Gendered mobilities and border-crossings: from Elbasan to Athens

The study of migratory movements, with all their changing features in the context of post-1989 political, economic and geographical restructurings, offers a prime site for reflection on the gendered meaning/s and content of mobilities and borders. Particularly in human geography, new questions and d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Gender, place and culture : a journal of feminist geography place and culture : a journal of feminist geography, 2012-04, Vol.19 (2), p.249-262
Main Author: Vaiou, Dina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
20th century
Albania
Athens, Greece
Borders
borders/boundaries
Cross border transactions
Europa del Sur
Everyday life
Females
fronteras/límites
Gender
Gender identity
Geographic mobility
Geography
Globalization
Greece
género
Identity
International migration
migración
Migrants
Migration
Mobility
Political Economy
Political Movements
Southern Europe
Women
国界／边界
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Summary:The study of migratory movements, with all their changing features in the context of post-1989 political, economic and geographical restructurings, offers a prime site for reflection on the gendered meaning/s and content of mobilities and borders. Particularly in human geography, new questions and different approaches to established themes in migration research are elaborated in this 'era of globalisation'. Negotiations of geographical and social borders and boundaries, the speed and ease of movement, but also gender inequalities in choice and cases of immobility and/or enclosure, emphasis on agency and the importance of space and place are some such themes and questions. This article is based on research with migrant women in Athens; it follows the trajectories of an Albanian woman from Elbasan to Athens as a starting point for the discussion of gendered practices and perceptions of migration, (im)mobility and border-crossings. In these trajectories, space is involved, in its material aspects but also in terms of representations and codings. Notions of place, local/global relations and gender identities are re-worked in the efforts to set up bearable everyday lives 'here', while maintaining links 'there'. At the same time, 'here' (in Athens) and 'there' (in Elbasan) come out as open and temporary while borders are (re)produced, negotiated and challenged in multiple ways and at various spatial scales.
ISSN:0966-369X
1360-0524
DOI:10.1080/0966369X.2011.610178