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Transnational Immigration in Rural Greece: Analysing the Different Mobilities of Albanian Immigrants

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Translocal Ruralism

Part of the book series: GeoJournal Library ((GEJL,volume 103))

Abstract

In the last two decades, southern Europe has attracted a large number of immigrants due to its geopolitical position, its improved socioeconomic situation and the fact that it is part of the European Union, which is undergoing a gradual transformation into a global economic and political power. The number of immigrants pouring into Europe has increased tremendously, with the southern European countries hosting a significant proportion of the new waves of immigrants. The presence of immigrants in southern Europe is evident not only in urban areas but also in rural areas, where labour demand is significantly expanded in sectors such as agriculture, construction, tourism and services, due to the rejection of these fields by the indigenous labour force and due as well to an ageing population. The chapter aims to synthesise empirical findings from three research projects carried out at different times during the period of 2000–2008 in various parts of rural Greece in order to depict the role of Albanian migrants for the reconstitution of rural places in Greece. The mobility of immigrants looms large as a coping strategy against the immobility of farmers. For that purpose, the “mobilities” approach is utilised as a theoretical framework for analysing the remaking of rural locales by international immigrants.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Here we could mention the concept of “motility”, which is defined as “the capacity of entities (e.g. goods, information or persons) to be mobile in social and geographical space” (Kaufman, Bergmann, & Joye, 2004, p. 750).

  2. 2.

    The figures are made available by the Ministry for Citizen Protection.

  3. 3.

    The data is from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2010) and refer to residence permits.

  4. 4.

    The data comes from the Population Census of 2001 and is the only available data on immigrants’ employment by sector.

  5. 5.

    The HuReDePIS project was financed by INTERREG IIIB – ARCHIMED 2000–2006 and involved collaboration between border areas between Greece and Italy, namely western Greece and the Ionian Islands (Greece) and Puglia (Italy).

  6. 6.

    The two projects were: (a) C. Kasimis, V. Nitsiakos, E. Zacopoulou, A.G. Papadopoulos (2002), The Implications of the Settlement and Employment of Migrant Labour in Rural Greece, Universities of Patras and Ioannina (in Greek), (b) C. Kasimis, A.G. Papadopoulos (2006), The Multifunctional Role of Migrants in Rural Greece and Rural Southern Europe, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (USA).

  7. 7.

    It is beneficial because it is accompanied by increases in income, in social and employment experience, in expertise in certain jobs and consequently in prospects for integration into the recipient society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Harokopio University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Apostolos G. Papadopoulos

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  1. Apostolos G. Papadopoulos
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Correspondence to Apostolos G. Papadopoulos .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 106 91, Sweden

    Charlotta Hedberg

  2. , Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, Av. Dos Bombeiros Voluntarioas de Alges 44, 7 dto., Lisbon, 1495-021, Portugal

    Renato Miguel do Carmo

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Papadopoulos, A.G. (2012). Transnational Immigration in Rural Greece: Analysing the Different Mobilities of Albanian Immigrants. In: Hedberg, C., do Carmo, R. (eds) Translocal Ruralism. GeoJournal Library, vol 103. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2315-3_10

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