Impact of COVID-19 on Indian Migrant Workers and the Informal Sector

The Indian and the international media presented the Indian migrant workforce's troubles during the COVID-19 crisis. The unprecedented circumstances opened a Pandora's box of years of neglect and sidelining of the welfare and wellness of the migrant workers of the informal sector. The literature was sourced from the workforce migration literature of India, newspapers, government and private agency reports, population census of 2011, and research papers published during the period. This exploratory research has the objective to explore the informal sector's background and the migrant workers of India before the pandemic to understand the immediate short-term implications and the long-term impact of the pandemic across all sections of the informal workers. Finally, the research concludes with a discussion on the policy imperatives deemed to have a beneficial effect on the migrant workers in future years, once the COVID-19 crisis is over.

Entgrenzte Figuren – bewegte Erinnerungen. Migration im Spannungsfeld von Literatur und Begriff

My paper discusses the controversial relationship between literature and literary studies by using the example of the term ›migration literature‹. It demonstrates in the first part that ›migration literature‹ as a term in literary studies does not expose explications of rational reconstructions of a conceptual content in Harald Fricke’s and Klaus Weimar’s understanding. In its history (Adelson 1991; 2004), ›migration literature‹ goes back to a chain of different terms and definitions as Gastarbeiter- or Ausländerliteratur and reflects strategies of homogenization and exclusion. From the 1980s forward, those terms produce in cultural contexts a semantic field that propagates culture based on a definition of ex negativo (Tafazoli 2019). The first part of my paper describes an outline of influences of homogenization and reductionism on the discourses of migration in literary studies and explains in the second part an asymmetrical relationship between motive on the one hand and terminology on the other. The term ›migration literature‹ seems to dominate this relationship by determination of a source of ›accepted truths‹ related to the life and background – specifically to the place of birth and the origin – of the author (Bay 2017). By prioritization of criteria beyond narrative reality, literary studies led in the 1980s and 1990s discourses on migration on the sidelines of canon of German speaking literature (Weigel 1991; Wilpert 2001). With regard to terminological determination in order to produce interpretative sovereignty (Foucault 1994), my paper exemplifies in the second part that the term ›migration literature‹ collects selected and limited fields of social, historical and political knowledge in perspective adjustment and in order to classify literature beyond aesthetic criteria. By this means, inductive standards (Müller 2010a; 2010b) classify the literary object ›migration‹ ontologically and regardless of factuality of the author’s life on the one hand and fictionality of narrative text on the other. The ontological classification has been used, for example, in contexts that replace the figure of stranger (Fremder) by the figure of migrant and determines the latter as figuration of external space of culture. The replacement suggests a perspective rigidity in the cultural production of knowledge that flows into a terminological classification and claims with the term ›migration literature‹ sovereignty over culture. From this point of view, the author and his work should be located in the external space of canonized literature. The second part of my paper comes to the conclusion that the term ›migration literature‹ has been developed in politicized frames of external-textual ›accepted truths‹ and bases its stability on cultural essentialism and exclusion regardless of heterogenetic appearance (Bhatti 2015). With regard to theories of »literature on the move« (Ette 2001), my paper understands that migration has always formed a considerable part of literary production. Therefore, migration could be understood as a literary motive. This meaning would undermine an ontological understanding of culture. Narrative texts develop poetics of migration and create by figurations of migration a poly-perspectivity in which migration advances to a polysemantic motive. My paper discusses these thoughts in the context of cultural memory in the third part and understands varied and multifaceted constructions of cultural memory on all sides of cultural borders. This part confronts the asymmetrical relationship between motive and terminology with discussions on migration as narrative of cultural memory that belongs to cultural majority and minority equally, at the same time and in the same space. Based on this understanding, my paper argues that migration as a motive construct shapes and leads discourses of culture under the conditions of global re-formation. The shift of the perspective from conceptual classification to close-readings of literary constructions should lead us to considerations about the openness of the narrative in distinction to terminological unity and should also initiate a paradigm shift in locating migration in discourses of literary studies. The theoretical considerations will be exemplified in the fourth section by Mohammad Hossein Allafis Frankfurter Trilogie that is a collection of the novels Die Nächte am Main (1998), Die letzte Nacht mit Gabriela (2000) and Gabriela findet einen Stapel Papier (2012). The fourth part of my paper examines in Frankfurter Trilogie a reading that integrates migration as a motive into the discourse of cultural memory of global challenges. Using the example of the Trilogie, this part of my paper demonstrates that discussions on migration in the context of cultural memory could initiate a shift in the perspective of reception from conceptual homogenization to narrative openness. The shift of perspective shows that literature translates the questions of community into the aesthetic perception of the form of culture and civilization in which the community actually articulates and appears itself and shows also that reading of migration as a statement about one nation has lost its explanatory power. The last part of my paper resumes my thoughts and takes position in the current fields of research in literary studies.

