objects, and their involvement in social networks proved through objects, can open up new avenues of understanding and contribute to the creation of new conceptual lenses in studies of migration. Conceptual and methodological issues are discussed, and the themes outlined, that connect ethnographic examples presented in the contributions to this section. Most important is the reconsideration of the migrants’ presupposed collective identities. The claims to and representations of (usually ethnic) belonging may be detached from the ways in which people fashion their transnational social fields.
KEYWORDS: transnational social field, object, ethnography

29 / 2009

Maja Povrzanović Frykman

Material Aspects of Transnational Social Fields: An Introduction

The author argues that ethnographic insights into migrants’ personal relations achieved through objects, and their involvement in social networks proved through objects, can open up new avenues of understanding and contribute to the creation of new conceptual lenses in studies of migration. Conceptual and methodological issues are discussed, and the themes outlined, that connect ethnographic examples presented in the contributions to this section. Most important is the reconsideration of the migrants’ presupposed collective identities. The claims to and representations of (usually ethnic) belonging may be detached from the ways in which people fashion their transnational social fields.
KEYWORDS: transnational social field, object, ethnography

29 / 2009

Mirjam Milharčič-Hladnik

Oral history of Luisa Passerini and the researching of migration in the context of subjectivity

As the first selected works of a historian and theoretician Luisa Passerini has been just published in Slovenian language, the text intends to outline her theoretical and methodological argumentation of two concepts: subjectivity and intersubjectivity. It shows the applicability of the oral history and the auto/biographical material in the context of migration studies. While using the methods of oral history and using the auto/biographical material, the text shows why a researcher needs to understand the concepts of subjectivity and intersubjectivity. Some examples of recent migration case studies that include the subjective experiences of Slovenian emigrants and immigrants in Slovenia are also given.
KEY WORDS: oral history, life narratives, migrations, subjectivity, intersubjectivity.

29 / 2009

Mirjam Milharčič-Hladnik

Oral history of Luisa Passerini and the researching of migration in the context of subjectivity

As the first selected works of a historian and theoretician Luisa Passerini has been just published in Slovenian language, the text intends to outline her theoretical and methodological argumentation of two concepts: subjectivity and intersubjectivity. It shows the applicability of the oral history and the auto/biographical material in the context of migration studies. While using the methods of oral history and using the auto/biographical material, the text shows why a researcher needs to understand the concepts of subjectivity and intersubjectivity. Some examples of recent migration case studies that include the subjective experiences of Slovenian emigrants and immigrants in Slovenia are also given.
KEY WORDS: oral history, life narratives, migrations, subjectivity, intersubjectivity.

29 / 2009

Andrej Rahten

Izidor Cankar and the Royal Yugoslav Legation in Buenos Aires

The article discusses activities of the Slovenian diplomat Dr. Izidor Cankar at the diplomatic representation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Buenos Aires in the period 1936–1942. The research of his activities is based on sources from the archives in Ljubljana and Belgrade, with a particular focus on his correspondence with leading Slovene politicians on the eve of the Second World War and during the War itself. Cankar asserted himself as a self-confident diplomat, while at the same time being the first Yugoslav envoy to set as a priority concern for the Slovene emigrants from the Primorska region.
KEY WORDS: Izidor Cankar, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Argentina, diplomacy, Slovene emigrants

29 / 2009

Andrej Rahten

Izidor Cankar and the Royal Yugoslav Legation in Buenos Aires

The article discusses activities of the Slovenian diplomat Dr. Izidor Cankar at the diplomatic representation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Buenos Aires in the period 1936–1942. The research of his activities is based on sources from the archives in Ljubljana and Belgrade, with a particular focus on his correspondence with leading Slovene politicians on the eve of the Second World War and during the War itself. Cankar asserted himself as a self-confident diplomat, while at the same time being the first Yugoslav envoy to set as a priority concern for the Slovene emigrants from the Primorska region.
KEY WORDS: Izidor Cankar, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Argentina, diplomacy, Slovene emigrants