Abstract
This chapter highlights the migration process of Moldovans in Spain as a result of the collapse of the USSR and which led to the country’s independence. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with Moldovans who migrated to Spain from the late 1990s to the present, the chapter examines how the political processes that occurred in Moldova, which are reflected in the gradual opening up of the Schengen border, produce friction and uncertainty, influencing the experiences of Moldovans and having repercussions in their subsequent lives and work trajectories in Spain. First, the chapter aims to introduce the concept of “friction” to examine how the reinforcement of the State border as a (re)bordering process contributed to the development of uncertainty as a subjective experience of immigrants who contend with frustrations in the Spanish labor market. Second, I raise the term of “opportunity” as a consequence of fluidity marked by opening up of borders that favor the free movement of citizens. Opportunity as a concept aims to show how the new scenarios created by greater EU integration help Moldovan immigrants achieve better integration in Spain.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Active Population Survey. (2018). Retrieved December 28, 2018, from https://epa.com.es/padron/moldavos-en-espana/
Andreas, P. (2003). Redrawing the line: Borders and security in the twenty-first century. International Security, 28(2), 78–111.
Ansell, N., van Blerk, L., Hajdu, F., & Robson, E. (2011). Spaces, times, and critical moments: A relational time – space analysis of the impacts of AIDS on rural youth in Malawi y Lesotho. Environment and Planning D, 43, 524–544.
Balibar, E. (2002). What is border? Politics and the other scene. London: Verso.
Barth, F. (1989). The analysis of culture in complex societies. Ethnos, 54, 120–142.
Border Policy. (2018). Retrieved March 14, 2018, from https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/schengen-information-system_en
Brown, L. (2009). The transformative power of the international sojourn: An ethnographic study of the international student experience. Annals of Tourism Research, 36, 502–521.
Cebotari, V., Siegel, M., & Mazzucato, V. (2018). Migration and child health in Moldova and Georgia. Comparative Migration Studies, 6(3), 1–22.
Collins, F. (2012). Transnational mobilities and urban spatialities: Notes from the Asia-Pacific. Progress in Human Geography, 36, 316–336.
Cooper, A., & Rumford, C. (2013). Monumentalising the border: Bordering through connectivity. Mobilities, 8(1), 107–124.
Delegation EU Moldova. (2017). Travel to the EU from Moldova. Retrieved March 4, 2018, from https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/moldova/1540/travel-to-the-eu-from-moldova_en
Ferguson, J., & Gupta, A. (2002). Spatializing states: Toward an ethnography of neoliberal governmentality. American Ethnologist, 29, 981–1002.
Findlay, A., King, R., Smith, F., Geddes, A., & Skeldon, R. (2012). World class? An investigation of globalisation, difference and international student mobility. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 37(1), 118–131.
Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York: Aldine.
Glick Schiller, N., Basch, L., & Szanton-Blanc, C. (1992). Transnationalism: A new analytical framework for understanding migration. New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Hannam, K., Sheller, M., & Urry, J. (2006). Editorial: Mobilities, immobilities and moorings. Mobilities, 1(1), 1–22.
Hannerz, U. (1996). Transnational connections: Culture, people, places. New York: Routledge.
Haverig, A. (2011). Constructing global/local subjectivities: The New Zealand OE as governance through freedom. Mobilities, 6, 103–123.
Inkson, K., & Myers, B. (2003). The big OE’: Self directed travel and career development. Career Development International, 4, 170–181.
Jansen, A. (2013). Mobility regimes and borderwork in the European community. Mobilities, 8(1), 35–51.
King, C. (2003). Marking time in the middle ground: Contested identities and Moldovan foreign policy. Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 19(3), 60–82.
Marchetti, S., & Venturini, A. (2014). Mothers and grandmothers on the move: Labour mobility and the household strategies of Moldovan and Ukrainian migrant women in Italy. International Migration, 52(5), 111–126.
Marcu, S. (2014). Between migration and cross-border mobility: Return for development and Europeanization among Moldavian immigrants. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 14(1), 83–107.
Marcu, S. (2016). Learning mobility challenging borders: Cross-border experiences of eastern European immigrants in Spain. Mobilities, 11(3), 343–361.
Ministry of Employment and Social Security Spain. (2007, June). August 22, 2018, from http://www.empleo.gob.es/es/estadisticas/index.htm
Ministry of Employment and Social Security, Spain. (2013, June 30). Retrieved July 15, 2018, from http://extranjeros.empleo.gob.es/es/Estadisticas/operaciones/con certificado/201306/Residentes_Tablas_PR_30062013.pdf
Ministry of Security and Social Employment. (2017). Retrieved April 2, 2018, from http://www.empleo.gob.es/en/
Murphy-Lejeune, E. (2002). Student mobility and narrative in Europe: The new strangers. London: Routledge.
National Bureau of Statistics. (2017). July 1, 2018, from http://www.statistica.md/category.php?l=ro&idc=103&
Newmann, D. (2006). The lines that continue to separate us: Borders in our ‘borderless’ world. Progress in Human Geography, 30(2), 143–161.
Paasi, A. (2009). Bounded spaces in a ‘borderless world’: Border studies, power and the anatomy of territory. Journal of Power, 2(2), 213–234.
Portes, A., Guarnizo, L., & Landolt, P. (1999). The study of transnationalism: Pitfalls and promise of an emergent research field. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22(2), 217–237.
Romanian citizenship Law 21/1991, Romania. (1991). Retrieved August 29, 2018, from http://www.romanianpassport.co.il/english/romanian-citizenship-law/
Rumford, C. (2007). Does Europe have cosmopolitan borders? Globalizations, 4(3), 327–339.
Shevchenko, O. (2009). Crisis and the everyday in postsocialist Moscow. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Simpson, P. (2008). Chronic everyday life: Rhythm anaysing street performance. Social and Cultural Geography, 9, 807–829.
Stenning, A. (2005). Post-socialism and the changing geographies of the everyday in Poland. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 31, 113–127.
Tsing, A. (2005). Friction: An ethnography of global connection. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Van Houtum, H. (1999). Internationalisation and mental borders. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 90(3), 329–335.
Wallace, W. (2002). Where does Europe end? Dilemmas of inclusion and exclusion. In J. Zielonka (Ed.), Europe unbound: Enlarging and reshaping the boundaries of the European Union (pp. 78–94). London: Routledge.
Waters, J. (2006). Geographies of cultural capital: Education, international migration and family strategies between Hong Kong and Canada. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 31, 179–192.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Marcu, S. (2020). Between Cross-Border Friction and Opportunity: Moldovan Immigrants in Spain. In: Denisenko, M., Strozza, S., Light, M. (eds) Migration from the Newly Independent States. Societies and Political Orders in Transition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36075-7_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36075-7_20
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-36074-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-36075-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)