The reconstruction of social ties for refugee women

research hints from Italy and Bulgaria

Authors

  • Paolo Ruspini Università degli Studi Roma Tre https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7983-2130
  • Petko Hristov Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46661/ccselap-10869

Keywords:

Migrant transnationalism, gender networks, self-help organizations, inclusion practices

Abstract

Previous research shows the importance of building up self-help structures in a transnational perspective for the inclusion of migrant women who are fleeing their home countries because of war, violence, or different forms of vulnerability. The mobilization of self- help organizations through the intersection of transnationalism and gender is a useful practice-oriented pedagogy directed both towards the most vulnerable groups of women, or those already empowered either as community leaders or network facilitators, other migrants and the whole native population.

The article compares the traumatic refugee experience of two women with different fates, fleeing the hostilities in their native countries – the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ukraine. The two video interviews were made in Bulgaria and Italy, which are important host countries on the south-eastern or southern external border of the European Union. The research questions focus on three main themes: 1) Self-organization and mutual aid among women asylum seekers; 2) Building own social networks through transnational practices and adaptation in host communities; 3) Gender and ethnic basis of community or individual empowerment of refugee women.

The final aim of this investigation is to analyse patterns of social networks’ creation among refugee women originating from different socio-cultural contexts. The research findings might be useful to instill inclusion practices which are apt to refugee women empowerment.

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Author Biographies

Paolo Ruspini, Università degli Studi Roma Tre

Paolo Ruspini (MA Pol. Sci., PhD, Milan) has been researching international and European migration and integration since 1997 with a comparative approach and by drawing on mixed methods. He is Associate Professor at the Department of Education Science, Roma Tre University since November 2021. He is also Associate Researcher at the Institute of Sociological Research (IRS), Geneva School of Social Science, University of Geneva. Recent publications include “Memoria e migrazion. Percorsi di ricerca tra Svizzera e Italia in prospettiva transnazionale” (2024, Mimesis, author) “International Student Mobility as Transnationalism” (2021, Routledge, co-author) Migrants Unbound (2019, Transnational Press London, author) Migration and Transnationalism Between Switzerland and Bulgaria (2017, Springer, co-editor).

Petko Hristov, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Petko Hristov is a PhD in Ethnology, and Associate Professor at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, the Ethnographic Museum, and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Over the past few years, his main scholarly interests have involved labour migrations in the Balkans; women’s mobility; the construction of social networks among trans-border migrants; family and kinship; the construction of identity with the help of culture and traditional religiousness; border studies; anthropology of religion; and political anthropology. He is a member of several international scholarly networks and research projects.

Petko Hristov is author of the book Community and Celebrations. The Sluzba, Slava, Sabor and Kourban in South Slavic Villages in the First Half of 20 Century (Sofia: Ethnographic Institute with Museum, 2004), awarded for best academic achievement in Humanities from the Union of Bulgarian Scientists in 2007. He is editor of the proceedings collections “Migration and Identity: Historical, Cultural and Linguistic Dimensions of Mobility in the Balkans” (Sofia: Paradigma, 2012), and “Balkan Migration Culture: historical and contemporary cases form Bulgaria and Macedonia” (Sofia: Ethnographic Institute with Museum, 2010), and co-editor of the edited volume Kurban in the Balkans (Belgrade: Institute for Balkan Studies, 2007, co-edited with Biljana Sikimić), Labour Migrations in the Balkans (München-Berlin: Verlag Otto Sagner, 2012, co-edited with Biljana Sikimić and Biljana Golubović) and Contextualizing Changes: Migration, Shifting Borders and New Identities in Eastern Europe (Sofia: Paradigma, 2015, co-edited with Anelia Kassabova, Evgenia Troeva and Dagnoslaw Demski).

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Published

2024-12-13

How to Cite

Ruspini, P., & Hristov, P. (2024). The reconstruction of social ties for refugee women: research hints from Italy and Bulgaria. Comparative Cultural Studies: European and Latin American Perspectives, (19), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.46661/ccselap-10869