1st Edition

Childhood and Migration in Europe Portraits of Mobility, Identity and Belonging in Contemporary Ireland

    212 Pages
    by Routledge

    212 Pages
    by Routledge

    Childhood and Migration in Europe explores the under-researched and often misunderstood worlds of migrant children and young people, drawing on extensive empirical research with children and young people from diverse migrant backgrounds living in a rapidly changing European society.  Through in-depth exploration and analysis of the experiences of children who moved to Ireland in the first decade of the 21st century, it addresses the tendency of migration research and policy to overlook the presence of children in migratory flows.    Challenging dominant adult-centric perspectives on contemporary global migration flows and presenting understandings of the lives of migrant children and young people from their own experiences, this book presents a detailed exploration of children's lives in four different migrant populations in Ireland.  With a unique comparative perspective, Childhood and Migration in Europe advances upon current conceptualisations of migration and integration by interrogating accepted views of migrant children and focusing on children's own voices and experiences. It challenges the prevailing assimilationist discourses underlying much existing research and policy, which often construct migrant children as deficient in different ways and in need of 'being integrated'.

    Notes on Authors; Series Editor’s Preface; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Migrant Childhoods in Ireland; Chapter 3 Multiple Belongings; Chapter 4 From East to West; Chapter 5 In and Out of Ireland; Chapter 6 Children of the Diaspora; Chapter 7 Conclusions;

    Biography

    Caitríona Ní Laoire is Research Coordinator at the Institute for Social Sciences in the 21st Century at University College Cork, Ireland Fina Carpena-Mendez is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Oregon State University, USA Naomi Tyrrell is Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Plymouth, UK Allen White is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Geography, University College Cork, Ireland

    'This book makes a valuable contribution to the expanding field of children's migration and of family migration more generally. It explores the transnational lives, experiences and identities of children with different immigration and citizenship statuses (African, Eastern European, Latin American and returning Irish) and challenges the oft held view of children as victims without agency and needing to be integrated into society.' Eleonore Kofman, Middlesex University, UK 'Taking seriously the perspectives and experiences of children from diverse migrant streams as they are negotiated within the context of contemporary Ireland and examining the ways in which children negotiate identities and contribute to migration processes, this book powerfully challenges normative ways of understanding both children and migration. A path-breaking contribution to the literature on transnational flows of immigration, it should be read by all migration scholars.' Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, University of California, Los Angeles, USA '... a much needed addition to the studies of migration and childhood... Using photo essays, drawings, and qualitative interviews with 194 migrant children ages 3-18, 84 boys and 110 girls, the book is a first of its kind in Ireland... Overall, the book is an excellent and much needed addition to the study of migrant children in Ireland and uses innovative child focused data to draw its conclusions. The book is extremely easy to read and would make excellent reading for those interested in migration, childhood, and social change in Ireland.' Irish Journal of Sociology '... a detailed and comprehensive exploration of childhood migration, with the uniqueness of each approach offering a richness and depth of knowledge.' Child and Adolescent Mental Health 'For a concise volume, the book manages to pack in a wide variety of issues in four well-chosen case studies [...] on the main migrant ’streams’... This breadth of migrant types examined is a real