Literarische Mehrsprachigkeit und Transkulturalität. Der Dialog zwischen den Kulturen und das Echo von Mimikry und sprachlicher Hybridität im Werk deutsch-türkischer Autorinnen

The beginnings of migration literature in Germany were noticeable 20 years after the first agreements for work enlistment in the 1950s between countries around the Mediterranean on the one hand and Germany on the other. Well into the 1980s migration literature was considered to be a politically moti-vated, autobiographical and experiential kind of literature produced by migrants, most of whom were initially foreign workers. Today migrant/- migration literature or intercultural literature is considered to be the work of a generation of authors originating from families with migration experience, or migrants themselves. It is the linguistic hybridity and thematic alterity in these works which form the pre-condition for the dialogue between cultures and languages; a dialogue initiated by the successful examples of migration literature currently available on the market. Indeed, a considerable number of German-Turkish authors ’works enrich the cultural and literary scene in Germany. The article analyses the use of hybridity and mimicry as central themes in the novel Der Mond isst die Sterne auf (1998) by Dilek Zapctioglu. This novel is then compared with the stories in the collection Mutterzunge (1998) and with a novel by Emine S. Özdamar, more specifically with the novel Die Brücke vom goldenen Horn (1998), exploring language and thematic hybridization. Central themes in migration literature are issues such as the loss of the homeland, culture shock, alienation, life in and between two languages and cultures, as well as everyday, subliminal discrimination and the accumulating communication problems. The novels can therefore be defined thematically on the basis of their changing time and space coordinates, their shared theme of space diversity, their oscillation between the homeland and the foreign land, the linguistic diversity of their voices and the reflection they offer on the diaspora.

Retailing Strategies of West African Itinerant Immigrant Traders in Ghana

While Ghana remains a key destination for West African itinerant immigrant traders, studies examining their retail strategies appear missing in the Ghanaian migration literature. Applying the mixed methods design, quantitative and qualitative data were obtained from 779 immigrant vendors and 9 immigrant key informants. In tandem with this design (mixed methods), interview schedule and in-depth interview guide were employed to collect the data for analysis. The results indicate that most of the respondents exhibited their entrepreneurial prowess by constructing a network of clients around their business. The findings indicate that they sustained their clients by selling their wares at reduced prices with the supplier price being the determinant. Such traders usually prefer cash payments for their products with street vending being their main itinerant retail strategy. Primarily, most of them advertised their wares by shouting to draw attention to what they sell while others increased their sales using flattery and persuasive language. The Chi-square test results revealed a significant nexus between the immigrant vendors’ countries of origin and the various techniques they used to retail their goods. The study unveils the fact that aspiring entrepreneurs and shop retailers could experiment the pricing strategy of these immigrant traders, to increase sale values.

Teaching The Penguin Book of Migration Literature

The innovative four-point structure—Arrivals, Departures, Generations, and Return—of The Penguin Book of Migration Literature expands the purview established by previous anthologies of immigrant literature by mobilizing a classroom conversation where students’ own lived experiences of migratory crossings combine with the anthology’s narratives to both analyze texts and critique present national and global political climate.

