Abstract
The European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research is pleased to welcome Simona Vezzoli as the speaker in its International Seminar Series.
This presentation introduces a framework to examine how people experience societal transformation and how these experiences relate to the emergence of aspirations to stay and migrate. Through this framework, we observe what social changes people notice, how they perceive them, and their impact on their own lives and that of their families, accounting for people’s past and current experiences and their expectations for the future. We observe very complex understandings of social change that often result in feelings of being left behind or not being allowed to take part in economic opportunities, which are sometimes tied to migration aspirations. Thus, it is argued that migration decisions are more than reactions to economic conditions, as uncertainties about socio-cultural changes also generate a sense of loss of safety that may be linked to migration aspirations. After presenting evidence from fieldwork in two locations in Ethiopia and one in Algeria collected in the frame of the PACES project, this presentation raises questions about societal changes that are taking place in the EU and their potential migration consequences.
About the speaker
Simona Vezzoli is a Senior Researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University in The Hague, The Netherlands. She received her PhD from the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance at Maastricht University (UNU Merit), her MA degree in Development and Migration from the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) and her BA degree in Socio-cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. Simona adopts an interdisciplinary approach to studying migration, which she researches both from a macro- and a micro-level perspective. She has researched postcolonial migrations across independence and changes in border regimes with a focus on the Caribbean region. Her latest research seeks to combine a deep-rooted understanding of the societal drivers of migration with individual-level processes of migration decision-making. Simona has conducted research in the Caribbean and South America – in the three Guianas and Brazil. As leader of the Horizon-funded project Making migration and migration policy decisions amidst societal transformations (PACES), her research focused on Algeria, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Italy. Simona’s research interests include migration decision-making, migration policies, the role of the state in migration, aspirations to migrate/stay, well-being and a good life, hope, and spatial-temporal analytical frameworks.
About the International Seminar Series
The European Centre's International Seminar Series brings together distinguished researchers and experts from around the world to present cutting-edge research on social welfare and social policy. The seminars provide a forum for knowledge exchange, interdisciplinary dialogue and discussion of emerging challenges in health, care, social protection, employment and labour mobility.
Register for this event
