Conceptual Alignments and Debates in the Study of Mobility and Migration: An Introduction
Conceptual Alignments and Debates in the Study of Mobility and Migration: An Introduction

Summary/Abstract: The introduction to the first part of the special issue of Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore, titled “On the Move: Migration and Diasporas”, situates the articles included in the issue within theoretical discussions of significant factors that have influenced population movements, formation of diaspora communities, and diversification of the transnational life style during the past decades. The introduction discusses the genealogy of the concepts of diaspora, transnationalism, migration, and mobility, also drawing attention to their simultaneous circulation within the inter- and cross-disciplinary field today. Both forced and voluntary forms of migration are addressed. The relevance of the contributions of the current issue to larger tendencies and theoretical debates on mobility and migration is outlined. The study of migration and mobility constitutes a vast area of academic inquiry, yet there is not enough research on migration processes in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet countries. The articles fill this gap, engaging in a variety of issues, theoretical and methodological approaches, and diverse regions and historical contexts. These include historical transnational commuting practices, the effects of status shifts from voluntary to forced migration, the inadequacy of contemporary ICT-based communication means in comparison with face-to-face encounters, modes and strategies of (transatlantic) transnational identity, affective economy of migration, including its traumatic impact, and relevance of the researcher’s positioning in terms of the national culture of homeland and host country. Many contributions highlight the important role of sociality in managing migration and mobility, and in so doing, also diversify and contest central conceptual paradigms within the field.

• Details
• Contents