Immigrants' demand for informal and formal education: evidence from US time use data

This paper contributes to the migration literature studying the time devoted to educational activities. It uses US time-diary surveys to study the allocation of time to informal as well as formal learning and educational activities by immigrants and natives. We develop a simple theoretical framework, which highlights the different constraints/opportunity costs faced by immigrants as compared with natives. Consistently with our theoretical model, the estimates show that immigrants are more likely to engage in informal and formal education and conditional on participation, they allocate more time to these activities. We find that the main drivers are economic incentives, mostly in the early phase of working life, and that the differences between natives and immigrants persist across generations. We also find that differences between immigrants and natives are generally larger in informal education than in formal education. The investment in informal and formal learning and educational activities is likely to boost immigrants' human and social capital and contribute to their socio-economic integration.

Investigating Syrian Refugees’ Choice of Location in Urban Areas as a Subjective Process: A Cross-case Comparison in the Neighbourhoods of Önder (Ankara) and Yunusemre (İzmir)

In migration literature, the growing interest in the localized and subjective forms of refugee emplacement in urban areas following the influx of Syrian refugees has brought along new debates on how to approach the location choices (LC) of refugees. Accordingly, in this study, we investigated the different dimensions of Syrian refugees’ location choices at the urban/neighbourhood level. Specifically, we aimed to understand the dynamics behind the growing tendency among Syrian refugees in Turkey to settle in neighbourhoods that are close to inner-city industrial sites by conducting two case studies in the Önder neighbourhood of Ankara and the Yunusemre neighbourhood of İzmir in a comparative manner. From the twenty-three interviews conducted with Syrians, we uncovered the themes of LC and categorized them in accordance with the dimensions of LC addressed in the literature. We identified three main dimensions that affected Syrians’ location choices at the neighbourhood level as: economic (the availability of job opportunities, public and commercial services, the affordability of accommodation), socio-cultural (the existence of co-ethnics, kinship/ethnic relations) and socio-spatial (proximity to the city centre, transportation, public and commercial services, workplaces). Here, we acknowledged the intertwined relation between these dimensions and refugee subjectivity in LC.

A Regretful Journey Home: Albanian Return Migration in the Wake of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008

Despite occurring almost a decade ago, the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis continue to influence the lives of many people today. Intra-European migration literature, for example, suggests that migration patterns were reshaped in its aftermath and emerging literature details mobilities and experiences of migrants in destination societies post-crisis. To date, less research documents the experiences of individuals who, in the wake of the crisis, were forced to abandon their migratory endeavours and had to navigate returning to their country of origin in a particularly challenging socio-economic context. Utilising in-depth interviews and family case studies with purposively recruited Albanian return migrants who had lived in Greece and Italy pre-crisis, the current study highlights how conditions in both destination and origin countries impacted return experiences. Findings illustrate an adverse interplay of circumstances that led to the unsettled return and portray a perturbing fluidity in the lives of return migrants who appear overcome by a sense of ‘double failure’ with regard to both outward migration and subsequent return to their country of origin.

Internal migration in Northern Ghana: understanding the integrative challenges of migrants in Tamale Metropolis

Purpose: Successful integration of migrants in any society has a very vital impact on the wellbeing of migrants. The study therefore uses descriptive statistics to analyse the integrative challenges of internal migrants in the Tamale metropolis of Northern Ghana. Research methodology: The study adopted the mixed-method approach and non-probability sampling techniques to select 120 internal migrants for the study. Results: The results revealed that economic factors (46.7%) accounted for most reasons cited for migrating. Language barriers (24.2%) and higher cost of living (19.2%) were the most encountered challenges and a proportion of 10.8 per cent reported not having encountered any difficulty. Limitations: The study explored all forms of internal migration in the Metropolis. However, it failed to explore the occurrence of international migration given the growing influx of international migrants in the study area. Contribution: The outcome of the study will advance knowledge on the challenges faced by migrants within the Metropolis and measures could be taken to resolve some undesired experiences. Additionally, the study will make a valuable contribution to the limited migration literature in the North.